Torric
The bond snaps into place like a door slamming shut.
We all feel it — the ripple through the magic, the vibration in the air. Something clicking. Something becomingwhole.
Finn’s bond. Finally locked.
I exhale slowly, a smile tugging at my mouth despite myself. “About damn time.”
“Took them long enough,” Aspen agrees. There’s warmth in his voice. Real warmth, not his usual controlled calm.
Darian nods, something complicated flickering across his face. The Eds are still clustered around him — dozens of them clinging to his shoulders, his arms, drifting in lazy orbits around his head. He’s stopped trying to shake them off. “They deserve it.”
A few more Eds have wandered toward the Berserker chamber where Callum lies unconscious, hovering near him like tiny, judgmental nurses.
Footsteps echo from the side corridor.
Kieran walks back in like he was never gone.
I don’t even bother pretending I didn’t notice where he came from.
“You’re impossible,” I say. “You know that?”
He doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t have the decency to look guilty. “I wasn’t hiding.”
“You were literally in the shadows. Watching them.”
“That’s where shadows go.”
Aspen snorts beside me. Darian suddenly finds the cave wall very interesting.
I should be annoyed. Iamannoyed. But there’s something different in Kieran’s expression tonight — a softness around the edges that I’ve never seen before. Like whatever he saw in that cavern didn’t hurt him the wayheexpected it to.
Maybe it even helped.
“You’re a creep,” I tell him, but there’s no heat in it.
“Noted.”
But he’s gone very still. Those gold eyes are fixed on some middle distance, and for a moment I see everything he’s feeling written across his face — longing, hope, something that might be peace.
Then it’s gone. Shuttered behind that ancient mask he wears.
But I saw it.
“You good?” I ask quietly.
“Yes.” The word comes out softer than I expected. Not defensive. Almost… relieved.
I don’t push. Some things don’t need words.
The moment stretches. Settles.
Then I roll my shoulders and shift back into practical mode. Someone has to.
“So what’s the plan?”
Kieran answers immediately — which means he’s been thinking about it the whole time he was lurking in shadows like a lovesick dragon.
