Chapter 11

The cavern trembles as the pool's surface splits, a claw—massive, glistening, tipped with barbs—rising from the inky depths where Rhea vanished. My scream dies in my throat, choked by the shard's icy graze against my cheek, its whispers now a roar—*"Surrender… become… us…"*—that drowns out everything but the thread's faint, faltering pulse. Kaelen hangs yards away, blood dripping from his torn arm, his free hand clawing at the tendrils still binding him, his gray eyes locked on me—wild, pleading, slipping. The entity's form looms larger, half-seen through the haze, a towering mass of writhing limbs and hollow mouths, and I feel it pressing into my mind, my soul, a weight I can't fight much longer.

The shard flares, and the cavern blurs—stone melting into shadow, the air thickening with a scent like burning roses and rot. My bonds shift, tendrils loosening only to reposition me, lowering me toward Kaelen, their slick grip forcing my legs apart as I dangle, helpless. His eyes widen, a strangled "No!" tearing from his lips, but the thread twists, flooding with a heat that's not his—not ours—a dark, invasive lust that coils low in my belly, unbidden and vile. The entity's laughter ripples, a chorus of shattered glass, and the whispers turn seductive, commanding: *"Feel… bind… break…"*

"Lysara, fight it!" Kaelen shouts, thrashing anew, but his voice cracks, and I see it—his body stiffening, his free hand trembling as the tendrils stroke his chest, his thighs, coaxing a response he can't stop. My robe's tatters fall away, baring me, and the shard pulses, projecting visions into my skull—us, entwined, but wrong, our skin mottled like Rhea's, our eyes empty, moving to the entity's rhythm. I choke on a sob, but my body betrays me, arousal surging as a tendril brushes between my thighs, teasing, insistent, and Kaelen groans, his breeches torn open by another, revealing him hard against his will.

The entity forces us together, tendrils shoving me onto him, my chest crashing against his as our hips align. "No," I whimper, but my voice is lost as he thrusts up—coerced, desperate—filling me with a single, brutal motion. I cry out, pain and pleasure tangling, the thread blazing with a warped echo of us—his guilt, my shame, our need twisted into something monstrous. His hands, one bound, one free, grip my waist, nails digging in as he moves, fast and frantic, driven by the entity's will. Tendrils join us, stroking where we connect, amplifying every sensation until I'm gasping, tears streaming, my body shuddering against his.

"Stay with me," he rasps, voice breaking, and I cling to it—to him—nails raking his shoulders as the entity's whispers drown my screams. The shard hovers closer, its cold edge grazing my spine, and I feel it feeding—siphoning our bond, our climax, as we're pushed to the edge. I shatter first, a jagged, unwilling release that rips through me, and Kaelen follows, a guttural moan spilling from him as he spills into me, hot and forced. The cavern flares, runes blazing purple, and the entity drinks it all, its form swelling, the claw from the pool reaching higher, brushing the ceiling.

The tendrils drop us, spent and trembling, onto the cracked stone, and I collapse against him, sobbing, his arms wrapping around me despite the blood, the pain. The thread's a shredded lifeline, barely there, muddled with the entity's taint, and I feel him shaking—rage, despair, love—all crumbling under the weight. "I'm sorry," he whispers, lips against my hair, but the words are hollow, drowned by the pool's roar as the claw flexes, splitting stone, revealing more—eyes, dozens, glowing in the depths, watching us.

Rhea's gone, the bond with her a void, but something shifts—the pool ripples, and a shape rises, humanoid, dripping ooze, its face a mockery of hers, smiling with too many teeth. "You gave," it croaks, voice hers but not, and the entity's laughter peaks, shattering a stalactite that crashes inches from us, spraying shards. Kaelen pulls me back, shielding me, but the cavern's shrinking—walls closing, air thinning—and the shard descends, hovering between us, its whispers a final ultimatum: *"Choose… one… or none…"*

The eyes in the pool blink, the Rhea-thing steps closer, and the entity's form solidifies—towering, crowned, its mouths chanting my name. My heart hammers, Kaelen's grip falters, and the thread flickers, a candle in a gale. We're breaking—body, mind, soul—and the abyss is winning, its jaws wide and waiting.