Chapter 46 – If I Lose You

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For a moment after Darius lost his balance, everything slowed.

Not the kind of silence that brings relief. The kind that makes you realize something worse is about to happen.

Kael felt it before he saw it.

The core reacted.

It didn’t just pulse this time. It flared, like it was alive and angry, like it didn’t like being pushed. The light around it sharpened, turning harsher, almost unstable.

Darius steadied himself, but something had changed.

The confidence was still there. That hadn’t gone anywhere. But now there was something else underneath it.

Tension.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Darius said quietly.

Kael didn’t respond. He was already shifting his stance again, adjusting his grip on his blade, keeping his focus locked in.

Rowan moved slightly closer, not touching, but close enough that Kael could feel him there.

Not through the bond.

Just physically.

It was strange how much that mattered now.

“Stay ready,” Rowan said.

Kael nodded. “Always.”

The floor beneath them trembled again, stronger this time. Small cracks spread across the stone, thin at first, then slowly widening.

Darius looked down briefly, then back at them.

“You think this is about winning a fight,” he said. “It’s not.”

Kael exhaled slowly. “You talk too much.”

Darius didn’t smile this time.

He raised his hand, and the core reacted instantly.

The pressure hit harder than before.

Kael felt it slam into his chest, not like a physical force, but something deeper, something that didn’t care about muscle or bone. It went straight for that empty space inside him.

The place where the bond used to be.

He sucked in a breath, trying to stay grounded, but this time it wasn’t just pressure.

It was direction.

Something was trying to connect again.

Not gently. Not naturally.

Forced.

Wrong.

Rowan felt it too. Kael saw it in the way his shoulders tensed, the way his focus sharpened instantly.

“It’s back,” Rowan said.

“Yeah,” Kael replied. “But not the way it should be.”

The pull was stronger this time. More precise. It wasn’t searching anymore. It knew exactly where to go.

Kael felt it brush against him, trying to lock into place, trying to rebuild something that had been broken.

And for a second, it almost worked.

He felt a flicker.

A presence.

Something that felt like Rowan, but wasn’t.

It was too clean. Too controlled. Too… perfect.

That alone made his stomach turn.

“No,” Kael said under his breath.

“Don’t let it settle,” Rowan said quickly.

“I won’t.”

But it wasn’t that simple.

The connection pushed harder, trying to overwrite the emptiness, trying to give him something in place of what he’d lost.

Something easier.

Something controlled.

Kael tightened his grip on his blade until his knuckles went white.

He focused on Rowan.

Not the feeling.

Not the pull.

Just him.

The way he stood. The way he moved. The way his breathing had changed slightly since the pressure hit.

Real.

That was real.

“This isn’t you,” Kael said.

Rowan glanced at him. “Good. Hold onto that.”

The pressure increased again.

Kael’s vision blurred for a second. His balance shifted, but he forced himself to stay upright.

Darius was watching closely now.

Not amused anymore.

Focused.

“You’re making this harder than it needs to be,” Darius said.

Kael shook his head slightly. “That’s kind of the point.”

The false connection pushed again.

Harder.

Trying to force itself into place.

Kael felt it digging in, trying to take shape.

And then—

Rowan grabbed his arm.

Firm. Grounding.

Real.

The contact hit harder than anything else.

Kael’s focus snapped back instantly.

Not to the connection.

To Rowan.

“I’m here,” Rowan said.

Simple.

Direct.

No hesitation.

Kael nodded once. “I know.”

And that was enough.

He pushed back.

Not with the bond.

With himself.

With everything that made that connection real in the first place.

The false link resisted.

Then it cracked.

Not completely.

But enough to break its hold.

The pressure shifted again, less controlled now.

Darius’s expression tightened.

“You’re adapting too quickly,” he said.

Kael let out a breath. “You’re not as good at this as you think.”

That got a reaction.

Small, but there.

The core flared again, brighter this time.

The entire chamber shook.

Rowan’s grip on Kael’s arm tightened slightly.

“This is getting unstable,” Rowan said.

“I noticed.”

The cracks in the floor widened. Pieces of stone shifted under their feet.

Darius didn’t seem concerned.

If anything, he looked more focused.

“This is what it’s supposed to be,” he said. “Not controlled. Not contained. Just… raw.”

“That’s not power,” Kael said. “That’s you losing control.”

Darius’s eyes flicked toward him.

“I am in control.”

The core pulsed again.

Harder.

And this time, the pressure didn’t just hit them.

It spread outward.

Through the chamber.

Beyond it.

Kael felt it immediately.

Not directly.

But like a ripple moving through everything.

“The courtyard,” he said.

Rowan’s expression darkened.

“Yeah.”

Everyone still there.

Everyone already struggling.

“They can’t handle this,” Kael said.

Darius didn’t even look back.

“They don’t need to.”

That was enough.

Kael moved.

No hesitation.

No waiting.

Rowan was right behind him.

They closed the distance fast.

Darius reacted immediately this time, meeting them head on.

The clash was sharp, immediate.

Kael struck first.

Darius blocked, but the impact pushed him back half a step.

Rowan followed, his movement precise, controlled.

Together, they pressed in.

Not perfectly in sync.

But close.

Close enough to matter.

Darius adjusted quickly, his movements sharper now, more aggressive.

But something had shifted.

He wasn’t just controlling the fight anymore.

He was managing the core too.

And that split his focus.

Kael saw it.

“You see it?” he said under his breath.

Rowan didn’t look at him. “Yeah.”

“Then we push.”

They did.

Faster now.

More pressure.

Forcing Darius to react instead of dictate.

The core pulsed wildly above him, its movement less stable, its energy spilling out in uneven bursts.

Darius blocked another strike, but this time his footing slipped slightly.

Just enough.

Kael didn’t miss it.

He shifted his angle and drove forward again.

This time, his blade connected.

Not a clean hit, but solid.

Darius staggered back.

The core flared violently in response.

The entire chamber shook.

Dust fell from the ceiling.

The markings along the walls flickered erratically.

For the first time, Darius looked uncertain.

Just for a second.

But it was there.

Rowan stepped forward again, ready to press the advantage.

But then—

The core surged.

Not outward.

Inward.

Back toward Darius.

The energy snapped tight around him, pulling everything back under his control in one violent motion.

Kael felt the shift immediately.

The pressure returned.

Stronger.

Sharper.

More focused.

Darius straightened slowly.

The uncertainty was gone.

Replaced with something colder.

More dangerous.

“You almost had it,” he said quietly.

Kael exhaled slowly, adjusting his stance again.

“Yeah,” he said. “Almost.”

Rowan stepped up beside him.

“Next time, we don’t miss.”

Kael glanced at him briefly.

“Next time.”

The chamber trembled again.

The core pulsed steadily now.

Controlled again.

But not completely.

Not perfectly.

There were still cracks.

Still instability.

Still something they could use.

Kael tightened his grip on his blade.

This wasn’t over.

Not even close.

But for the first time since they stepped into this place—

Darius wasn’t untouchable anymore.

And that changed everything.

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