Lexianna did not break eye contact with the Serpent King as she gathered every remaining drop of her newly awakened, supercharged Fox magic.
She drew it from the deepest recesses of her core, pulling the luminous silver energy down her shoulders, through her trembling arms, and directly into the palms of her hands resting flat against Arkin's freezing chest.
She despised uncertainty. She abhorred gambling. In the corporate world, you never executed a maneuver without a safety net, a parachute, and a meticulously drafted exit strategy.
But there were no parachutes here. There was only the dying flutter of a feral warlord's heart and the terrifying leap of faith she was about to take.
She closed her eyes, shutting out Koa's glowing golden gaze.
A precise, violent spike, she reminded herself. Not a wave. Not a flood. A needle.
