Chapter 35 · Villain's Grand Encore

"Get your hands off me, Kael. Now."

I didn't just pull away; I shoved him. Hard. The friction of our skin—the lingering heat from that forbidden sync—was still buzzing under my pores like a live wire. My breath was jagged, tasting of ozone and the metallic tang of blood.

Kael didn't budge far. He just shifted his weight, his eyes tracking me with that annoying, golden-boy intensity. He looked too clean for a man who’d just shared a psychic rape of secrets with the city's most hated woman.

"You're shaking," he said, his voice low, vibrating in the small space between us. "Still scared I'll find another piece of you to keep?"

I glared at him, my fingers curling into claws. "I'm not shaking. I'm vibrating. There's a difference, you sanctimonious prick."

I could feel it. The core. The fragment he’d been hiding—the one he’d practically worshiped in the dark—wasn't just a trophy anymore. It was humming in sync with my heartbeat, feeding me a steady, pulsing stream of power that made my vision blur with violet sparks.

"You can't keep pretending this is about justice," I spat, stepping closer until my chest almost brushed his.