Eres’s face goes white. “No,” he breathes, and it’s the first time I’ve ever heard him sound like that. “Put her here, quickly. What happened?”
Elspeth’s jaw clenches as his hands move over her. “Lightbringers were waiting for us,” she says, voice clipped witheffort. “We almost didn’t get out. Sera stayed back longer than she should have to hold the line.”
Her hands trace over Sera’s forehead, but they’re shaking. Her breathing is shallow, barely there. Eres grips the torn leather at her midsection and peels it back.
My stomach turns. The blade wound is brutal and deep, driven low through her abdomen andup, the track of it angled in a way that makes my blood run cold.
Elspeth’s voice cracks. “It went through. Hit the spine.”
Eres’s hands freeze for half a heartbeat. Then he presses two fingers against Sera’s throat. “Pulse is weak.”
He shifts to her neck, runs his fingers along the delicate bones.
“It severed,” he says, and his voice sounds distant, disbelieving. “It… severed the spinal column.”
The room goes too still as heavy, running footsteps thunder in the corridor and another figure barrels through the door.
Valcor.
His eyes lock onto the cot, onto Sera’s limp form, and something like a moan tears from him.
“Sera,” he whispers. He crosses the room in three strides and drops to his knees beside the cot, hands hovering over his daughter. Valcor’s gaze snaps up, blazing. “Fix her.”
Eres flinches. “I’m assessing—”
“You are ahealer,” Valcor snarls, the words shaking. “This time, you’ll fix her.”
Eres’s words are so soft that my chest aches. “Her spine has been severed, Galus.”
Valcor’s hands curl into fists. “No.No.”
Eres turns his head. I see the gleam in his eyes, the wetness there. “I’ll do what I can.”
But there’s no hope in his voice, and Valcor knows it. His head sinks into his hands. Elspeth backs away, slowly, until her back hits the wall. She slides down, her eyes staring.
Kaelen strides in. Darian follows behind him, and he looks… wrong. Pale. Eyes too bright. His gaze locks on Sera, and his face empties.
For a heartbeat, none of them speak. Darian crosses the room so fast he almost trips. He drops to his knees on the other side of the cot, mirroring Valcor without meaning to. His hand finds Sera’s forearm, fingers wrapping around it. His voice catches. “She’s not—”
Eres’s throat works. “Alive,” he says. “For now.”
Kaelen’s gaze cuts to Eres. “Can you save her?”
Eres doesn’t answer immediately. He looks at Sera’s wound again, then at her face. Her wound again, indecision warring in his eyes. And then he glances at me. The look is so fast no one else notices.
My brows knot. “What is it?”
Valcor’s eyes snap to me. “Get thatthingout of here.”
But his voice cracks again.
“Kae,” Eres says sharply, “close the door. No more cold air.”
He obeys without question, shutting the door and leaning against it like a guard. Our eyes meet, and he sweeps his tight gaze over me with careful assessment before returning his attention to Eres. Who turns towardme.“Lyra.”
The room seems to tilt, and my pulse pounds in my ears. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Eres’s eyes are wide, bright with something that looks like fear and hope braided together. “Lightbringers,” he says carefully. “There are stories that your healers can use luminth to create structure. Torebuild.”
