KAEL'S POV
The crack was real. I felt it.
It wasn't just the shadows recoiling from my fire—it was something deeper, like a chain snapping somewhere I couldn't see. For the first time, the Binder sounded less like a god and more like a cornered beast.
Its shriek shook the stone around us. Dust rained from the ceiling, the walls splitting wider with every heartbeat.
But I didn't loosen my grip on her.
Ayla burned in my arms, body rigid as the fire tore through her, but her scream wasn't the sound of someone breaking. It was the sound of someone fighting.
I leaned close, forcing my voice into her ear even as the chamber thundered around us. "Stay with me, Ayla. I've got you."
Her fingers twitched against my chest again. Weak, but alive.
The Binder's voice lashed out, colder and sharper now, desperation bleeding through its venom.
You think you've won? Fool. Her blood is ours. Her soul is ours. You cannot burn out what was woven at birth.
The words froze me.
Woven. At birth.
