Chapter 17 · Bound to the Executioner: Leveling Up With My Enemy - Chapter 17: Toxic Soulshare

"Stay. Still. Or I'll make sure you never breathe again," Soren hissed, his voice a jagged wreck.

He wasn't threatening me. He was shaking. I could feel it through the bond—not just the tremor in his hands, but the violent, rhythmic slamming of a heart that was trying to quit on him. The poisoned bolt from the last encounter had done its job. His pulse was a dying bird, fluttering erratically against the cage of his ribs.

I didn't move. I couldn't. I was pinned beneath him in the dirt of the subterranean corridor, the smell of ozone and damp stone filling my lungs. His weight was heavy, oppressive, but it was the only thing keeping me from floating away into the panic.

"You're dying, you idiot," I snapped, my voice trembling. "Move your hand. Now."

"Don't touch... the tree," he gasped, his grip on my wrist tightening even as his strength failed. "The system... it'll flag us. The Tribunal... they'll see the surge."

I looked up. My HUD was screaming. A flickering red warning blocked my vision: [SKILL TREE LOCKED: UNAUTHORIZED ZONE]. The divine system was playing hardball. I couldn't call on the instant-knit spells or the blood-stanching runes.