Sera's POV
Whatever's rising beneath us doesn't stop what's already been set in motion. If anything, the pressure building in the stone seems to be waiting on something, patient in a way that unsettles me more than outright danger would, and I understand, standing there with Dax's arm still gripped tightly in my hand, that we're out of time to be careful about this.
I've watched him give everything without any promise it would be returned. I've felt it through the bond, the raw, unguarded shape of what he just handed over—eight years of careful distance dismantled in a single, terrified choice, made with absolutely nothing to protect him if I hadn't been ready to meet it.
I don't hesitate the way I might have weeks ago, back when some old, careful part of me still measured what I was al
