Chapter 19 · Don't Make Me Reset for You

"Mira's outside the Keep."

Kael didn't look up from the records table. His jaw locked. Blood still crusted the side of his face from the collapse, and his leg—wrapped tight in a field splint Nora had slapped on him five minutes ago—was propped against the stone bench like dead weight.

"I heard the signal," he said.

Nora slammed her palm on the table. The crystal shards scattered. "Then why are you still sitting here?"

"Because the second I walk out that door, you're going to do something stupid."

She froze.

Kael turned his head. His eyes were flat, cold. "You think I don't see it? Every time you look at that altar, you're calculating how fast you can bleed on it."

"That's not—"

"Don't lie to me, Nora."

Her mouth snapped shut. The air between them went sharp.

He pushed himself up. The splint cracked against the floor. He didn't flinch. "You've been running numbers since we pulled those records. How many resets you have left. How much power the altar needs. Whether dying now is faster than waiting."

She didn't answer.

"Goddamn it." He took a step forward.