The attack came without warning.
Elira had barely stepped beyond the inner halls when the air shifted violently, a sharp distortion tearing through the stillness.
A blade moved toward her before she fully registered the threat.
Serin intercepted it instantly, steel meeting steel with a force that echoed through the corridor.
"Stay back!" Serin ordered.
Elira did not retreat far. Her gaze locked onto the figure before them—a cloaked assassin whose movements were too precise, too deliberate to belong to a simple soldier.
Another strike came, faster this time.
Serin faltered.
And then—
Pain.
It tore through Elira's chest, sudden and overwhelming.
Not hers.
Kael.
Somewhere else in the castle, something had struck him.
The bond surged violently, forcing a shared awareness that blurred the line between their separate existences.
The assassin hesitated.
Just for a moment.
And that moment was enough.
A presence filled the corridor.
Heavy. Absolute.
Kael appeared.
He did not move quickly, yet everything about his presence carried finality.
The assassin froze.
"Leave," Kael said.
The single word held no raised tone, no visible force.
And yet the assassin retreated instantly, vanishing as though they had never been there.
Elira exhaled slowly, steadying herself.
"You could have killed them," she said.
Kael's gaze remained fixed on the empty space where the threat had stood.
"They were not the true danger," he replied.