Her mouth twitches.
I mark that, too.
Humor, even in shock.
“I’ve come to find my mate. But I will not just steal you,” I add carefully. “I need you to help me save my world—and, by extension, all worlds touched by Nightfall. Still…” I meet her gaze head-on. “You should have a choice, Alina Fawcett.”
Her name tastes right on my tongue.
She opens her mouth to reply.
The ground growls.
The sound is faint at first—a low rumbling that sets the thin trailer walls rattling.
My spine goes rigid.
The zareth bond calling to her, the one I thought I felt earlier, flares again, brighter.
The fault outside wakes up like something kicked it.
Alina hears it too.
“What was that?” she demands, already on her feet.
“The fractures reacting,” I say, reaching for her. “Stay inside. I will?—”
A shout cuts through the howl of the wind. Muffled, but unmistakable.
“Help! Somebody—hey!”
Alina’s head snaps toward the door.
Oh, no.
She bolts.
“Alina,” I bark, but she’s already yanking the door open, leaping down the metal steps two at a time.
I had it wrong. She’s no wilting flower.
My Oona—she runs toward danger.
Of course, she does.
I curse under my breath and follow.
Outside, the night has gone uneven. The ground ripples in subtle waves as a fresh fissure splits the far side of the lot, right beneath a low prefab structure the crew has been using as a storage shed.
Its foundations were never meant for this.
A building tilts, groans.
A worker scrambles out the door, arms pinwheeling, then hits the dirt as a section of the wall tears away.
“Back!” I shout.
The man—a security guard I think—he doesn’t listen.
