Not a lot. Just a faint pulse where my sleeve’s shoved up, a soft glow bleeding out of the sigils carved into my skin. Kael’s areglowing, too, jagged and bright and electric, like living veins of light along his arms.
My eyes adjust and then—oh fuck. No, no.
Below us. Fast approaching. A jagged, impossible mess of ground—dark metallic rock, with shards like broken glass, like a blade-toothed basin ready to swallow us whole.
Kael sees it too. His fear spikes, hot and sharp, crashing into me like a wave through the bond.“I love you,”his voice says inside my head, clear, intentional.
“No—don’t—” I try to twist to look at him, to say it back, to do something, but I can’t move. His arms clamp around me, iron and desperation, pinning me to his chest.
I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I feel him twist, his weight shifting, rolling in midair. Then?—
We hit.
It’s brutal.
My body jars with the impact, but it’s cushioned. All the pain—all the sound—hits Kael first. And he takes it all. His grip loosens the second we land. Just enough for me to scramble back with a strangled sound stuck in my throat. My knees skid on the floor, slick with something I pray isn’t blood.
“Kael?” My voice cracks.
He’s sprawled on his side, his body twisted at an angle that makes my gut roil. His chest is rising. Barely.
I crawl to him, my heart hammering wildly in my ribs. Light flares around us—faint, from slits in the walls. Not natural, not powered by anything I’ve seen before. Just… presence. Like the room knew we were coming.
But I can’t even look at it. All I see is him.
He coughs. Blood sprays across his chin, glistening and wrong. His markings are dim, barely glowing. His skin is pallid, like the light inside him is leaking out too fast.
“No. No, no, no,” I whisper, cradling his face, pressing my hands to his chest, desperate. “You are not doing this. You are not leaving me.”
His eyes flutter, meeting mine for the briefest soul-shattering moment. And fuck, all I feel in the bond is love. Bone-deep, galaxy-wide, soul-warping love.
“Kael.” My voice breaks. “Stay with me. I love you. I love you, and you’re not dying. Do you hear me?”
I shake him gently. Then harder. “I just got you,” I whisper. “You don’t get to be my fated mate and die before we even figure this shit out. I need you, you stubborn, perfect idiot. I need you.”
And still, he fades. His energy’s draining away, like sand through a sieve, and the terror in me crystallises into something cold and determined.
I don’t know what to do, but I know I’m not letting him go.
Not here.
Not now.
Not ever.
As I press my hands to Kael’s chest, still trying to stop the bleeding, something snags beneath my palm.
My dagger.
No.
No, no, no.
It’s mine. The hilt, the edge—I’d know it anywhere. Lodged deep in Kael’s gut like a sick joke, like a betrayal I never made.
“Kael,” I whisper, my voice so broken, I barely recognise it.
He doesn’t answer. Not with words. Just that same faint smile on his lips. Serene. Fucking serene, like he’s floating on some peaceful cloud while I’m being ripped to pieces from the inside out.
