“Selene,” I said, my voice shaking. “Open your eyes.”
She didn’t stir. I placed my hand over her heart. I could barely feel it beating. The tether was thinning, stretching out into the void.
“Don’t you do this,” I whispered, tightening my grip on her. “We had a deal. We survive.”
I pressed my forehead against hers.
“You are not allowed to leave me here,” I said, my voice breaking. “I waited so many years to find you. You don’t get to leave me alone in this world.”
She let out a soft, rattling breath. Her heart stuttered under my hand. I leaned close to her ear, desperate to reach her through the fog.
“Stay with me, Selene,” I whispered fiercely. “Aelira says we are two halves, and I am not ready for the silence. Do you understand? I am not letting you go.”
I closed my eyes and reached for the magic. Not Shadow. I didn’t have Light to give her, but I had life. I had the resonance. I pushed.
I poured my own strength into the channel. I visualised the broken arch on her shoulder, and I fed it everything I had left. My energy, my will, the very beat of my heart. I was trying to tether her, to be the weight that kept her soul from drifting away.
Take it, I commanded her. Take it all. Stay anchored.
I felt a jolt.
Her chest rose. A breath—faint yet steady—filled her lungs. The frequency flared into a low, persistent tone. A shared pulse. A firm hold on life.
Her eyelids fluttered.
“Riven?”
It was barely a sound. More a shape of the lips. I let out abreath that was half-sob. I clutched her closer, burying my face in her neck, shaking with the relief of it.
“I’m here,” I rasped. “I’ve got you.”
“Is it…” She drifted, fighting to stay awake. “Is it done?”
“You broke it,” I said. “It’s gone.”
She gave a tiny, weak nod against my chest. Her hand moved, fingers curling weakly into my shirt.
“Tired,” she whispered.
“I know. I’ll get us out.”
The lift dinged. The display flashed LOBBY. I shifted my grip, coiling my legs under me. The vulnerability of the moment vanished, replaced by the cold, hard instinct of the weapon she needed me to be.
“Stay with me, Selene,” I murmured, standing up with her in my arms. “We’re almost there.”
The lift doorsslid open with a soft chime that sounded obscene against the wreckage of the lobby.
The polished expanse of white marble I had walked into less than an hour ago was gone. In its place was a ruin of shattered glass and slush.
I stepped out, my arms tightening around Selene. She was limp against me, her head resting on my shoulder, her breathing shallow but steady.
Dane and Goran were waiting near the entrance to the service corridor. They looked battered.
Dane was leaning against a pillar, favouring his left leg. He had thrown on Goran’s massive trench coat to cover himself; the heavy fabric swallowed his frame, the oversized sleeves rolled back to his elbows to leave his hands free, his knuckles raw and bloody.
Goran stood guard beside him, his tactical gear shredded toribbons from the fight, revealing the dark, shifting ink of binding runes on his skin beneath.
Motion flared in the stairwell door to my right.
