Their faces were so close, the world itself seemed to slip at the edges—like the whole thing was holding its breath and waiting. Even the air between them felt different, the kind of static that made your skin tingle. Nobody said it out loud, because naming it would’ve meant admitting that whatever was happening here wasn’t just about standing too close. It was something wild now, bigger than rules, bigger than any warning.
Out in the distance, that scream from earlier still echoed—just barely—but here, just off the garden, the sound felt weirdly far away. Like the scream belonged to someone else’s story, not theirs, and they’d all agreed to pretend it never happened.
Kael didn’t back up.
Neither did Nyra.
And somehow, that choice weighed more than the palace alarm still blaring in the
