Maya's POV:
The silence after Elena fell was worse than the fight itself.
I stood in the ruins of her ritual site. The ground sagged under my boots, ash drifted down like dirty snow. Smoke burned my throat and made my eyes water. The air stank of burnt magic—thick, bitter, enough to make me gag.
My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Not from fear. Not from the cold. From the shock of what I had pulled through the bonds—too much feeling, too much of myself. It was like someone had opened me up and stitched me back the wrong way.
“Maya.”
Kai’s voice cut across the wreckage, full of relief but also fear. Through the mate bond I felt him rushing toward me—his heartbeat slamming, panic and love rolling off him even before I saw him.
I tried to send something back, just a flicker of comfort, but
