My eyes snapped open—wild, unseeing—pupils dilated in terror as the last tendrils of hell released their grip.
Theo loomed above me, sweat beading across his forehead.His hand shook as it hovered over my face, fingers splayed like he was afraid I might break at his touch.
I lay frozen—a statue carved from fear.The flames still licked at my skin, a phantom fire that refused to die.
Theo’s fingers pressed gently against my cheek, thumb brushing away tears I didn’t know had fallen.
“Elira, please look at me.”His voice cracked.“You’re scaring the shit out of me.”
I forced my eyes to track toward his face, the simple movement like dragging weights through water.A sob tore from somewhere deep inside me.
My body unlocked all at once, and I jerked upward so violently that Theo lurched backward, nearly tumbling off the bed.
I slammed my hand against my chest as I fought to breathe.Each inhale was a battle.Each exhale a small victory against the clinging suffocation.
I stared down at my arms, expecting to see charred skin and blistering wounds.Instead, I found unmarked limbs that looked perfectly normal, even as phantom heat pulsed beneath the surface.
Theo reached for me again.“El, talk to me.Please.”
I had been trapped.No amount of screaming—no desperate clawing toward consciousness had pulled me out.I’d been buried alive in my own mind, forced to watch and feel my skin burn away again and again.
“I’m—” I swallowed hard, tasting ash.“I’m oka—”
“Don’t you fucking dare say that you’re okay!”he snapped.“I’ve been trying to wake you up for over twenty minutes.”His grip tightened on my arm.“I shook you.I screamed your name.I—”
He stopped.
What could I possibly say?He had every right to look at me like I was disintegrating before his eyes.Maybe because I was.Maybe that was exactly what was happening—piece by piece, nightmare by nightmare, until nothing remained but fragments.
Despite my attempt to keep it steady, my bottom lip began to quiver, then the dam broke completely.
Hot tears spilled over my cheeks as a keening cry erupted from my chest.I shot my arms out, wrapping them around his neck like he was the only thing keeping me tethered to this world.I collapsed against him, my face buried in the hollow of his throat as I sobbed.
“I don’t know why this is happening to me, Theo,” I sniffled.“I don’t—I can’t—”
“Shhh,” He wrapped his arms around me, one hand splaying across my back while the other cradled the base of my skull, working through the tangled, sweat-soaked mess of my hair.“I’m right here.”
I exhaled every ounce of air—every fragment of the nightmare.His heartbeat gradually slowed against my skin, and with it, the crushing weight in my chest began to ease.
“Okay, not to interrupt this very touching moment, but…” Theo’s head lifted slowly, like he was trying to process something impossible.“Please tell me I’m not hallucinating from sleep deprivation, but do you have a fucking balcony now?”
I pulled back just enough to follow his line of sight, and there it was—impossible and beautiful.The sky beyond bled purple and gold, the sun just beginning its climb above the horizon.
“Dalkhan.”I whispered.
“So what exactly is happening here?”Theo waved his hand toward the balcony, his eyebrows raised.“Because I’ve been stuck with suffocating walls and zero natural light, and you getthis?”He looked around enviously.“I mean, what do I need to do?What exactly does he like?I’m not above a little seduction if it gets me this.”
I slapped his chest as laughter bubbled up from inside me.
“You’re ridiculous.”
Just like that, Theo had done it again.He’d pulled me from the storm with nothing more than his presence and his infuriating ability to find light in even the darkest moments.
I raised a hand to cup his cheek.“Thank you, Theo.”
“Always, El.Always.”He raised his pinkie to his lip, pressing a soft kiss against it.
When he left, the room was too quiet.Too empty.I pushed myself up from the bed and moved toward the balcony.I traced the cool surface of the stone column as I stepped into the morning air.
