Kaelor’s POV
Grief had a sound.
Kaelor realized that now.
Not crying.
Not screaming.
Just silence heavy enough to crush a room.
Aurenya stood frozen in the center of it, breathing unevenly while the thing before her—before all of them—looked less like a creature with every passing second.
And more like someone abandoned.
That was the dangerous part.
Not claws.
Not power.
Recognition.
Kaelor saw it happening already.
The bond wasn’t pulling violently anymore.
It was aligning.
Like two halves finding the shape they originally belonged in.
And if that completed—
Kaelor had no idea what would remain afterward.
Rhydan clearly understood the danger too.
Because he stepped directly between Aurenya and the entity again without hesitation.
“No.”
The word came low and absolute.
