Chapter 16 · The Choice He Can't Make

The ring splits clean through.

Nora feels it before she sees it. The metal goes cold, then hot, then something else. Something that doesn't belong in metal or skin or anything human. The crack runs straight down the center of the band, and the moment it breaks, the floor underneath her jerks hard enough to knock her off her knees.

Caden lunges. His burned hands close over hers, trying to shove the pieces back together like that'll do anything now. Blood from his palms smears across her fingers.

"Don't," he says. His voice is wrecked. "Nora, don't—"

But it's done.

The hum that's been sitting under the building since she got here rises into a roar. Not sound. Pressure. Like the air itself is bending in the wrong direction. The lights overhead flicker, then hold, then start strobing in a pattern that makes her stomach flip.

Something deep below them moves.

Nora's fire kicks up in her chest. Not the wild, tearing heat from before. This is different. Controlled. Hungry. It's pulling toward the floor like it recognizes what's down there. Like it's been waiting for this.

"What did you do?" Caden's still holding her hands.