They did not stop running until Elowen's lungs burned and her vision blurred at the edges.
The tunnels narrowed, sloping downward into older stone, rough-hewn and damp. The air grew colder, heavier. Every step sent a dull ache through her bones, the bond humming constantly now, a living presence coiled tight beneath her skin.
Kael slowed only when she stumbled hard enough to nearly fall.
He caught her again.
This time, he did not let go immediately.
"You are shaking," he said.
"I am not fragile," she snapped, though her body betrayed her with a violent tremor.
"I did not say you were."
His hands remained on her shoulders, steady and warm. The contact sent a rush of sensation through her, sharp and intimate. Her breath stuttered. So did his.
For a heartbeat, neither of them moved.
The bond surged, heavy and insistent, urging closeness. Elowen hated it. Hated how aware she was of his body, of the way his gaze dipped briefly to her mouth before snapping back to her eyes.
She shoved him.
"Do not look at me like that."
"Like what."
"Like you are deciding whether to devour me or save me."
Something dark flickered across his face. "Those may no longer be separate questions."
Before she could respond, a faint whimper echoed from ahead.
Elowen froze. "That was a child."
Kael's expression hardened. "No."
"It was," she insisted, already moving toward the sound.
He grabbed her arm. "Elowen. Stop."
She turned on him, fury flaring hot and sudden. "You just said mercy and survival are not the same thing. That does not mean mercy is wrong."
His jaw tightened. "It means mercy gets you killed."
The whimper came again, closer now. Weak. Terrified.
Elowen yanked her arm free. "Then I will risk it."
She followed the sound into a small alcove carved into the stone. A boy crouched there, no older than ten, his clothes torn and filthy, eyes wide with fear. A sigil burned faintly on his wrist, fresh and angry red.
An initiate.
Blood-marked.
He looked up at her and sobbed.
"They made me follow," he whispered. "I did not want to. Please. Please do not let him hurt me."
Elowen's chest ached painfully.
Behind her, Kael went very still.
"He is bait," Kael said quietly.
The boy flinched. "I swear I am not."
The bond pulsed violently, warning and tension bleeding together. Elowen felt Kael's fear now, sharp and controlled, colliding with her own instinct to protect.
"He is telling the truth," she said.
Kael stared at the boy, then at the sigil. "Truth does not mean harmless."
The boy's eyes darted between them. "They said if I did not lead you, they would burn my mother."
Elowen's hands curled into fists. Rage flared bright and uncontained.
"They did this to you," she said softly. "I will not."
She turned to Kael. "We cannot leave him."
Kael closed his eyes briefly, as if bracing himself.
"This is the moment," he said. "This is where everything goes wrong."
She met his gaze without wavering. "Then let it."
The ground trembled.
From the tunnel behind them, slow applause echoed.
"Well done," a voice drawled. "You found my favorite leash."
A woman stepped into view, tall and elegant, dressed in the white and silver of the High Inquisition. Her eyes glowed faintly gold, artificial and cruel. Power clung to her like perfume.
Inquisitor Maerith.
Kael's hands ignited instantly, fire crawling up his arms. "You ordered it."
She smiled. "Of course I did. Bloodlines do not erase themselves."
Her gaze slid to Elowen, sharp and knowing. "You are disappointingly alive."
The bond screamed.
Elowen staggered as pain ripped through her, Maerith's magic pressing down like a crushing weight. The boy screamed as the sigil on his wrist flared violently, searing into flesh.
Kael moved without hesitation.
He stepped forward and unleashed fire that was no longer merely fire. It carried Elowen's rage, her terror, her refusal. The blast slammed into Maerith, shattering her shield and throwing her backward.
She laughed even as she fell.
"Yes," she breathed. "That is it. That is what they feared."
More guards poured into the tunnel.
Kael grabbed Elowen and the boy, dragging them toward a narrow fissure in the stone. "Run," he ordered the child.
The boy hesitated. "My mother."
Kael did not hesitate.
He turned back.
The fire that followed was not defensive.
It was annihilation.
Elowen watched in horror as Kael unleashed everything he had been holding back. Stone melted. Bodies burned. The screams were brief.
When the fire died, the tunnel was silent.
Kael stood amid the destruction, chest heaving, eyes dark and hollow.
He had crossed the line.
Elowen stepped toward him, shaken. "You did not have to kill them all."
He turned slowly, looking at her as though seeing her clearly for the first time.
"Yes," he said. "I did."
The boy fled, sobbing, disappearing into the dark.
Elowen and Kael were alone again.
The bond thrummed heavily, fed by blood, fear, and something far more dangerous.
"You became what they said you were," she whispered.
Kael's expression was empty. "No. I became worse."
He stepped closer, his presence overwhelming, heat and power pressing in on her from all sides.
"And now," he said quietly, "so will you."
Elowen's breath hitched as the truth settled in her bones.
Mercy had saved a child.
And damned them both.