Page 130 of The Heart Trials

“She hit some brush on the way down. It slowed her fall. I don’t know how, but it saved her. She was breathing. I carried you both down, tethered to me.” He shifts, revealing a bag that’s slung over his shoulder—packed, ready. “I got you both to my personal medic. She’s going with you and Serafina. I have your ship in port. You’re leaving now.”

My mind stutters. “A ship?”

“I promised you I’d get you off this island,” he says, quieter now. “I meant it.” His hair is wind-tousled. Dirt streaks across his cheek, and his shirt is wrinkled and half-unbuttoned. He looks exhausted, hands scraped raw. And still—he’s here. Holding me like what we have is something worth sacrificing for.

He didn’t just carry me down a mountain—his love has been carrying me for longer than I realized.

The realization cracks me open.

“I—I can leave?” The words feel stolen. A ship. He got me a ship. Passage off this island.

He nods. But if he has a ship for me, that means he is really giving up on stealing the magic. On unseating his father.

“You and Serafina will both go, and my medic,” he says, voice low. “But I’m asking one thing—when Serafina has recovered, let my medic choose her own path. Let her be free.” He is talking so fast, but my mind is stuck. It’s over? It’s really over. A sob escapes me before I can stop it.

But then the tournament claws its way back into my mind.

Kade’s smirk. Rhythe’s glare. Ivy.

“The tournament,” I murmur. “Did we get disqualified? Who won?”

Caelus shakes his head, jaw tight. “I don’t know who reached the base of the mountain first. I haven’t seen the others. The Ascension Ceremony is this evening. If Rhythe and Ivy don’t make their move first, my father will announce the winner and make them share a kiss publicly, releasing the magic. My father will steal it, like he always does. But I don’t care anymore. I can’t.” He threads an arm underneath mine and helps me to my feet. “Come on, up you go.”

I cling to him, muscles trembling. “How long have I been out?”

Caelus presses his forehead to mine for the briefest second, his breath brushing my lips. “Too long.”

Once he steadies me, he says, “You slept for an entire day. When we reached the base of the mountain, you were brought back to your room. I had you moved here while I called in a favor from Lucent’s fiancée, Rhianne. She’s one of a few allies I still have here. She got me a ship from a textile merchant acquaintance. It’s been scrubbed from the books and pulled into port for you.” He unshoulders the bag and slips my arm into its strap. His touch is steady, but everything inside me is shaking. He secures the pack on my back and gently nudges me toward the door.

Everything is moving too fast. My thoughts are a blur. I can’t think.

“Wait, please.” The last few days slam into me like a wall. My muscles scream and my skull pulses behind my eyes, but it’s the invisible blooming pain in my chest that pins me to where I stand. An ache carved by grief.

Dorian shouting for Mae.

Her shriek.

Serafina’s nails digging into me.

My knees buckle, and I stumble back onto the bed.

She’s alive.

He said she’s alive.

But Mae isn’t.

Neither is the older woman who was very important to her. My heart is splintering.

“Axira, we really have to go.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You were right, Axira,” he says. “It’s really that simple. My mother was a rare Saltblood, brittle and smart. But kind, gentle, selfless. Rebellious in all the right ways. And this place killed her.” He chokes on his words. Then pauses before going on. “At first when you reminded me of her in small ways, I thought it was coincidence. But then, you showed me who you really are, how much you care for people. No matter how much I wanted to shut that down, to believe there is no one else with a heart like my mother’s, I couldn’t. I was wrong. The minute I realized it, I knew—this island would devour you too. I can’t let that happen. You have to leave. You have to be protected because your heart for other people matters.”

I’m speechless. But when his hand lands on my shoulder, I turn into his touch. I’ve already lost too much. I might lose Serafina if she can’t recover. The thought punches the air from my lungs, and something inside me—something I’ve kept guarded and hidden and numb—finally crumbles, one chipped piece at a time.

The world blurs through tears, sudden, hot, pouring down my cheeks. I try to blink them away but the dam is broken.