Page 6 of Too Dangerous To Die

"I didn't know what I was doing," I snap. “I didn’t know it will do this. I thought I’ll just… wake you to take down my enemies with me!”

His eyes narrow, and I feel thetremor of powerripple through him. The air crackles, heated by the slow burn of somethingancient and volatile.

"That does not matter."

The words settle deep, a finality in them thatunnervesme.

My pulse hammers. I reach for my magic—instinct, reflex, desperation.The moment I do, a sharppullyanks through my chest.

The bondtightens.

Igasp, hands flying to my ribs as somethingdrains from me, slipping through unseen threads, feeding intohim.

The embers in his veins flare.

Aflash of recognitioncrosses his face, quick, but unmistakable. His fingers curl, as if suppressing the urge toreach for me.

He feels it too.

Dread coils in my gut. "What did you do?"

He shifts, the movement slow and deliberate, his massive frameunfoldingas he stands to his full height.Towering. Imposing. Not fully stone, not fully flesh.

"You are my tether now," he says.

I shake my head, stepping back. "No?—"

"Yes," he murmurs, voice quieter this time.More certain."You should be dead, little Purna. But you are not." His eyes burn into mine, something fierce and unrelenting. "Because you are keeping me alive."

The world tilts again, not from exhaustion this time. Fromunderstanding.

I clutch my arms, the weight of what he is sayingslamming into me.

I am keeping him alive.

Every moment he remains in this half-formed state,he is feeding from me.

I stagger backward. "Then I’ll sever it."

He laughs.A cruel, hollow sound."You think it so easy?"

I grit my teeth. "It has to be."

"Try," he challenges.

I do.

I reach inward, toward the thread that binds us, feeling for the break—for the severance, the release.A wave ofpainshudders through me a I touch it. My visiondarkensat the edges. My lungs seize.

No.

I try again, pulling at the bond with every ounce of will I have left.

It tightens further.

And I realize, with a sickeningtwist of horror, that it willnot break.

Not without killingbothof us.

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