Chapter 24 · Hunters and Prey

"Get away from me, Kaelen!"

I scrambled backward, my heels catching on the cracked stone of the altar. I didn't stop until my back hit the cold, damp wall of the cavern. My breath came in ragged hitches, each one burning like I’d swallowed glass.

Kaelen didn't move. He just stood there, the golden glow in his eyes not fading—it was pulsing. The air around him felt heavy, like the atmospheric pressure had just tripled. That wasn't the boy I’d spent months training. That was something ancient. Something that looked at me and saw a bug to be crushed.

"I told you to run," he said. His voice wasn't his own. It was layered, a chorus of a thousand whispers vibrating in the back of my skull. "Why are you still here, Sloane?"

"Because I'm the one who made you!" I snapped, though my voice trembled. I tried to summon a spark of alchemy, but my fingers just twitched. Empty. I was tapped out, my mana reserves drained to the dregs from the soul-binding ritual.

He moved then. Not a walk—a blur.

Before I could blink, he was inches away.