Chapter 121
The space didn't break after Kael disappeared. It folded inward instead, the distortion pulling tight until the depth of it flattened, like something too large had been forced back into something too small. The pressure vanished, but what replaced it felt wrong, like the world had sealed over something that was still there.
Ariana stood where he had been, her hand still half-raised before it slowly dropped to her side. Her chest felt tight, her breathing uneven, but it wasn't the silence in front of her that unsettled her most. It was the feeling that something hadn't left with him.
She pressed her hand against her chest, her fingers curling slightly as she tried to steady the uneven pull inside her. The connection hadn't disappeared, and that alone made her hesitate as her brows tightened. It was faint and stretched thin, but it was there.
