"He built a fortress from a kiss, and turned the pulse of his heart into the last light of this world."
ONE DAY LATER
The precious, agonizingly brief moments of reunion were over. That gentle silence, the profound, resonant joy of the double anchor resting secure within Elias, was resting away, transmuted into the fierce, unshakeable fuel for my resolve. I had shed the debilitating exhaustion and the paralysing doubt with the sealing kiss; now, I donned the functional, brutal armor of the Alpha Law. There was no time for lingering fear, only for decisive, absolute action.
I pushed words through Vayne and kept my voice a precise, low frequency, ensuring the sound would not carry past the thick, sealed walls of the Prophet's Cradle and disturb the precious Elias that was resting just yards away.
"Karth. Report perimeter status," I commanded, my voice flat, professional, and devoid of the raw emotion that had consumed me moments before.
