The engine gave one final, gurgling cough and died. Cold pressed in from all sides, heavy and absolute.
Liora's vision blurred at the edges. Consciousness slipped, pulled downward by the weight of water and exhaustion and the sudden, bone-deep certainty that this was not the end she had imagined.
The bond flickered, once, twice, like a candle flame in a storm.
But it did not break.
Somewhere far away, Thessian would feel it too or probably not.
The moment the car crossed fully out of Valeria's territory, something inside Thessian shifted, subtle yet unmistakable. The bond did not break. It could not. But it thinned, stretching like a golden wire pulled taut across borders and choices that could no longer be undone.
What had once been vivid, her heartbeat echoing against his ribs, her emotions brushing his senses like breath on skin, faded into something distant. Still alive. Still present. But faint now, a ghost of warmth he had to reach for.
