Page 26 of She Who Was Severed

He starts with silence.

Then: “You could’ve died.”

“So could she.”

He closes the door behind him. Doesn’t move closer. Not yet.

“They’re escalating this, Freya. There’s talk of summoning observers. From Solenn. Maybe even Raleth-Kai and Branneth Hold.”

I laugh, bitter and hoarse. “Why not invite the whole continent? Maybe they’ll sell tickets.”

“It’s not a joke.”

“No,” I say. “It’s a message. Let them watch. I’ll give them something to remember.”

He crosses the room then. Not fast. Just enough. His hand hovers near my bandaged side. “You’re bleeding.”

“You should see the other girl.”

He doesn’t smile.

His fingers brush the wrap at my wrist.

The chain surges.

A pulse bursts through my veins—sharp, electric, furious. The glow beneath the wrap flashes. Symbols I haven’t seen before spark and vanish like struck flint. I gasp. He jerks his hand back.

We both stare.

“It knows me now,” I whisper.

Kellen shakes his head. “Not just knows you. It’s chosen you.”

The silence stretches.

“Why did you help me?” I ask.

Kellen’s brow creases. “Because you needed it.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“And you think yours are?” he snaps, too fast.

My voice goes colder. “You still think I’m yours to protect.”

“No,” he says. “I think you still don’t know what it means to fight with someone instead of always fighting alone.”

I stand, too quickly. The pain flares in my side. I bite it down.

“You think I haven’t been fighting? You think what I did out there wasn’t a fight?”

He watches me carefully, like he’s measuring the weight behind my words.

“I know,” he says. “But every time I reach, you pull away. You don’t have to be alone in this, Freya.”

I step forward. He doesn’t move. “You helped. I know that. But help doesn’t make this easier, Kellen. It doesn’t make it less mine to carry.”

Kellen breathes out hard through his nose. Looks away.