Chapter 74
The space did not break after Kael stepped back. It settled instead, heavy and quiet, like everything around them had already reached a point it could not move past. The pressure in the air held steady, pressing against Ariana's chest until every breath felt shallow.
It was not calm. It was not peace. It felt like something had already chosen an outcome and was only waiting for it to finish.
"Kael," she said, her voice tightening despite herself, "don't go any further."
He did not answer right away. He stood a few steps from her, head slightly lowered, breathing controlled but strained, as if he was holding something in place by force alone.
The lightning along his arm had gone completely still, pressed tight against his skin, darker than before but no longer unstable. It did not look like something he was fighting anymore.
It looked like something that had already settled into him.
