I felt her breath against my neck—a small, ragged sound.Alive. Alive.
Slade swore behind us. “Someone tell me she didn’t get a hit in before we blinked.”
I exhaled once—shaking with relief and fury.
“She didn’t,” I said. “We’re clear.”
Aurelia’s voice was a rasp. “Where’s Callan?”
“Safe,” Slade said and then added, “With Thorne. Probably complaining already.”
Good. I didn’t care where Slade had taken him. Not when Aurelia was in my arms and we were safe from death.
I didn’t loosen my hold. Couldn’t.
Aurelia finally lifted her head, eyes still dazed.
“Rydian,” she whispered. “I couldn’t do it. I failed.”
“You survived,” I corrected, brushing a thumb over her cheek without thinking. “We all did. And she didn’t get the throne.”
“She did, though. We left her in there with it.”
“It doesn’t belong to her,” I said. “That’s not a failure.”
Her breath hitched. But I pulled her closer anyway—because I needed to feel her heartbeat, needed to know she was whole.
“We will finish this,” I told her quietly. “We’ll end her. But not today.”
Her fingers curled into the front of my shirt.
“Not today,” she echoed.
Slade’s voice broke the moment. “So. Good news: We’re alive. Bad news? Heliconia’s about to tear the entire Autumn Court apart, trying to find us.”
Aurelia sagged slightly in my arms. “Then we run.”
“Where?” Slade asked.
“I know a place,” I said, my voice low, certain, absolute.
They both looked at me, but all I saw was her.
Aurelia’s throat bobbed as she swallowed. “You came for me.”
I met her gaze, let her see the truth in it. “I would walk through Hel and back for you, Furious.”
Her breath shivered.
Behind us, Slade groaned. “Gods above. If you two start kissing in front of me again, I’m shadow-walking myself into the nearest river.”
Aurelia elbowed him weakly. “Just say you’re still daydreaming about that naiad hottie.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
But there was a grin on his face.
And Aurelia was alive.
