I touched her arm carefully. She flinched but didn't pull away, didn't look at me. Moving on instinct, operating on autopilot.
Kane got up and made his way toward us. He gave her a respective distance and sat down, his back facing us.
The silence that settled over us felt heavier than the darkness had.
I inventoried our physical state. Kael favored his left side. Kane's axe hung lower than usual. Zephyr held onto his crossbow with shaky hands. Seris appeared physically intact but emotionally shattered.
And me, I catalogued my own damage with detached precision. Bruised sternum. Wrenched shoulder.
Time was running out faster than I'd calculated.
"We need a plan," Kael said into the silence. His voice carried forced determination. "Figure out where we are, how to get out."
"Later." Kane’s eyes had closed. "Can't think. Can't... just need a moment."
The moment stretched. Lengthened. Became minutes.
No one spoke. What was there to say? That we'd watched Vaelthorne burn? That we abandoned Lyralei to die alone? That hundreds of Fae had been slaughtered while we ran?
The reality of it settled over me in waves. We'd found sanctuary. However, it was brief, beautiful, impossible in the world we live in. We lost it in the space of heartbeats, forced to watch something precious and irreplaceable turn to ash.
My father's work. My legacy.
I looked at Seris. She hadn't moved, hadn't made a sound. Just sat with her forehead pressed to her knees, arms wrapped tight around herself.
I wanted to reach for her. Wanted to offer comfort, reassurance, something. But what comfort existed after watching your last connection to your mother die? What reassurance could I give when I'd brought destruction to her doorstep?
"Seris." I tried anyway. "I know, "
"Don't." The word came out flat. Dead. "You don't know anything."
Fair enough.
"We survived," I said instead. "That matters."
"Does it?" She lifted her head finally, meeting my eyes. Hers were empty. Burned out. "Should it?"
I had no answer for that.
She returned her forehead to her knees. "She saved us. Used everything she had left to pull us through the Veil, and we just... left her there. Left all of them."
"We didn't have a choice."
"There's always a choice." Her voice broke. "I could have stayed. Could have fought. Could have, "
"Died." The word came out harsher than I'd intended. "You would have died, and it would have meant nothing."
"Maybe that's what I deserved."
The defeat in her voice carved something hollow in my chest. I'd seen Seris angry, terrified, desperate. Never this. Never so thoroughly emptied of will.
I lowered myself to sit beside her. Not touching, but close enough that she'd know I was there.
"Lyralei chose," I said quietly. "She chose to save you. To give you a chance to finish what she started. Dying for nothing would dishonor that."
"Would it?" Seris's laugh held no humor. "Or would dying for nothing be appropriate, considering everything I touch turns to ash?"
"That's not,"
