The bolt struck the frame with a sound that carried through the room. Kaelen flinched and tried to push himself farther across the marble.
"Elara, no. Run."
I stopped beyond the nearest lash of shadow and waited until he could focus on my face.
"I'm staying."
"The curse will use you. It will drain you the way Fenrir did."
That fear kept him crawling away while black blood ran down his face. The curse threatened his life, yet his attention stayed on the distance between us.
He would tear himself apart before he made me useful against my will.
I knelt where he could see me.
"Then we set terms. I choose what happens to my blood. If this hurts me, I stop. If I feel used, I stop. I can walk away at any point. Do you understand?"
The curse bent him forward. He forced himself upright, me
