The words dripped with promise, not threat.
Keiser's lone eye narrowed. The corner of his mouth curled upward.
To anyone else, it might have looked like bravado, but inside his head, his thoughts hissed like a sprung trap. 'Gotcha.'
He could feel it... mana coiling in the air, thickening like smoke, the first threads of a curse weaving into being. The elf's magic slithered up his spine, biting cold, pressing at his lungs.
His instincts screamed danger, but Keiser didn't retreat. If anything, he leaned into it, ready to bite back, to burn.
But the moment shattered in an instant.
Hands clamped around him... one rough, one trembling.
Keiser's body lurched backward, dragged sharply off balance. He barely had time to breath before realizing it wasn't just one person.
"Muzio!"
Lenko's grip was iron around his arm, yanking him bodily away from the elf.
