Ravel kept his fist closed in Camber's shirt while the red thread returned. It came back thinner and settled directly over Camber's heart, just above the shard's buried line. The skin around it tightened. Light pushed up from beneath the flesh.
Camber opened his mouth as Ravel twisted his wrist. The shard inside him lurched upward.
Elias felt his own body recoil from the sight. The shard pulled through muscle from inside Camber's body, dragging every connected nerve toward the wound.
His scream came when the shard tore free.
Bairn collapsed at the same time, its three arms folding inward as the soft torso sank into pale threads and vanished. Camber dropped to the floor with one hand still reaching for a partner that had already vanished.
Blood spread under his chest.
Camber tried twice to breathe. The second attempt came wet, and his fingers curled halfway before the strength left them.
Ravel held the shard in his bloody palm and looked down at him.
