Sunna tried twice to pull me away for food or a bath. I told her to fuck off both times. She left the third time with a tray of bread and watered wine I didn't touch.
Matthías limped in once around midday, arm still in the sling, face a mess of purple bruises. He took one look at Gunnar's chest, at the black lightning handprint still spreading faint veins under the skin and nodded like he understood.
"He'll pull through," he said. "Man's too stubborn to die from one old witch's trick."
I didn't answer. I just kept my palm flat over the burn mark, scales pressing against Gunnar's skin, willing the bond to push whatever strength I had left into him. The power inside me stirred every time I tried. Not the wild explosion from the valley, but something restless. Hungry. Like it wanted out and didn't care who got hurt this time.
By late afternoon the room felt too small. Gunnar's breathing had evened out some, but the black veins hadn't faded. Every shallow rise of his chest reminded me of the men we'd lost because I couldn't hold the power back. Twelve dead. Two of them kids I'd seen training in the yard just days ago. I kept seeing their faces in the dust every time I blinked.
"You stupid bastard," I whispered to him. My voice sounded raw. "You took that lightning for me. Now look at you. And look at what I did out there. I cracked the whole damn valley open and half our own riders went down with the elders. What if I can't stop it next time? What if I'm exactly the monster Jakob always said I'd be?"
The bond flickered. Gunnar's fingers twitched against my thigh but he didn't wake.
I closed my eyes and reached for the power anyway. Carefully. Like testing a blade that had already cut me once. I pictured the bond as a rope again and tried to feed it into the lightning burn, imagining the black veins shrinking, the skin knitting clean. Heat built under my ribs. The scales on my arms warmed. For a second I felt it working; the bond pulling my strength into him like water through a straw.
Then it slipped.
The power surged hard and fast. My eyes snapped open. The floorboards under the bed groaned. A long, jagged crack shot across the stone right beneath us, splitting the thick oak planks like they were paper. Dust puffed up. The bed frame shifted with a loud creak.
"Shit." I yanked my hand back like I'd burned him. The surge cut off but the crack stayed there, ugly and wide enough to see the dark space underneath. My heart hammered so loud I could hear it in my ears.
Sunna burst through the door a second later, dagger half-drawn. "What the hell was that? The whole hall felt it."
I stared at the floor. "Me. Trying to help him. Guess the bond's still too raw. Power got away from me again."
She stepped closer, eyes wide at the crack. "Elva… that's not small. You almost dropped the bed into the cellar."
I laughed but it came out shaky. "Yeah. Would've been a hell of a way to wake him up."
Sunna set the fresh water bowl down and crouched beside the bed. She didn't touch the crack. Just looked at me the way she used to when we were kids and I'd snuck out to race the older wolves. "You can't sit here beating yourself up forever. The men outside are whispering. Some of them saw what you did in the valley. They're scared, but they're also looking at you like you might be the only thing that can save this keep when the Council comes back full strength."
"I almost killed some of them yesterday," I said. My voice cracked. "Because I couldn't hold it. Because Gunnar was down and the bond went quiet and I just… let it out."
Sunna reached up and squeezed my shoulder. Her hand was warm, steady. "You saved the rest of us. That Bound thing would've torn through the whole line if you hadn't dropped it into the ground. And the Council ran. They actually ran, Elva. That's because of you."
I looked down at Gunnar. His face was still pale but the black veins looked a fraction thinner. The bond hummed faint between us, like it was trying to agree with her. I brushed a strand of dark hair off his forehead. My claws had retracted but the scales stayed, gleaming silver in the lantern light.
"I don't want to be the weapon they're all scared of," I said quietly. "I just want to be strong enough to end this without losing everyone I've got left."
Sunna stood up. "Then stop trying to do it alone. He's your anchor, remember? Let him wake up and do his job. In the meantime I'm posting a guard outside so you don't accidentally drop the whole tower while you're sulking."
She left before I could curse at her.
The room went quiet again except for Gunnar's breathing and the occasional creak of the cracked floor when I shifted. I stayed there through the evening. Warriors brought reports I barely heard: elders had pulled back to the old mill again, licking their wounds, but green smoke was rising higher than before. More packs answering the call. Jakob was still alive. Of course he was.
Night fell thick and cold. I finally ate some of the bread Sunna left, washing it down with wine that tasted like ash. Gunnar's hand stayed in mine. The bond felt stronger now, less frayed, like my stubborn sitting here was actually doing something.
Around midnight his eyes cracked open again. Not fully awake, but enough that he squeezed my fingers and rasped, "Still here?"
"Still here," I said. My throat felt tight. "You scared the shit out of me, you know that?"
His mouth twitched. Almost a smile. "Lightning's a bitch." He tried to sit up and winced hard. The black handprint on his chest pulled tight. "What happened… after?"
I told him. The Bound going down, the ambush from the trees, the way I'd lost control and opened the valley. I left out the part about our own dead. He'd hear it soon enough. When I finished he was quiet for a long minute, thumb stroking slow over the scales on my wrist.
"You didn't lose control," he said finally. "You saved us. That power… it's not a curse, Elva. It's what the elders are terrified of because it's stronger than their old pacts. Stronger than them."
I looked at the crack in the floor. "Tell that to the boards I just split trying to heal you."
He followed my gaze and let out a weak chuckle that turned into a cough. "Keep practicing. When I'm back on my feet I'll help you leash it proper. The bond's still new. It'll get easier."
His eyes started to drift again. I leaned down and pressed my lips to his, quick and rough, tasting the salt and blood still on his skin. "Don't you dare slip away while I'm gone for two seconds. I need you, Gunnar. Not just for the power. For this."
The bond flared warmer between us. His hand tightened once more before he slipped under again.
I stayed awake until the sky outside turned the color of old steel. My body ached. The scales on my chest and arms felt heavier, like they'd settled in for good. I traced one with a fingertip and wondered how far they'd spread by the time the Council came back.