Page 153 of The Reaping Rose

It snaps Atlas out of his thoughts, and he also looks my way.

“How is she?”

Atlas glances at his sister, his throat working. When he’s yet to respond, Seren is the one to answer.

“She’s alive. We won’t know the extent of the damage until she wakes.” Tears pool in her eyes, but she wipes them before they fall, quickly looking away. “I should leave you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“It’s fine.” Seren rushes past me out of the room.

Her face is turned away, but the wave of emotion that rolls off her as she slips around the corner only rivals that of Atlas, who has yet to move.

To blink.

To so much as say a word.

I circle the bed, stopping on the other side. Perame’s hair is duller than I’m used to. Her skin paler. We aren’t sure how much magic was stripped away, or if there’s a seed left that will replenish once she recovers, so all we can do is wait.

“I’m sorry. I should have gone with them.”

Atlas’s jaw ticks. “And then what? We could have had you lying here in her place?”

“Better than her.”

He doesn’t argue, even if I know he doesn’t wish that fate on me. Perame doesn’t deserve this. She’s the light in the room, always smiling and keeping the rest of our spirits up when we grow weary. She’s the heart of the court. The joy.

Now, she’s quiet and dull. No longer shining.

At least we reached them the moment they came through the Arch, giving her the best chance. The second I sensed Elorie’s return to the realm, I abandoned my meeting to get to her. Only, Elorie wasn’t waiting for me outside the Arch in Andare like she should have been.

It took a few moments to make sense of her thoughts from a distance, which is when I realized the Mortal Realm released her at Everquell. With magic muddled by the Well, the Arches have been unpredictable. It took her to where our secondary court once stood. Thankfully, we got there before the creatures barreled in on them. Especially with Perame like this.

“You should get to your meeting,” Atlas says, his tone pure grit.

“It can wait.”

“It can’t, and you know it.”

I clench my teeth, wishing he wasn’t right, but now that everyone has returned, there are things to do, decisions to make. “Perame will wake. She’s too strong a fighter not to.”

“I know,” he says, for me or himself. “Let me know what you need from me once you’re done.”

I nod, turning to leave the room.

Greer stands in the doorway, frozen. Her mouth opens like she might say something, but then she snaps it shut just as quickly and walks away. Atlas stares at the open doorway where she once stood with an unreadable expression on his face.

He’s too distraught for me to ask what’s going on between the two of them, so I let it go, leaving the room to find Elorie, who went to bathe and change while I checked in on Perame.

The moment I spot her at the other end of the hall, my magic surges forward. It can’t deny her nearness. An aether bind pulls her close, and my lips are on her. She wraps her arms around my neck, making me whole.

She’s here.

She’s safe.

Guilt and relief blend together when I know she could have been in a bed beside Perame. I could have lost her. But she’s here now, smelling of a winter-kissed pine forest. Hair unbound as I run my fingers through her silky strands and pull her close.

A throat clears beside us, and I groan against Elorie’s mouth in frustration. Which simply makes her smile.