Kael leaned closer, his grin cutting like a blade. "Let’s see if the wolf can survive her hunger."
The firelight made his face look sharper, crueler. Selvara’s breath rattled, her chest jerking as the corruption clawed up her veins. The chains trembled, rattling as she tried to pull back, but her knees buckled.
"Don’t—" she rasped, voice raw from days of snarling. "Don’t touch me."
Kael didn’t stop. He brushed his hand over the silver shackles. They hissed against her skin, smoke curling faint where the metal bit. Her body shuddered hard.
"You want me to leave you like this?" he asked, tone almost casual, like they were trading barbs at a tavern and not in a half-collapsed theater soaked in blood. "You’ll be a zombie by morning."
Selvara’s lip curled, but her voice broke between snarl
