The moment those eyes opened beneath the broken seal, something inside me recognized them before my mind did.
The connection hit with brutal force.
Not through the bond.
Not through memory.
The massive glowing eyes beneath the fractured earth locked upward with terrifying stillness, ancient and endless within the darkness consuming the collapsed seal.
The entire space around us seemed to stop breathing beneath their gaze. Even the unstable system itself quieted for half a second, as though reality had recognized something it was never meant to contain again.
Kael’s grip on me tightened painfully. “Do not look at it,” he said sharply. But it was already too late. Because the moment those eyes found me, the force inside my chest reacted violently.
Recognition surged through me hard en
