Chapter 36 · The Final Spark

"Let go of me, Kaelen! If you don't let go, we both burn!"

Sloane screamed the words right into his face, her back pressed hard against the crumbling altar of the god-core. The air was thick with the smell of ozone and scorched stone. Above them, the ceiling was literally peeling away in jagged sheets of obsidian, raining debris into the abyss.

Kaelen didn't budge. His hand was locked around her wrist, his grip like a vice. He wasn't looking at the collapsing temple or the swirling vortex of white light eating the world around them. He was looking at her. Only her.

"Burn then," he rasped. His voice was a low growl, vibrating in his chest. "I'd rather turn to ash with you than let you walk away from me again."

"You're insane!" Sloane struggled, her boots slipping on the grit. "The symbiosis is unstable. If we don't trigger the trade now, there won't be enough of us left to bury!"

"The trade," Kaelen spat the word like it was poison. He yanked her closer, his chest slamming against hers. The heat radiating off him was unnatural—