The thorn crown

Kael collapsed ten minutes in. His legs buckled like the ground gave out under him.

"I'm fine," he snapped, but his knuckles were white and he was breathing like he'd been running from gods.

I didn't answer. I just grabbed his arm and forced him down against a tree. He didn't resist. Too proud for help, but not stupid enough to argue.

Blood soaked through his side again. Not from the arrow. From whatever's inside him trying to claw out.

"You're going to die," I said calmly.

"I've done worse."

He didn't flinch as I tore my sleeve and pressed it to the wound. I did. His skin burned through the cloth feverish, glowing, wrong.

"You're leaking magic."

"No," he said. "Magic leaks me."

I paused.

"Was that supposed to sound poetic or are you just delirious?"

His mouth twitched. Barely.

We sat in silence. Just breathing. Trees creaked around us, like they knew we weren't supposed to be here.

Then Kael spoke, low.

"I felt you."

I didn't look at him. "You said that already."

"No. Before. When I was… burning. You were there."

My fingers stopped tightening the wrap.

"It calmed me," he said. "You calmed me."

I let go of him.

"I didn't do anything," I said, standing.

"You did."

"I don't feel, remember? I'm not your magic therapist."

He tilted his head, studying me like he was trying to see through me. His eyes had that faint gold glow again subtle, dangerous, beautiful in a way I refused to name.

I turned my back on it.

"We're moving," I said. "Now."

Kael pushed himself up with a hiss, leaning against the tree for balance.

"I thought you didn't care."

"I don't," I said. "But I'm not letting some creepy armored freak kill me because you have issues."

He smiled. Soft. The kind of smile that belonged to someone who used to be gentle before the world took it from him.

I hated that smile.

We walked in silence, his steps slow but steady.

Then I felt it.

Not emotion. Not fear.

A presence.

Behind us. In the trees.

Watching.

Kael's shoulders stiffened. "He's following us."

"How do you know?"

"Because I'd follow us, too."

I glanced back.

Nothing but dark trees. Stillness. But I knew.

The Sentinel hadn't left. He was waiting. Circling. Letting us tire out before he moved in.

"We keep going," I said. "He won't strike until he's sure."

"And if he gets sure?"

"Then you explode and I run."

Kael laughed once, bitter. "Good plan."

It wasn't.

But it was ours.

---

Elsewhere

The Sentinel crouched in the trees. Hidden. Listening.

The girl touched him. The cursed one. And he didn't erupt he stabilized.

Impossible.

Unless...

Unless she wasn't null.

Unless she was worse.

The kind of worse that changed everything.

He pressed a finger to the mark on his wrist. The warning signal blinked red.

Do not engage. Observe. Report.

He closed his fist.

And followed them into the dark.