Chapter 46 Kael
FORTY-SIX
KAEL
The space she occupied is still warm when the door clicks shut, the sound far too final for how quiet it is. My shadows linger in the doorway for half a heartbeat before drifting back to me, restless and unsettled.
Empty.
I reach for our bond out of instinct. It’s dimmed—muted in a way I don’t like—and I don’t know if that’s because of distance or because she has the artifact. The one I was supposed to keep from her to protect her.
I fucked that up.
This is not good.
I dress quickly, movements sharp and efficient. If she won’t let me be near her, then I need someone she will accept. Raiden. Nolan. Either of them. They need to know everything—what the artifact is, what it can do, and how badly I misjudged the timing.
They need to protect her, while I can’t.
My chest tightens, panic pressing hard against my ribs.
I force a slow breath, dragging control back into place before my shadows do something reckless in their attempt to help. They ripple around the room, brushing the walls, the ceiling, the floor—searching for something.
No.
Someone.
“Idiot,” I mutter, the word meant entirely for myself.
Dorian warned me. He wasn’t even subtle about it.
And that artifact you carry? In her hands, it wouldn’t show her anything. It would open something. A path to her birthright.
A path to her birthright.
I had told myself I needed time. That she deserved the truth once I understood it fully. That if I told her too soon, she would rush toward something she wasn’t ready for.
And now she’s doing exactly that.
Without me.
I grind my teeth and grab my jacket from the chair, shrugging it on out of habit before the absence hits me. The weight is wrong. Too light.
She took it because she doesn’t trust me.
No.
She took it because I didn’t trust her first.
My shadows coil tighter, responding to the spike of emotion I refuse to indulge in. Fear is dangerous for someone like me. It bleeds outward. It turns into action before intention can catch up.
I leave the room at a near jog, boots striking stone as I head down the corridor. The academy feels too open, too exposed, like every ward is suddenly insufficient. None of them can keep her safe now.
I reach for my magic, searching for Nolan or Raiden’s signature energy that I’ve only been able to feel since we are all connected to Lindsay.
Nolan is closest, so I head that direction. Then a pulse of magic ripples through the academy, a shift in the air.
My shadows snap tight around me, reacting before I do, and my heart drops into my stomach. That wasn’t a minor occurrence in the wards, that was the Veil answering a call.
“Lindsay,” I breathe.
And then I break into a run.