#Chapter 185: The Blood Mirror

Richard The moment I stepped through the breach, the bond hit me like a punch to the chest. It wasn’t warm or welcoming. It burned with a sick, foreign pressure, the kind that clawed through bone instead of calling me toward her. My knees buckled under it, every part of me pulled tight around the sudden flood of sensation. The bond was alive again, but it was wrong. It jammed itself back into place in all the wrong ways, sharp and misaligned like a bone forced to heal crooked. I didn’t just feel her presence. I felt her intent. I saw it in her face, she didn’t want to threaten me. She wanted me dead. I pressed a hand against the wall, dragging in a breath as I forced my legs to move. The hallway was dim and reeking of magic, its stone floors warped with heat, the walls slick with condensation. Somewhere deeper inside, a ward cracked and whined, but I didn’t stop. I could feel her, closer with every step, her aura wrapping tighter and tighter around my spine until it was hard to