Page 60 of Third

Tor’Vek saw it too. “It is recalibrating,” he said quietly. “The countdown... is stabilizing.”

They stared at the screen.

38:46:39… 38:46:22…

Then it ticked normally.

38:45:59

She let out a shaky breath and looked athim.

He remained still, silent. Not from indecision, but from something heavier—like movement itself might shatter what little control he hadleft.

His head bowed slightly. His hands were still curled into fists, now resting uselessly on his knees, but his body had begun to ease. Not relaxed, not recovered—buteasing.

Her knees grazed his, and she laid a hand lightly on his shoulder. “You stopped,” she whispered. “Youstopped.”

His throat worked around the words. “I nearly did not.”

“I know.”

They stayed there in the quiet, breath syncing, hearts still racing. The bond no longer howled. It hummed—low and warm, like a second heartbeat, tender but insistent, wrapping around her nerves in a way that felt less like warning and more like promise. It wasn’t rage anymore. It was ache. Longing. Heat that lingered and refused to letgo.

Steady.

Alive.

Unbroken.

Chapter15

TOR’VEK RETURNEDto the stream, washing more thoroughly, especially the wounds he’d acquired that continued to bleed. The silence wrapped around him like a second skin. Cool. Heavy. Unforgiving.

He had almost struckher.

He had come within a breath of harming the one thing tethering him to what remained of his sanity.

The bracelet pulsed softly against his wrist, syncing now to a rhythm that wasn’t just his. It was hers. Theirs. Steady, if only for a moment before beating at odds once again.

Footsteps crunched lightly behindhim.

He did not turn. “You should rest.”

She came closer anyway, stopping just behind him. “You’re bleeding again.”

“It is not critical.”

He heard her crouch beside him, felt the shift in the air as she reached out. Her fingers contacted his arm, light as wind, but the bond flared with it. Not painful. Just—immediate.

“Let me see,” she said, already pulling the meddisc from the small satchel they’d salvaged. She didn’t wait for permission.

The meddisc hissed faintly as it sealed a gash along his ribs. Then another. Then his knuckles. Along his jawline. Her touch came brisk but careful. He was acutely aware of every point where her skin methis.

When she finally sat back on her heels, he didn’t move. Couldn’t.

“You saved me today,” she said quietly. “Even when you were... gone.”

He closed his eyes. “That is not a reassurance. Inearly broke my oath.”

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