Chapter 5804

“Stop!” Gavin forced the word through cracked lips. The sound was ragged, a protest boiled in blood and defiance.

He managed to raise his head and for that insolence, a Melded Beastkin trooper slammed a boot into his chest. Pain burst like shrapnel under his ribs, and a fresh ribbon of blood sprayed across the cave floor.

The goat-horned captain barked a drunken laugh. “Still have some backbone, do you? Fine. I’ll finish with the pretty scout first, then take my sweet time carving you up.”

Leering, he stretched a hand toward Yvette’s trembling shoulder.

In that breath between reach and contact, the world seemed to hold itself taut.

Boom!

The crude seal over the cavern mouth exploded as if it were no more than wet paper, shards of rune-ash spinning out on a shockwave.