Chapter 87

The scream tore out of me before I knew I was making it.

Not sound—will.

It ripped through the chamber like a blade, colliding with the Gate’s logic, the chains, the anchor, the shadow’s pressure—all of it buckling under the sudden refusal encoded into my blood.

“No,” I said again, louder now, steadier. “I won’t choose that.”

The escape path behind me flared brighter, roaring like a sun split open. The Gate pushed insistently, panic bleeding through its structure as containment thresholds failed one after another.

Primary collapse imminent.

Secondary stabilization required.

I planted my feet.

Kael’s scream cut off abruptly, replaced by a ragged gasp as the chains tightened, lifting him partially from the surface. His head snapped up, eyes wild, luminous sigils burning like a second nervous system beneath his skin.

“Aria—” he choked.

I reached for him.

Not with my hands.

With everything else.

I pushed past the resistance, past the partition inside me that had locked part of my power aw