Chapter 73
The space did not calm after the last surge. It held its shape, but the tension remained, thick in the air and pressed against Ariana's chest like something waiting for the next mistake.
Kael stood a few steps away from her, breathing steady, but nothing about him felt steady anymore.
The lightning around his arm had changed again.
It did not flicker.
It did not surge.
It moved slowly, tightly wrapped along his skin, darker than before, almost silent. It followed him like it belonged there, like it had already settled into him in a way that could not be undone.
Ariana felt it before she understood it.
This was not unstable power anymore.
This was something that had learned him.
"Kael," she said quietly.
He did not answer.
His gaze stayed lowered, fixed somewhere between his hand and the ground beneath him, as if he was measuring something inside himself.
Ariana took a careful step forward.
The moment she moved, his head lifted.
Too fast.
