And Kaelen's fire cauterized the wound from within, dragon flame that burned without consuming, sealing damaged vessels and scorched nerve endings with precision that shouldn't have been possible through our connection alone.
I wasn't dying.
I couldn't die.
Not with them pouring everything they had through the golden threads that bound us, not with their combined will absolutely refusing to let me go.
My eyes snapped open to stone ceiling and iron bars.
A cell. They'd moved me to a cell while I was unconscious, while my body fought to process the impossible survival they'd forced on me. The knife was gone, the wound cleaned and wrapped with professional efficiency. Someone had changed my clothes, the blood-soaked leather replaced with a simple shift that felt like rough wool against oversensitive skin.
But I was alive.
Weak, trembling, every breath an effort, but undeniably, impossibly alive.
Through the bars, voices drifted from somewhere beyond my limited view. The Council, arguing with the heated intensity of people whose carefully laid plans had gone catastrophically wrong.
"—should be dead!" Ethan's voice, high and strained with panic. "The amount of blood she lost? The location of the wound itself? She should be dead!"
"The corruption sustains her," Laura replied, though she sounded less certain than usual. "The divine essence has changed her on a fundamental level. She's not entirely mortal anymore."
"Then we can't wait for her to die naturally." Natalia's voice cut through the argument like winter wind. "The LastSeal requires her blood, but not necessarily her death. Not immediately."
A pause, heavy with implication.
"You're suggesting we keep her alive?" Gideon sounded horrified. "Drain her slowly while she lives?"
"I'm suggesting we be practical." Footsteps, measured and deliberate. "She's too dangerous to free, that much is obvious. The corruption has progressed too far, her loyalty has shifted completely. But she's also too valuable to waste. The Gate still needs feeding. The remaining seals need reinforcement."
"She destroyed the Dragon's Ember seal," Ethan protested. "The Wolf's Heart shattered when we stabbed her. How can you suggest?—"
"Because the alternative is watching everything crumble in the next few hours." Natalia's voice turned sharp. "The Bear's Sorrow and Phoenix's Ash won't hold much longer. We need a solution that maintains some control while we prepare more permanent measures."
They wanted to use me as a living battery. Keep me alive but imprisoned, bleeding me regularly to maintain what was left of their precious prison. Not killing me outright, but turning me into nothing more than a resource to be harvested.
The thought should have horrified me. Instead, it sparked something else.
Rage.
Not just mine. Theirs, flooding through our connection with force that made the cell bars rattle.
We'll tear them apart,Flynn snarled through the bond, his fury a living thing.
Every last one of them,Kaelen agreed, dragon fire coloring his mental voice.
But carefully,Elias added, ever practical even in anger.They still have her physical form. We must be strategic.
Through the small window set high in the cell wall, I could see the purple-tinged light of approaching dawn. Hours had passed while I was unconscious. Hours during which the Council had debated my fate, planned my future as a conscious but helpless prisoner.
"The binding ritual," Natalia continued, her voice growing closer. She was approaching my cell. "Modified to chain her to the Sanctorum itself rather than killing her outright. She becomes part of the Gate's structure, conscious but unable to act, able to bleed but unable to die."
The lock on my cell door clicked open.
Natalia stood in the doorway, flanked by six guards, all of them armed with those cruel suppression blades. She studied me with those cold grey eyes, taking in my conscious state without surprise.
"You're awake. Good. It will make the binding easier if you're aware."
I tried to push myself upright, but my body barely responded. The wound Ellie had inflicted was healed enough to keep me alive, but I was weak, drained, muscles trembling with the effort of smallest movements.
