جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 40

Kaelor’s POVThe silence after her scream didn’t feel natural.It felt wrong.Like the house itself was listening.Kaelor stood frozen in the hallway outside Aurenya’s room, every muscle locked tight beneath his skin.He had heard pain before.He had heard wolves die.He had heard warriors beg for mercy.But that sound—That sound had gone straight through him.Rhydan shoved past him first.Of course he did.The door slammed open hard enough to hit the wall.Kaelor followed immediately.And the moment he stepped inside, he stopped.The room felt colder.Not normal cold.A heavy kind.A pressure.The candles near the windows flickered violently, flames bending sideways despite the lack of wind.Aurenya sat upright on the bed.Breathing hard.Eyes wide.But she wasn’t looking at them.She was staring at the wall.At nothing.Or maybe something only she could see.Rhydan crossed the room instantly. “Aurenya.”No response.Her hands shook slightly against the blanket.Kaelor moved closer

Kaelor’s POVThe moment Draven said reconnection, Kaelor felt it.Not in theory.Not as an idea.In the way the air in the room subtly tightened—as if something unseen had just turned its attention toward them.Aurenya’s fingers curled against the bedsheet.Her breathing changed again.Sharper.Uneven.Rhydan noticed too. “It’s reacting.”Draven’s gaze stayed fixed on her. “It never stopped.”Kaelor stepped closer to the bed, lowering his voice. “Aurenya, what do you feel right now?”She hesitated.That hesitation alone was enough answer.Then she whispered, “Like something is pulling.”Rhydan’s jaw clenched. “Where?”She shook her head slightly. “Not a place.”A pause.“…Me.”Silence pressed down harder.Kaelor exhaled slowly through his nose, trying to stay controlled.That was the problem with all of this.Nothing about it stayed contained.Nothing stayed simple.Aurenya suddenly winced, her hand gripping her chest.Kaelor moved instantly. “Hey—”“I’m fine,” she snapped quickly, bu

Rhydan’s POV“Absolutely not.”Rhydan’s voice cut through the room like a blade.He didn’t care that Draven looked calm.He didn’t care that Kaelor was already thinking.He didn’t care that Aurenya was shaking in his arms like her body couldn’t decide whether to stay or break apart.Because what Draven was suggesting—wasn’t a plan.It was a gamble with her life.“You want to force it?” Rhydan stepped forward, jaw tight. “While it’s literally syncing with her?”Draven’s eyes didn’t move. “That’s why we do it now.”Kaelor spoke carefully. “If the connection is stabilizing, interrupting it could collapse her completely.”Rhydan shot him a look. “Thank you.”Aurenya’s grip on his shirt tightened slightly.She was listening.Even like this.Even half-falling apart.Draven finally looked at all of them. “If we wait, it completes the merge.”Silence.Not denial.Not agreement.Just the weight of it.Outside the broken window, the presence didn’t move.It didn’t need to.It knew they were de

Aurenya’s POVThe moment Draven started speaking, the world changed.Not loudly.Not dramatically.Just… deeply.Like something beneath reality had been unlocked.His voice wasn’t chanting.It wasn’t magic in the way stories described it.It was controlled.Precise.Each word landing in the air like it had weight.Rhydan’s grip on me tightened immediately. “What is he doing?”Kaelor stood near the broken window, eyes locked outside. “Calling it.”“No,” Rhydan snapped. “I meant how.”Draven didn’t answer either of them.He just continued.And with every word—the bond inside me reacted.Not violently anymore.Not like before.This was worse.This was recognition.Like something long asleep was being spoken to in its original language.My breathing stuttered.“…It’s responding,” I whispered.Rhydan looked down at me instantly. “Stop focusing on it.”“I’m not focusing on it,” I said weakly. “It’s—”I stopped.Because I felt it.Not just outside anymore.Not just inside.Between.The pres

Aurenya’s POVThe silence after Lyssara’s words didn’t feel empty.It felt sealed.Like something had clicked shut in the air, locking all of us inside the same moment.“…From them.”No one moved.Not Rhydan.Not Kaelor.Not even Draven.And that was the first time I understood something terrifying.Draven wasn’t controlling this anymore.He was following it.A low sound came from outside the broken window.Not a step.Not a voice.A resonance.Like the world itself was acknowledging a change in ownership.Rhydan tightened his grip on me instantly. “Aurenya—don’t listen to it.”But I already was.Not by choice.The bond wasn’t pulling now.It was settling.Like a wound being pressed into place.Wrongly.But permanently.Arinya shifted beside us.Slow.Unsteady.“…It stopped hurting,” she whispered.Rhydan’s head snapped toward her. “What stopped?”But she didn’t answer him.Her eyes were locked on the window.On the presence.And something in her expression changed.Not fear.Understa