Ravel's hand closed in Camber's shirt.
For half a breath, nothing happened.
Then the red thread returned, thinner than before and placed with care. It attached directly over Camber's heart, just above the shard's buried line. The skin around it tightened. Light pushed up from beneath the flesh.
Camber's mouth opened, but the sound did not come out yet.
Ravel twisted his wrist.
The shard inside Camber lurched upward.
Elias felt his own body recoil from the sight. The movement was wrong in a way a punch could never be wrong. This was not injury from the outside. This was ownership being ripped out through meat.
Camber screamed when the shard tore free.
Bairn collapsed at the same time. Its three arms folded inward. The soft torso lost shape, sinking into itself until the Ikona became pale threads and then nothing. Camber dropped to the floor with one hand still reaching for a partner that had already vanished.
Blood spread under his chest.
