But not the Leighton I remembered. Not even close.
His corruption was complete—eyes solid purple, skin pale and stretched tight over his bones, dark veins visible beneath the surface like cracks in porcelain.
He looked at me with zero recognition. Nothing. Just... emptiness.
"Vessel," he said, a dead voice that made my skin crawl. "Priestess said you'd come."
Alarms blared throughout the fortress.
"It was a trap!" Marcus's voice crackled through the communication rune, sharp with panic. "They knew we were coming! Fall back!"
"Can't!" Kael responded, and I felt his fury and fear through our bond. "They're boxing us in!"
In the prison, the horrible truth crashed over me like ice water. The prisoners weren't just corrupted—they were wired to the fortress itself, connected to its defen
