Lila.
Orán.
“If it consumes this place,” I whisper, my voice breaking, “everything I’ve protected dies with it.”
His gaze snaps to the house—to Lila—then back to me. Whatever war lives inside him reaches a quiet decision, and turning fully, he places his hands on my shoulders, grounding, solid, divine, and human all at once. “Tell me who to save.”
“Lila,” I say immediately. “We need to get her out of here.”
He nods, already moving, pulling me with him. My feet follow before my mind catches up. There’s no time to think. No time to plan.
We run.
The front door bursts open before we reach it.
“What the hell is happening?” Lila stands in the doorway, terror carved across her face, the fire behind us reflected in her wide, panicked eyes.
“Come on, Lila—hurry.” I grab her wrist and yank her forward. “We need to get you out of here.”
She stumbles, trying to keep up as I drag her toward the stables. “Please—tell me what’s going on!”
“There’s no time!”
We rush into the barn, heat already bleeding through the walls. I go straight for a saddle?—
“No.” Orán’s voice cuts through the chaos. He shakes his head once and moves to Nexus, guiding her forward. He leans in, whispers to her, and suddenly, she’s changing. Her saddle appears, her reins, her armor. All of it materializes as if called from nothing.
“Put her on Nexus,” he says. “She’ll get her to safety. And she’s faster.”
I bodily turn Lila and ignore her pleas to wait. I can’t.
She latches onto my arm and yanks me back, forcing me to face her. “Come with me. Don’t send me off alone.”
“I can’t. Not yet. I have to save as many of the animals as I can.”
Understanding crashes over her features, chased quickly by regret, then fear. “Don’t die,” she says, voice cracking with emotion. “Save who you can—but get the hell out before it reaches the house.”
I nod quickly. “I will.”
Doubt flickers across her face.
“Don’t risk yourself,” she says, her tone hardening. “If it comes down to you or them, choose you.”
Orán takes over. He lifts Lila onto Nexus and guides them out of the stable. I follow with Enoch and watch as he hisses harshly to his steed in another language and slaps his hand against Nexus's flank. She launches forward. I copy his motions and do the same to Enoch, sending him off in the same direction.
“Vos Kelis!” he shouts after Nexus, his voice cutting through the chaos.
Lila twists in the saddle, her gaze locking with mine for one suspended, fragile heartbeat. Nexus and Enoch tear around the house, racing hard in the opposite direction of the fire.
Then she's gone.
And my chest begins to burn in an entirely different way.
With worry.
Orán turns back to me, urgency etched into every line of his face. “Where first?”
My stomach drops. A sizable rock forms there. He’s asking me to choose. An impossible decision.
