Got it ✅ —
The cave breathed.
At least, that was how it felt. Each whisper stirred the air in slow, damp currents, brushing against Aria's skin like unseen fingers. She pressed herself harder against the stone wall, blade angled forward though her grip had weakened to a tremor.
The darkness did not relent. It pressed closer, curling in at the edges of her sight, a living weight that bore down on her lungs.
Aria.
The voice again. Kael's voice. But wrong. Thin, stretched. Like a thread about to snap.
Her throat constricted. She dared a glance down at him still, fevered, unseeing. The whisper hadn't come from him. She knew that. But knowing did nothing to steady her.
The mark at her throat pulsed like a second heartbeat. The heat licked lower, winding around her ribs, searing her chest.
Her blade dipped. She caught it just before it touched stone, fingers slick with sweat.
