Chapter 74
The space did not react with violence after Kael stepped back. Instead, it settled into something heavier and quieter, as if everything around them had finally reached a point it could not move past. The pressure in the air did not push or pull anymore. It held steady, pressing against Ariana's chest in a way that made it difficult to breathe.
She felt it before she fully understood what it meant.
"Kael," she said, her voice tightening, "don't go any further."
He did not answer right away. He stood a few steps from her with his head slightly lowered, his breathing controlled but strained. The lightning wrapped around his arm had stopped flickering. It pressed tightly against his skin, dark and still, as if it had already settled into him.
That was what frightened her most.
This was not him losing control.
This was something else taking shape.
