“Stay with me, Phoenix,” Elira snapped. “Please.”
She didn’t see it, but I did—her shadows were moving. Slithering over my skin. Wrapping my side, stitching torn flesh like thread through fabric. They moved like instinct. Like they knew I was hers.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I murmured. My voice was breathless. But I meant it. I would drag myself to the ends of the earth if it meant keeping her safe.
By the time we reached the shed, my legs gave out completely. I hit the ground hard, gasping.
Elira dropped beside me, gathering my face in her hands.
“You’ll be okay,” she whispered, stroking my cheeks like she could keep me awake with touch alone. “You’ll be okay.”
Then she leaned in—and kissed me.
It was frantic and trembling and full of fire. Like she didn’t know if she’d ever get the chance again.
And gods, I kissed her back.
Then Jasper’s voice sliced through the moment—sharp and low. “As beautiful as this is—we need to move. Now.”
He was already at the cart, loading what little we had. Elira helped ease me onto the flatbed, her hands gentle, but my whole body flared with pain.
Jasper disappeared into the nearby stables, returning with a horse and fastening it to the reins like he’d done it a hundred times. Probably had.
The irony wasn’t lost on me.
Not long ago, she’d clung to Finn like he was her anchor. Now she held me like I was the only thing keeping her breathing.
Some part of me knew—this might not last. But I didn’t care. I’d been pulled into her orbit.
And gods help me, I didn’t want to leave it.
I loved her.
I think I always had.
Jasper swung up once the horse was ready, and we lurched forward.
“Where are we going?” Elira asked sharply, already stripping off her coat to press it against my ribs. I tensed at the pressure, jaw clenched. “And what about the others?”
“We don’t have time to get to them,” Jasper said. “Vasquez’s Sentinels are moving in from the east. A full sweep. If they find us, it’s over.”
Her breath hitched. “But—Thorne, Leo, Slade—”
“We have to get to the safehouse, Princess! It’s the only way out!” Jasper exclaimed. “Then we can get a boat out of here. We will be safe.”
“I can’t leave them!”
“We have no way to communicate with them!” I gasped.
“Yes we do!”
Elira gripped my hand, then stilled, as a thought came to her. She touched the star shaped mark on my wrist.
“Call them.” she demanded. “Call them to us now.”
Of course!
I nodded in understanding and pushed down on the mark on my wrist, the small star shaped scar. I dug my nail in and sent a single thought towards them.
