Aphid stood near Torvik and several younger trolls, silver fae magic slicing through shadows with frightening precision, his expression so calm it was almost unsettling, as though he were simply weeding a particularly stubborn garden.
The foundations shook harder.
Cracks spread beneath Nick’s boots, racing toward the platform where Kara stood.
“Kara.”His hands framed her face desperately, thumbs brushing tears he had not seen her shed.“Look at me.”
Her eyes lifted to his, slow, glassy with pain.Pain burned there now.And fear.Real fear.
“I can’t lose her,” she whispered.
The words destroyed him.Nick pressed his forehead against hers immediately, breathing her in, anchoring himself to the warmth of her skin and the stubborn life in every shaky breath.“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No,” he admitted roughly, voice catching against the back of his throat.“But I know you.”
Another contraction slammed through her.
Kara cried out this time, unable to stop it, the sound raw and bright and far too loud in his ears as her knees buckled beneath her.
Nick caught her easily, sliding one arm beneath her and lowering them both with a control he did not feel.His wolf roared inside him.Mate hurting.Pup hurting.Kill something.
Verna knelt beside Kara with startling steadiness despite the chaos tearing through the chamber around them, her old knees finding stone as smoothly as if she had done it a thousand times.“Listen to me carefully, Kara.”
Kara nodded shakily, jaw clenched, tears tracking down her temples into her hair.
“The child is responding instinctively to the foundations.She is anchoring living magic every time the corruption surges.”Verna placed one weathered hand gently against Kara’s stomach, her palm flat and steady.“But she cannot do it alone anymore.”
Nick’s stomach dropped.
“No.”
Verna ignored him completely, her attention fixed on Kara like a healer who had decided exactly what battle she was fighting and refused to be turned from it.
“Kara,” the elder female said softly, “when the time comes, do not fight the connection.”
Kara blinked rapidly, her lashes wet and clumped.“That sounds horrifying.”
“It probably will be.”
A laugh burst out of Kara, broken and breathless.“Fantastic.”
A massive tremor ripped through the chamber hard enough to send everyone stumbling.Aphid caught Torvik by the collar without looking.Rachel staggered into Gavril, who steadied her with one hand without ever taking his eyes off the creatures circling.
One of the towering stone columns cracked clean through the center with a sound like a tree splitting in a storm.
The foundations below dimmed violently.
And for the first time since entering the chamber, the silver-gold light began losing.
The corruption spread faster.The black fractures widened.New tendrils punched up through stone that had been solid moments before.
Nick heard the Troll King roar orders across the chamber, the sound cutting through the chaos like a horn over a battlefield, as more creatures climbed from the abyss.
They were being overrun.
Verna looked up sharply toward the failing foundation lines, her eyes narrowing, lips parting on a slow, careful breath.Then she turned back to Kara.Her fingers tightened gently against Kara’s stomach.
