Chapter 10 · The Hollow Cure - Chapter 10: Pay In Blood

"Hold still, or I’ll carve a new mouth into your throat," Kael snapped, his voice tight.

He had Lyra pinned against the damp stone wall of the ruin, his fingers digging into her shoulder. The crystal growth on her collarbone was pulsing—a jagged, iridescent violet that looked more like a parasite than a gemstone. It was humming. Not a sound, but a vibration that rattled Kael’s own teeth.

Lyra didn’t flinch. She leaned into him, her breath hot against his neck. "You're shaking, Doctor. I can feel it. Is the great forbidden surgeon finally scared?"

"I'm not scared. I'm annoyed," Kael lied.

His hand was indeed shaking. It was a micro-tremor, the kind that gets a surgeon exiled. He looked down at the scalpel in his other hand. The blade was etched with runes that bled a faint, sickly gold. To get the answers they needed from the memory-core—the dead man's consciousness trapped in the crystal—he had to bridge the gap. He had to use Lyra as the conductor.

"The cost is blood, Lyra. Not just a few drops. I have to open the vein and link your pulse to the core.