Chapter Twenty-One
The Wound Beneath the Skin
Kael convulsed in Lyra’s arms, the black veins from the Harbinger’s curse spidering across his back, neck, and chest. His breath came in ragged bursts, teeth clenched against the pain, as though every beat of his heart were a war between his own soul and the darkness trying to take him.
“Kael!” Lyra’s voice cracked, but she didn’t release him. She couldn’t. Her palms glowed where they touched his skin—moonlight against corruption—and still, the curse pulsed harder.
Behind them, the Hollow was a war zone. Thorne was gone, but not defeated. Dren’s collapsed body had been dragged into a guarded chamber by Frostborne warriors, and the last of the cursed mist had been driven out with light-fire and blood chants. The runes that protected the Holl
