Page 46 of The Bound Blood
I don’t knowwhere I’m going.
Not really.
My feet are moving, but my brain’s still stuck in the moment the Veil split open… the moment Ialmost—I don’t finish the thought.
Kael walks beside me, close but silent. Every few seconds, a flicker of magic arcs from my skin—snapping like lightning, wild and raw. One sparks off my shoulder and grazes his arm. He doesn’t flinch, but I see it hit him. I feel it through the bond.
He’s hurting.
“Kael,” I whisper, voice hoarse. “You don’t have to?—”
“Ido.” His voice is quiet but firm. “Don’t ask me to leave you.”
“I’m not trying to hurt you.”
“I know.”
Another crackle snaps across the space between us, brushing his chest. He winces this time. My hands shake. I curl them into fists and stop walking.
“I can’t shut it off,” I admit. “I don’t know how tocontrolthis. It’s stronger than it was.”
Kael looks at me like I’m the only thing he’s ever cared about. And it makes my heart stutter in my chest. He steps closer, letting another jolt snap against his wrist. “Then you don’t shut it off. You let me carry some of it until you can.”
His words shouldn’t make my throat tighten like this. But they do.
Behind us, the crowd of students still hasn’t fully dispersed. I can hear murmurs—questions. Hope. Fear. Nolan and Raiden stayed behind to speak to them, to try to explain what the hell just happened without causing a riot. I’m not sure it’s possible.
But I’m grateful they’re trying. Because I can’t. Not right now.
Kael brushes a hand against my lower back. “Come with me.”
I nod, too wrung out to argue.
We take a quieter hall to his quarters. They aren’t far.
I step inside, and the hum of restrained magic wraps around me like a second skin. Not a single thing is out of place. Dark stone walls. Shelves lined with scrolls, books, glass vials, and metal tools I still can’t name. A narrow table beneath them holds rune stones and silver wire, every item arranged with surgical precision. No dust. No warmth. Just order and control. Kael.
It’s exactly like it was the last time I was here.
The chair tucked in beside the table hasn’t moved since the last time I was here. Neither has the simple bed in the corner, blanket pulled tight with sharp corners. It’s not impersonal exactly—it’s just… contained. Every part of this space feels like him.
The moment his door closes behind us, my magic settlesslightly.
Just slightly.
It still sparks. Still pulses. But it doesn’t lash out here.
Kael’s presence grounds me. His magic brushes mine and doesn’t recoil—it welcomes the burn.
“You’re bleeding,” I say, noticing a line of red tracing his jaw.
He wipes at it with his sleeve and shrugs. “Barely.”
“I didn’t know that was possible.”
He chuckles, shaking his head. “That I can bleed?”
I nod. It’s silly saying it out loud, but he’s always felt indestructible. But maybe that’s because he comes to my rescue all the time.
