The Hidden Hybrid’s Redemption
"If we move, the balance shifts. They're waiting for us to commit to a step so they can take the tier out from under us."
"Then we take it first," I snarled, my teeth bared in a primal, animalistic grimace.
The iron bracket holding our log to the mountain face was encrusted with centuries of oxidation, the rusted metal pitted and brittle. It was a perfect fuse.
I didn't try to summon the royal hybrid flame—the reservoir of my core was a hollow, echoing chamber of ash and pain. Instead, I leaned heavily into Killian, forcing our combined, crushing weight onto his single good leg, and I reached my raw, bleeding hand toward the central mounting bolt of the bracket.