Three Days Earlier

  The silence after the collapse was deafening.

  Dust still hung in the air, dimming the emergency lights to a dull red glow. Cracked stone groaned above them, but the cavern held—for now. Elara lay sprawled on the fractured ground, one arm curled tight around Seraphina, the other braced against a rubble-strewn ledge where they'd landed.

  They hadn’t fallen far—just enough to hurt, just enough to feel like the world had tried to eat them.

  For a long breath, neither moved.

  Then Seraphina shifted with a ragged gasp, her ribs protesting the motion. She winced, blinking grit from her eyes, and lifted her head slightly from the crook of Elara’s shoulder. The stuffed bear Nolena had given her—Jinx—was still clutched against her chest, singed and filthy, but intact. Her fingers twitched around it reflexively, like a child might in the dark after a nightmare.

  “Elara?” she whispered, voice hoarse.

  Elara didn’t respond. Not right away. Her body was tense beneath Seraphina, like a spring held just before breaking. Her breath came in shallow bursts, and her eyes stared straight ahead, unblinking. Unseeing.

  “Elara…” Seraphina shifted again, slowly, her hand brushing over Elara’s cheek. “You caught me. You—”

  Elara let out a strangled breath and crumpled forward, arms wrapping around Seraphina like she might vanish if not held hard enough. Blood smeared down the side of Seraphina’s torn tunic where Elara’s hands gripped her—one still gloved, the other raw and red, fingertips split open.

  “I found you,” Elara whispered. The words broke against Seraphina’s skin. “I found you. I found you. I—” She rocked them both, repeating the words like a prayer or curse. “I found you. I found you…”

  Seraphina’s breath hitched. Pain laced every inhale, but she stayed quiet, trembling in Elara’s arms. She didn’t fight the grip, didn’t flinch from the blood or the shaking or the cracked sound in Elara’s voice.

  “Elara…” she tried again, her voice breaking. “I thought you were gone.”

  Elara pulled back just enough to look at her. Her eyes were wild—brimming, rimmed with ash and tears. Her braid was half-torn loose, blood crusted along her temple. But it was her. It was her.

  “I should’ve never left you,” Elara said, trembling. “They said you were likely dead. They told me—I couldn't believe them. I left you—”

  “You didn’t leave me,” Seraphina said, fierce even through the pain. “You survived. I survived. That’s all that matters.”

  “I became this.” Elara’s hands gestured to her armour, her bloodstained gloves, and the ruin around them. “I let them turn me into something you’d never want to see again. And still, I couldn’t even save you from this. Look at you. You’re—”

  “I’m alive,” Seraphina cut in, firm. “Because of you. You caught me.”

  There was a beat—a breathless, shattering pause. Then Elara’s head dropped again, her forehead pressing against Seraphina’s shoulder. “I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve you.”

  “Maybe not,” Seraphina murmured, her voice soft and dry as old paper. “But I never asked you to be perfect. I once asked you to come back. I'm asking again.”

  Elara’s shoulders shook. The sob she choked down wasn’t graceful—it was raw and broken and ugly.

  “You did,” she whispered. “You asked me once. And I told you I would always.”

  “And you did,” Seraphina said. “You came back.”

  They stayed like that a while longer, half-collapsed into one another, the ache of reunion too big to fit into proper words. Only the slow rise and fall of breathing, the steady warmth of contact, and the stuttering rhythm of their hearts reminded them this wasn’t some shared hallucination.

  Eventually, Elara shifted slightly, her fingers brushing over the teddy bear. She stared at it like it was foreign.

  “You’re carrying this? Why?” she asked, voice small.

  Seraphina gave a weak, tired smile. “She gave him to me. Said he was lucky.”

  “She?”

  Footsteps echoed through the rubble, cautious and soft. A familiar silhouette emerged from the shadows—small frame, dark braids, wide, watchful eyes.

  Elara stiffened instinctively, her hand reaching for a weapon.

  Nolena didn’t flinch as she looked over the slight cliff edge. She only nodded once, eyes flicking from Seraphina’s injuries to Elara’s dishevelled state, then down to the bear.

  “Told you Jinx was a good omen,” she said quietly.

  Elara stared at her. Seraphina gave a breathless laugh and slumped back into Elara’s arms.

  “Yeah,” she rasped. “You really did.”

  Seraphina shifted, breath hitching as she tried to push herself upright.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Her arm braced against the rubble, and she gritted her teeth as her ribs screamed in protest. Pain lanced up her side—white-hot, unrelenting. Her vision went blurry for a moment, and the half-formed words on her tongue died in her throat.

  “Wait—” Elara caught her just before she could collapse again. One arm curled behind Seraphina’s shoulders, the other anchoring her waist. “Don’t—Don’t move. Just breathe, I’ve got you.”

  “I can’t just lie here,” Seraphina muttered, her voice raw with frustration. “We have to—we don’t know if the ceiling’s stable, or if they’re coming back, or—”

  Elara’s hands tightened, not painfully, but enough to stop her.

  “They can burn the whole Spire down and I won’t move until I know you’re okay,” she said. Her voice was low. Steady. But trembling beneath the surface like something barely caged.

  Seraphina looked up at her, brows knitting. “You’re shaking.”

  Elara swallowed hard, her eyes glinting in the dim red light. “I don’t know how to stop.”

  She sat back slightly, not letting go, but giving Seraphina enough space to breathe. Her gaze swept over her—every bruise, every streak of blood, every tremble in her limbs. Her jaw clenched, and her voice cracked on the next words.

  “I thought I lost you.”

  “You didn’t.”

  “I did.” Elara’s breath hitched. “Back there, when that door slammed shut—I saw your face. I saw what I couldn’t stop. And I thought that was it, that I’d never hear your voice again. Never get the chance to—” She broke off, eyes closing tight. “And now you’re here, and I can’t even breathe. I don’t know how to—”

  Seraphina reached up with a shaking hand and cupped Elara’s cheek.

  “You’re allowed to feel it,” she whispered. “You don’t have to carry it all like armour.”

  Elara’s face crumpled, and she turned into Seraphina’s touch like someone dying of thirst. Her breath shuddered once again, and the tears finally fell—quiet, messy, unrelenting.

  All the rage, the guilt, the terror she’d buried under layers of discipline and bloodshed came loose at once. She didn’t sob—not loudly. But her shoulders curled inward, and her lips pressed against Seraphina’s temple like a lifeline. Her whole body trembled like it had just remembered it was allowed to be human.

  Seraphina held her through it, as much as her injuries allowed. “I’m here,” she murmured. “You found me. You saved me.”

  Elara shook her head against her skin. “Not enough. It’s not enough. After everything I’ve done…”

  “It is to me.”

  Elara stilled, falling motionless, like the words had short-circuited her thoughts.

  “I don’t care what you had to become,” Seraphina said, every word slow and deliberate. “I care that you’re here. That you came back when it mattered most. That you caught me.”

  Elara let out a small, broken laugh—half-disbelieving, half-relieved. “You always said I was stubborn.”

  “And I’m still right.”

  They both smiled faintly, worn down and exhausted, but still there. Still together.

  Elara leaned forward and gently rested her forehead against Seraphina’s, careful not to jostle her injuries.

  “I’ll carry you out of here if I have to,” she whispered. “Just say the word.”

  “You might have to,” Seraphina rasped, eyelids fluttering. “Not gonna lie… everything hurts.”

  Elara let out another choked sound—half laugh, half sob. “Good. That means you’re still fighting.”

  They stayed there, heads bowed, breath mingling, while the red lights flickered like a dying heartbeat overhead. Elara shifted beneath Seraphina, bracing herself against the rubble. Her muscles screamed as she moved—there was blood on her armour, half-dried and tacky, some hers, some not. Her arm trembled as she slid it beneath Seraphina’s legs, the other curling around her back.

  “I’ve got you,” she whispered, more to herself than anything. “Just hold on.”

  Seraphina winced as she was lifted, the cracked ribs sending a shockwave of pain through her chest. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood but didn’t make a sound.

  Elara staggered upright—barely. Her knees buckled beneath the weight. It wasn’t Seraphina. It was everything. The collapse, the fight, the chase, the fear. The impossible ache of finding her after coming so close to losing her.

  She took two steps, and her body gave out.

  The world tilted. Elara crumpled to one knee, arms still locked around Seraphina, panting, shaking, her vision rimmed with black. She gritted her teeth and tried again, digging her heels into the dirt-streaked stone. Her breath caught in her throat.

  “I have to get you out—” she gasped. “I can’t stop now, I can’t—”

  Footsteps echoed in the distance. Too light for boots. Too careful for enemy patrols.

  Elara whipped her head around toward the sound, her entire body tensing. One hand went to the knife at her belt, the other pulling Seraphina tighter against her chest.

  A small figure stepping through the dust and debris like she’d done it a hundred times. Calm and measured. A voice drifted in from the shadows behind them.

  “You’re both terrible at staying still,” Nolena said gently, her arms folded as she stepped closer. “And loud enough to wake half the rebels still alive.”

  “Stay back,” Elara snarled, voice raw. Her body coiled like a blade. “You don’t get to touch her. I swear to the stars, I will—”

  “Elara,” Seraphina whispered, barely audible. “Stop. It’s okay.”

  “She’s not—She was with Reuben,” Elara spat, trembling. “She could be leading them. She could be—”

  “She saved me,” Seraphina said. Her hand found Elara’s, weak but steady. “She’s the reason I got out of that situation. Please.”

  For a beat, Elara didn’t move. Her breath was ragged. Her blade gleamed in the red emergency light. But Seraphina’s fingers threaded through hers, and the fury began draining like blood from a wound.

  She let out a guttural sound, low and bitter, and dropped the knife with a dull clatter.

  Nolena stepped forward slowly, her hands visible and open. “I’m not here to hurt either of you,” she said quietly. “The rebels are gone. Pulled out after the blast. Reuben’s scattered what’s left of them across half the lower levels, moving to other parts of the planet.”

  Seraphina’s head turned toward her, eyes narrowing. “So. You stayed.”

  “I stayed because I knew you’d be here. I feel you are someone I feel safe around. And because… I knew Elara would never stop until she found you.” Nolena gave Elara a small, unreadable look. “She really doesn’t take ‘no’ well.”

  “No,” Elara rasped, collapsing entirely into a seated sprawl, still cradling Seraphina. Her shoulders heaved, every breath a weight. “I don’t.”

  “Then, lucky for you, I know another way out,” Nolena said. “Smuggler’s route through the old water reclamation plant. It’s not pretty, but it’ll bypass what’s left of Reuben’s perimeter.”

  Seraphina’s eyes fluttered closed for a moment, too tired to reply. The teddy bear—Jinx—was still clutched in one hand, dusty but whole.

  Elara looked down at her, the stubborn edge in her jaw softening. “No more stairs,” she muttered. “I’ll kill the next set I see.”

  Nolena allowed herself the faintest smile. “Then let’s move before more of these caverns decide to collapse again.”