Auriel …
“LYRIANA!” he screamed my name in the distance, his voice carrying through the cascade of crashing rubble. “Lyriana, where are you?”
Another crack formed above, pebbles raining down. A rock dislodged, ready to fall right over us. We’d be crushed when it landed.
I flung myself over Rhyan, screaming out in pain as I rolled us over, crushing my broken arm further as we turned. His akadim body flopped over mine, lifeless with dead weight. I panted with exertion and pain as I continued to push him, shifting him just out of the way, barely avoiding the rock that flattened the ground beside us.
“Lyriana!” Auriel screamed again. “Where are you? Lyriana! Answer me, damnit! We have to go! NOW!”
“I can’t,” I yelled back. “I’m sorry.”
“Where are you?”
“Here. I’m here with him,” I sobbed.
“We have to go!” he roared.
But I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave him like this. I knew the cave was going to collapse soon. I could feel it. And yet, not one part of me could get up, could leave him, could abandon him. I didn’t care if the cave collapsed, didn’t care if it buried me alive. I wasn’t going to abandon Rhyan.
“Lyriana!” Auriel screamed.
Thunder struck, but it was just the ceiling breaking apart even more. I flung my body back on top of Rhyan’s, burying my head in his neck, and sobbed.
“Please don’t be gone. Please. Please. Don’t. Don’t do this to me. Rhyan, don’t leave me. You have to come back. You have to come back to me. You promised, you swore. You swore you’dalways come for me. I need you to do that now, okay? Rhyan, please. Please.”
Auriel was screaming my name, and the rocks continued to fall.
They were hitting my back, my head, my arms and legs, raining down around us. But my body had gone numb. Nothing could hurt me. Nothing mattered.
“Lyr!” Auriel cried out. “LYR!MEKA!Do not give up on me now! We have to get out of here. We have to take the shards. Come on! I’ve got the green. Now take the red and let’s go! Before you’re crushed. Before I can’t reach you.”
I stared down at Rhyan, my chest heaving in painful, broken spurts.
I couldn’t bear it, couldn’t bear to leave him like this. But my hand was bleeding, and my arm was broken. I couldn’t carry him this time, not like before. My tears were so heavy, they were now rolling down his face. And still, still he didn’t breathe. Nothing inside me was willing to move, or leave him. It was bad enough he’d been turned akadim. Bad enough he’d been subjected to this fate. I wouldn’t let what remained of him be crushed. I wouldn’t allow his remains to be destroyed—I didn’t care what form he was in. Gritting my teeth, I looked up, and found an emptied cart used to carry the more massive rocks out of the mines. It had turned over in the chaos and was just big enough to fit Rhyan’s body.
And mine.
I jumped up and reached for him with my left hand, blood still gushing. I didn’t care. Because I was doing this. I was going to protect his remains. With what little will I had left, I dragged him toward it, grunting as I pulled his body inside, sliding it over the metal, pushing him all the way in, until we both had a makeshift roof.
I started clearing the debris that had fallen on him, trying to clean him up as best I could.
“LYRIANA!” Auriel roared. “Get out of there!” His voice grew louder. He was coming closer. Risking everything to get to me. Again.
‘‘Rakame,’’ I whispered to Rhyan, my voice broken. I brushed his hair back, fingers running through his bronzed curls. He’d kept them as an akadim. Like his neatness, like his strength. And his lilt. They never left him. Never went away.
I kissed his forehead, and placed my hand over his heart, willing it to beat. Willing him to turn back. “Rhyan, please,” I cried.
“Lyriana!” Auriel crouched down before the cart, his hands wrapping around my waist, pulling me toward him.
I gripped my unbroken arm around Rhyan. “No. No!”
His green eyes paled, for once devoid of their emerald light. They were sea green, like the ocean after a storm.
“He’s gone,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. But Lyr, you can still get out. Come. Come with me. Survive.”
“I can’t. I can’t. I can’t do this. I can’t go on like this. I don’t want to.”
“Yes, you do,” he said. “You have to.” His voice broke. “Get up. Lyr, get up. You have to get up, and run!”
