We wait. Watch Vex struggle against the magic scrambling his thoughts. His body jerks. Hands claw at the restraints.
Then he goes still.
“Vex?” Viktor leans forward. “Can you hear me?”
Nothing.
Nadia checks his pulse. “He’s alive. Unconscious. The conditioning knocked him out rather than let him break through completely.”
“We’re done for today,” Viktor says. “Get him to medical. Keep him sedated. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
Guards move in. Begin the process of transferring the prisoners.
The room empties slowly. Kieran leaves first, seemingly lost in thought as Nadia brushes past him. Luke guides Ember toward the door, Vanya trailing behind.
She pauses in the doorway. Looks back at me.
“You meant what you said.” Not a question.
“Yes.”
“Good.” She nods once. “The Syndicate’s plans only work with you complicit. Without the Dragon King, they’re just another terrorist organization. Dangerous, but manageable.”
Then she’s gone.
Caleb remains. Viktor too. Both watching me with expressions I can’t quite read.
“You rejected them,” Caleb says finally. “Publicly. Definitively.”
“I rejected what they represent. What they want me to be.”
“And what do you want to be?”
Good question.
I don’t have a good answer.
“Not their king,” I say. “Not their weapon. Just—”
The sensation hits like a blade between my ribs.
Not pain. Worse than pain.
The bondlurches. Twists. Like someone’s cutting it with a serrated knife.
I’m on my feet before I realize I’m moving. The chair clatters backward.
“Kael?” Caleb’s voice. Distant. Concerned.
But I’m already heading for the door.
“My Lord, what—?”
I don’t answer. Can’t answer.
The bond isbreaking.
Not slowly. Not gently. Someone is unraveling it strand by strand, and every severed connection tears something vital from my chest.
