"Theron!" Aveline shouted, stamping her foot.
The tears on her lashes had dried as quickly as they had come, burned away by something hotter and far more dangerous.
Anger.
She had been through too much already, and now he was standing there, not listening, not asking, just assuming she had run away from him. As if she had not spent the entire night frightened, lost, and trying to help.
She was not escaping.
How dare he decide that for her?
Kael watched as Theron's shadow shifted beneath him when he turned to walk away. For a brief moment, the darkness at his feet seemed to reach, restless and alive. Kael forced himself upright despite the ache still lingering through his body, ready to intervene if needed, but nothing happened.
Theron kept walking.
And somehow, even as he moved away, it felt as though his shadow lingered behind, reluctant to leave her side.
Kael froze.
That was not supposed to happen.
