POV: Kade
Everything happened at once.
The Council forces attacking. Kai fighting in that terrible hybrid form. Sera pulling me upright despite my body screaming in protest.
And through it all, the bond between us, between all three of us, hummed with shared terror.
"We can't do this," Sera said. "We can barely stand. How are we supposed to..."
"Together." I squeezed her hand. "We do it together."
Ember looked up at us with those too-old eyes. "The door. You want to open it."
"We want to use it. Use the convergence. The three-anchor connection." I pulled them both close. "If we channel everything we have left, we can create a barrier. Keep everyone safe while we figure out what to do."
"Or we could die."
"Yeah. That too."
Sera laughed. Broken. Desperate. "Well, when you put it th
