KAEL – POV
She should have let me kill them.
The Loomweavers.
The moment we saw what they were doing—what they'd already done—I should've ended it. But Ayla stepped forward instead, and touched the thread.
And now her mark—her thread—was being pulled into something I couldn't see. Only felt like a scream caught behind a locked door.
The wolves around us twisted.
Some fell.
Some froze.
Some clutched their heads like their minds were unraveling thread by thread.
The Weavers didn't flinch.
Didn't speak.
They just watched, as if this wasn't violence. As if this was scripture.
Daya broke first.
She lunged.
Blade flashing.
Two Weavers dropped.
Not dead.
Just… stopped.
Their bodies frayed into silver dust.
Rylan yelled something about ward-lines.
Ayla didn't move.
Didn't blink.
Her body was rigid.
Eyes glassed over.
Hands trembling.