Chapter 46 The Edge Of All Things

• The storm had passed—but the quiet it left behind was heavier than thunder.
• Elira stood at the mouth of the ruined chapel, its scorched arches yawning behind her like the broken ribs of some ancient beast. The sky was still smeared with the ash of the fires Kael had called down, a gray veil clinging to the heavens. Her hair was tangled with wind and soot, her skin streaked with the memory of battle. But her eyes—they were alive. Sharpened.
• “Kael,” she whispered, and he turned, standing a few paces away with his shoulders bare, blood dried in delicate lines over his ribs. He didn’t speak. He just looked at her like she was something he almost didn’t recognize anymore.