Kael did not wake.
Not when they dragged him from the Blood Pass.
Not when the healers stripped the shattered armor from his body.
Not when Rowan knelt beside him and pressed trembling hands to his chest, begging him to breathe.
The bond was still there.
Faint.
Flickering.
Like a dying star barely holding its shape.
And that was the only thing keeping Faye from breaking completely.
The Frostclaw suppression chains released her only when Blackthorne forces stormed the pass and drove the last of the enemy into full retreat. Lysa cut the sigils with a blade still humming from battle. The moment the metal fell away, Faye staggered—not from weakness, but from the violent rush of her power slamming back into a body that no longer knew how to contain it.
The limiter was gone.
The leash
