AYLA'S POV
The chamber was burning.
Not with fire alone, but with something worse—living shadow, clawing across the walls, eating light, eating air. Every breath I dragged in tasted like ash. Every sound trembled with that voice.
Unbound.
The abyss's presence pressed against my skin, thick as chains, but I didn't falter. Kael stood in front of me, sword in hand, his shoulders squared, every muscle taut as if he were daring the darkness to come for him first.
And gods, it did.
The creature lunged, smoke shaping itself into limbs, claws, a body too vast to make sense of. A mouth gaped open, wider than any beast's, fangs dripping fire. Its roar shook the chamber, rattling loose shards of obsidian from the ceiling.
Kael didn't move.
He stood his ground. Sword raised. The wolf in him rippled so close to the surface I could almost see its outline—fur and fangs flickering like flame across his skin.
But I didn't stand back.
Not this time.
