Kairo's boots dragged heavy through the water, each step sending ripples across the flooded stone as he shifted Eli's limp weight higher on his shoulder.
The young hunter wasn't thrashing anymore.
No curses.
No snarls.
No clawing fists against his hold.
He was… still.
Too still.
Kairo's black eyes flicked down at him. Eli's wrists were bound tight across his chest, but it wasn't the ropes that made unease coil in his gut.
It was the boy's eyes. Wide. Yellow.
Staring straight through him—pupils blown wide, glassy, as if he were trapped watching something no one else could see.
'Is it because I tied him down? Or…'
Kairo's jaw tightened. No. This wasn't just restraint.
Something was off.
He didn't like that look.
Didn't like the sudden silence in him.
"Captain?!"
The voice tore through the cavern—raw, hoarse, but sharp enough to cut through the splash of water and the groan of shifting stone.
Mio.
'I'll deal with him later.'
