The approach posts held through the first full wave, but only by the width of the stone they stood on.I stayed in the inner room with the connecting door open, both hands closed around the silver cuff. The heat against my wrist sat hard and continuous, tracking the fight in the corridor and the deeper pressure under the keep at the same time. The Burden under my skin stayed high and aligned, pulled in both directions without relief. Through the open doorway I could hear the change outside the private wing more clearly than before—metal striking metal at closer range, short shouted orders that no longer carried the shape of a fighting retreat, the heavy crash of bodies against a line that had become the last one.Kael stood at the outer door, listening through the coded slot. The dark edges on his bandages had spread further. The locked posture around the rib wound cost him something visible every time he drew breath. He had not left the level. He had not truly rested. The living mast
Last Updated : 2026-10-14 Read more