Kael’s POV
The moment it chose, the keep changed temperature.
Not physically.
Structurally.
The air in the corridor tightened as if the space itself had become aware of ownership being negotiated inside it. The entity no longer hovered at the edge of form.
It was committing.
Elara’s breath was uneven against my chest, her body still partially anchored by my grip, but I could feel it—through the bond, through her pulse, through the way her awareness was no longer fully her own.
It was slipping.
Slowly.
Not violently.
Worse than that.
Deliberately.
“No,” I said under my breath.
Not to her.
To it.
The shape ahead of us responded immediately.
Not with movement.
With intention.
The corridor darkened further, but the darkness wasn’t empty anymore. It had density now. Weight. Di
