Steel rang, sparks feathering across wet stone.
Amerei was there again, darting in, fierce and unrelenting. Viktor blocked her swing, twisted, tapped her shoulder once more—smiling until Storne’s next blow wiped it away.
The rhythm broke—her eagerness, Storne’s brutality, Viktor’s restraint colliding in every strike.
Then pain ripped through him.
Storne’s blade cut across his thigh, hot and sharp.
Viktor staggered, teeth bared, answering with a vicious swing meant for the commander—
but Storne pivoted, knocking Amerei’s sword from her hand.
Viktor’s blade kept going, a terrible arc toward her chest.
His Endowment roared—wind and fire surging.
The strike halted a hair’s breadth from her, the waterfall behind her splitting apart under the force.
The world held its breath.
Amerei’s chest rose against the blade, her eyes lifting to his.
Neither flinched. Neither looked away.
Viktor lowered the sword, the tremor in his arm betraying what his face could not.
Storne stepped forward, laying a hand on Amerei’s shoulder—a silent claim of blood and bond.
Then he looked back at Viktor.
“You’re ready.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Stitched Together
Fractured, fragile, yet held by a vow—they were stitched together.
The cart creaked beneath Viktor’s weight, his injured leg stretched out, blood seeping dark through torn fabric. Amerei rummaged through the basket, her movements too quick, too sharp.
“I’m sorry, Captain Seraphim,” she said. “I should never have—”
He gave a half-smile, waving it off.
“It’s nothing. I’ve had worse.”
She shook her head, eyes bright with guilt.
“Don’t do that,” she tried. “Don’t pretend this isn’t my fault. I ordered you to engage, and you—”
He caught her wrist before she could turn away, his grip firm enough to still her.
His voice dropped, cold and certain.
“I’ll defy a direct order before I ever put you in danger like that again.”
Her lips parted, breath caught halfway between protest and surrender. Her gaze searched his face—his eyes, the hard line of his jaw, the faint curl at his mouth. Then she slipped her hand free and forced her focus back to the basket.
