Page 107 of Bitten, Marked, Obsessed

“Almost did,” I say. “We need to talk.”

We sit around the cracked map table while Kendall stays curled in the far corner, half-listening, half gone. Her eyes haven’t left the flame in the fireplace since we walked in, like she’s watching something move in the shadows between sparks.

Elias stares at me hard. “Tell me everything.”

I explain it all. The tunnel. The sigils. The door. The emptiness. The symbols on the floor. Thepresence.

When I’m done, Elias exhales and pulls out his notebook—his personal one. The one even I don’t touch.

He flips to a page near the back and turns it around.

I blink.

It’s the exact same pattern we saw on the floor of the chamber.

“You knew?”

“I didn’tknow,” he says. “I suspected. It’s not a weapon, Callum.”

My stomach drops. “Then what the hell is it?”

“A vessel.”

He taps the page. “These weren’t containment markings. They werepreparation.A way toholdsomething that doesn’t belong in this world.”

I sit back, cold and sweating at the same time. “So what was in it?”

“Something old. Ancient. It was never supposed to wake up. But someone did it anyway.”

I glance at Kendall.

She meets my gaze, eyes distant.

“I didn’t open it on purpose,” she says quietly.

“I know.”

“But it knew me.”

“Because it was meant to.”

Elias shakes his head. “And now that it’s empty…”

“It’s notempty,” Kendall says. “It’smoved.”

Elias looks at her sharply. “How do you know?”

“I don’t.” She shudders. “But Ifeelit.”

That night, Elias stays up cataloging the runes, I find her out on the balcony overlooking the trees.

She’s barefoot. Wrapped in one of the old blankets. Her hair’s loose and wild, eyes reflecting moonlight like liquid silver.

I know I should head back to the compound and check in with Mathis. I’m sure he has Vaan looking for me, or maybe they are too buddy with war plans. EIther way, I don’t care right now. I only care about her.

“You okay?” I ask.

Her eyes stay to the ground.. “I don’t think I’ll ever be okay again.”

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