Elara did not fall.
She slipped as if the world had turned inside out and she had been poured through the seam.
The snap of light closing behind her was not loud. It was final. A clean severance that rang through her bones like a bell struck underwater. One heartbeat she felt Draven’s grip, his panic, his power tearing at the frozen air
The next
Nothing.
No ground. No sky. No direction.
She gasped, lungs burning, but the air here was thin, unfamiliar, carrying a metallic aftertaste that scraped her throat. Her body twisted instinctively, searching for balance that did not exist. Light bent strangely around her, folding into itself, casting no shadow.
“Draven,” she whispered.
The bond answered
Faint.
Threadlike.
Still there.
Relief hit her so hard her knees buckled, though there
