Chapter 28 · Look at me

He threw the guard into the stage. Wood cracked. The crowd screamed and scattered.

Lia grabbed Cael's sleeve. "Look at me."

"Don't."

"Look at me."

His gold eyes found hers.

The heat rolling off him was fierce enough to sting. His chest pressed against hers. One of his hands closed around her wrist, hard but careful, thumb beating against her pulse.

"Say it," he ordered.

"Say what?"

"The thing you said last night."

"Come back."

His grip tightened. "Again."

"Come back, Cael."

The claws stopped growing.

For one breath, the curse held still.

The white-masked woman pulled the red thread again.

The crystal cracked.

Images spilled across its surface.

A stone room.

Candle flame.

Lia with a blade in her hand.

Cael on his knees.

His face younger, but the same eyes. The same scar near his brow.

The image skipped.

Nine seconds missing.

Then Lia's blade hovered over his chest.

Cael looked at her through the crystal and said something the room swallowed.

Lia's hand shook.

She heard herself whisper a name.

"Kalen."

Cael went rigid.

The crystal lit up.

The memory sharpened for half a second.

His face turned toward hers. Not afraid.