AYLA'S POV
The instant Kael's hand closes around mine, the abyss convulses.
The endless dark—solid, suffocating, unyielding—fractures like glass under a hammer. Shards of black flame streak outward, screaming as they rip through the void. The ground bucks beneath my feet, threatening to throw me backward into the chasm.
But I don't let go.
His hand is warm against mine. Real. Solid. After so long chasing echoes, seeing him, feeling him—it shatters something in me that I hadn't realized was still holding on.
He's alive.
Kael is alive.
The abyss howls, a sound that makes my teeth ache and my vision blur. Shadows whip into a frenzy, thrashing, clawing, trying to pry us apart. They coil around our arms, sink claws into my shoulders, tear at my legs. Pain blooms in sharp bursts, but I tighten my grip on him until my knuckles crack.
"Not this time," I snarl into the void, yanking him toward me.
