I hesitated. “Yes. Like pressure in my chest.”
Kaelith swore under his breath. “It’s resonating with you.”
Kael stepped closer, tone suddenly serious. “Then she needs to be taken out of the Hold—away from Father’s wards before they collapse.”
“No,” Kaelith said. “If the Veil tears, every road becomes death. We stay until I can stabilize it.”
“Stabilize?” Kael laughed, harsh. “You don’t even have your command, Brother. Or have you forgotten?”
The look Kaelith gave him could have frozen fire. “Then I’ll do it without a title.”
The stones trembled again—louder this time. Overhead, a fissure of pure light cracked open across the sky, casting the courtyard in a sickly glow. The sound that followed wasn’t thunder. It was something deeper, like the world exhaling through broken glass.
Kaelith grabbed my wrist. “Get below. Now.”
I looked up at the sky one last time. The Veil was no longer fracturing—it was pulsing, alive and dying all at once. Threads of brilliance reached down through the clouds, searching, and when one brushed against the towers of Skadar Hold, the entire keep flared like a lantern.
The light swallowed everything.
When it finally faded, sound came rushing back—doors slamming open, shouts from the upper corridors, the frantic pounding of boots on marble.
I blinked against the afterimage burning my vision. The hall was no longer still. Frost dripped from the ceilings like rain; the runes along the walls throbbed in uneven rhythm. It felt as if the entire keep were breathing around us, shallow and panicked.
Kaelith’s grip was still on my wrist. His eyes had gone almost white, shards of pale silver threaded with light.
“Don’t move,” he said.
“I—” I looked down. The floor beneath us glowed faintly, a ring of frost spiraling outward from where I stood. It pulsed in time with my heartbeat. “Kaelith, what’s happening?”
His answer came through gritted teeth. “The Veil’s leaking. And it’s found you.”
Kael’s voice cut through the chaos. “That glow isn’t normal, Brother.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?” Kaelith snapped. He released me abruptly, stepping back as if the nearness itself burned. “The wards are collapsing—we need to move.”
Servants darted past us carrying relics and scrolls. Somewhere deeper in the hold, a crash echoed, followed by the unmistakable crack of stone splitting. The air shimmered, bright and wrong. I could taste it—like lightning and salt.
Kael grabbed my arm. “We’re not waiting for the roof to fall. The southern gate leads straight to the Frostwood.”
Kaelith turned on him, frostlight surging under his skin. “You’ll be torn apart before you reach the gate. The Veil’s currents are unpredictable.”
“Unpredictable, I can handle. Father’s wrath, not so much.” Kael’s grin didn’t reach his eyes. “I’ll head for the border. You can play savior later.”
The temperature dropped, so sudden that frost bloomed along Kael’s boots. Kaelith’s voice lowered. “You’re not taking her anywhere.”
The space between them shimmered—heat from one, ice from the other, colliding in faint ripples of vapor. I could feel it thrumming in my bones.
“Maybe she should decide,” Kael said lightly, but the edge beneath it was real. “You act like she’s your prisoner, not your equal.”
Kaelith’s reply was sharp enough to cut. “I act like the man keeping her alive.”
“And failing spectacularly,” Kael muttered.
“Enough!” I said, louder than I meant to. The walls answered with a groan, flakes of frost tumbling like ash. Snow continued falling upward, an outward sign of the realm’s growing instability. Both men fell silent.
I swallowed hard. “If we stay, we die. If we run, maybe we still die—but at least it’s outside these walls.”
Kaelith’s gaze fixed on me. The light from the Veil reflected off his armor, painting him in ghostly color. “You think I haven’t considered that?” he said quietly. “You think I don’t see what it’s doing to you?”
