The celldoor didn’t stand a chance.
Kael lifted one hand, fingers curling slowly, and the shadows answered like they had been waiting for this moment. They poured from the corners of the dungeon, thick and alive, crawling up the bars of the cell, sinking into the iron as if it were nothing more than smoke.
There was a sound—sharp, metallic, final.
The lock snapped apart.
Elira gasped. Malrik flinched, instinctively pulling her back, even now, even broken and chained, his body still moved to protect hers.
“It’s all right,” I rushed out, scrambling closer.
“He’s with me. They all are.”
Kael stepped forward, eyes black as night, shadows wrapping around the chains that held Malrik’s wrists aloft.
Then he pulled.
The chains unraveled, metal screaming as it bent and dissolved into not
