"Kael… help me."
The words scraped out of her throat like glass. Bitter. Humiliating. Her golden eyes flickered in the dark, wide and wild, sweat dripping from her temple as the corruption carved black lines across her chest.
Kael moved instantly. Not rushing, not stumbling. Calm. Controlled. Like he’d known she’d call him eventually. His boots clicked against stone, and the firelight cut across his blood-marked jaw as he crouched before her.
Three days. That’s how long she’d held out. Three days chained, without flesh, without blood, without the intimacy that burned corruption away. And now it ripped through her, veins glowing like molten black lightning, twisting her insides until she thrashed against the chains like a rabid beast.
He caught her jaw with one hand, steady, holding her
