Then another.
But there are too many.
And Elyssara?—
Elyssara cannot breathe.
The vault swims in and out of focus.
Kael’s face jerks toward her, all black eyes and horror.
“Leave me, Elyssara.”
Her name comes out like prayer. Like wound.
Not a plea this time. A command built from love and ruin.
He rips one arm free long enough to point toward the corridor.
“Do not return.”
She tries to stand.
Her legs don’t obey.
“Kael—”
“RUN!”
The force of the command cracks through her like lightning.
Not because he shouted.
Because she feels it.
Despite the wall he builds in his mind, she can feel the finality of it through the distant echoes of the tether.
The choice.
The unbearable choice.
He is choosing this.
Choosing to be taken so she can be free.
But apart, it feels like death anyway.
“No—” she chokes out.
A soldier lunges for her.
Kael kills him before the blade lands, but the movement costs him. Chains of hooked metal wrap tighter around hisarms, his chest, his throat. Blue light pulses where they lock, forcing the Decay to stutter.
For the first time, true fear hits her.
Not for herself.
For him.
