Page 60 of Darkness and Deceit
I stare at him.
Just stare.
He gestures weakly toward the floor. “You, uh… you look like you’re about to pass out, or punch someone. Or both. Just thought maybe I could?—”
“She doesn’t need that right now,” Simon cuts in, firm but not unkind. He steps forward, placing himself between us like a drawn blade. “Go sit down.”
Tony blinks. “Right. Okay. Sitting. Yep.” He scurries off, practically tripping over himself.
I don’t say thank you. But Simon doesn’t need it.
His eyes flick toward me. His expression is calm. Steady. Too steady. “They know what they’re doing.”
“I don’t care if they know what they’re doing.” The words snap out before I can stop them. “He’s out there.They’reout there.”
Simon holds my gaze for a long moment. He doesn’t tell me to sit. Doesn’t tell me to breathe. He just nods, like he’s sayingI know. And I hate how much it helps.
I press a hand to my chest. There’s no shift in the tether. No warmth. Just the faintest flicker of something… but it’s fading—and fast.
I squeeze my eyes shut.
And then it hits like a tidal wave crashing into shore.
A spike of panic—raw and blistering—slams through me. It’s not mine. It’shis.
“Kai—” I choke, stumbling forward like someone just kicked the air out of me.
Simon’s at my side in an instant. “What is it?”
I grip the cold stone wall to stay upright. My vision swims.
“He’s not—he’s—” I can’t finish.
Because Iseeit.
Just a flash.
Blood. Smoke. A twisted grin lit by blue fire.
And Kai?—
Screaming.
Then nothing.
My knees buckle. The world tilts sideways, and I don’t even feel myself falling, but Simon is there. He catches me before I hit the stone, his arms anchoring me like I might vanish. Like he knows this isn’t panic. It’s a fracture.
The glyphs around the room flare into a blinding white. Theyscreamwith light. Every line of ancient magic pulses like it’s trying to hold back something it was never meant to face.
Whispers erupt into cries. A ripple of fear tears through the room as students stumble back from the walls, from me.
The air shifts, like something ancient just took a breath. The temperature drops. The wards tremble. My magic roils inside me, frantic and desperate, but with nowhere to go.
My whole being is screaming for him. The tether between us snaps taut inside my chest like a burning wire that should carry warmth but carries agony instead.
He’s not gone.
But something inside him just shattered.
