And I had helped push her out the door with my silence.
I pressed a hand against the wall to steady myself, jaw clenched hard enough to ache.
“Elira!”
Chapter 32
Elira
The gate clanged shut behind me. I didn’t stay to watch the men carry my competitor away.
I was breathing hard, but my body was on edge. My shadows had thickened around me like armour. I could see people whispering as they stared and pointed.
My secret was out. But at the moment, I couldn’t bring myself to care.
I just wanted Finn.
The crowd roared above, but I barely heard them. They were just noise now. Distant and meaningless.
I didn’t wait for a medic. Didn’t bother to wipe the blood from my hands. I just stood there until Felix appeared in the corridor, his expression unreadable.
“You didn’t kill him,” he said, almost like it was a question.
“I didn’t need to.”
He nodded once, then turned. “Come with me.”
We moved through the underbelly of the Pit, down narrow stone halls slick with condensation and the scent of sweat and iron. My body ached with each step. But I didn’t falter.
At the end of a long corridor, we stopped at a thick, iron door. Two guards flanked it—new ones. Ones I didn’t recognize. One of them opened the viewing slit, glanced inside, then stepped aside.
Felix looked at me. “Don’t do anything stupid,”
I didn’t answer.
The door groaned open.
The cell inside was dim, lit only by a single torch in the hallway. The walls were stone, cracked and water-stained. No bed. No comforts. Just a pile of rags in the corner.
And there—curled in on himself like he was trying to disappear—was Finn.
He looked up at the sound of the door opening, blinking against the torchlight. His eyes landed on me, and for a long, aching moment, he didn’t move. Didn’t speak.
“Mouse?” he rasped.
I stepped into the cell, heart clenching at the sight of him. Thinner. Bruised. Hollow-eyed.
But still him.
“I’m here,” I whispered, my voice catching. “I came back.”
He pushed himself upright slowly, like he didn’t quite believe I was real. Like I might vanish if he moved too fast.
“You shouldn’t have come,” he said.
“Of course I should have.” I knelt beside him, close enough to feel his shallow, trembling breath. “Don’t you know by now? I’ll always come for you.”
Tears welled in his eyes. “Oh, Elle.” He reached for me, and I wrapped my arms around him as he broke. “I was so scared. I missed you so much. I’m sorry—I was stupid, but I didn’t know how else to save you.”
