The heat broke loose before Kaelen could stop it.
She felt her control shatter the same way glass shatters, all at once and completely, no warning between whole and broken. The world tilted gold at the edges, her vision narrowing to teeth and claws and the desperate, instinctive need to protect the only person standing close enough to matter. Her own snarl sounded strange in her ears, too deep, too raw to be her own voice.
When her sight cleared, three rogues lay scattered across the ravine floor, breathing but unconscious, and Ash stood a few feet off, blade lowered, staring at her with an expression she couldn't immediately read. His chest rose and fell fast. A thin cut ran along his forearm, forgotten, blood beading slow against his skin.
"You're bleeding," he said, closing the dista
