The Devil's Broken Doll
Adelaide’s muscles tightened anyway, instinct screaming to do the opposite, to step back, to run, to put distance between herself and the thing that had just unfolded from the world itself.
She didn’t.
The shadow at her ankle held steady, a constant, grounding pressure that kept her exactly where she was.
“If it comes for us,” Cael continued, his voice just as low, just as controlled, “we run.”
A brief pause. Then, softer again, “Fast.”
The creature’s head tilted further, the angle wrong, unnatural, its red-saturated gaze fixed on her with a weight that felt physical, pressing against her chest, her ribs, her breath.
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