"For Ravenwood."
The words sat between them like a door closing.
Arik did not move.
For a moment, he looked as if he had not understood the sentence, not because the meaning was unclear, but because some part of him had rejected it before language could finish forming.
The bond pulled at him, sharp and terrified, and every instinct in him rose with brutal certainty. NO. He had just gotten Liam back. He had carried him through the corridors himself, dressed him with hands that shook only after the door closed, and slept with him in his arms while the world outside collapsed into treason, poison, and missing traitors. He had spent a day and a half listening to Liam breathe, because breathing had become the only acceptable proof that the universe had not taken everything from him again.
And now Liam wanted to leave.
Arik's ether stirred.
The ward-light dimmed by a fraction.
