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Helianth’s breath caught behind him. “Look at the lights. Good Light… no ordinary prisoner does that.”
Daven couldn’t look at anything but the man who lay in front of him. Couldn’t hear anything but faint breathing.
He was barely alive. How long had he been here? Where had he come from? Reaching into the cage, he traced a finger over a sharp cheekbone. The skin was cold to the touch.
“Can you hear me?” Daven heard himself ask. He wanted to curse himself when the other man’s eyes fluttered. Then they opened.
Silver eyes stared up, seeking, visibly fogged before they collided with his. Daven’s chest tightened. His finger lingered on the man’s temple and brushed a silver hair away.
Helianth pushed himself forward, kneeling beside Daven. “You are safe now. We are from the Luminary, the Imperial Guard on Helion. We’re going to take care of you. Who are you?”
The man cleared his throat. “R-Ryneth,” he whispered, like saying it cost him something. Like he expected the name to be used against him.
From just behind Helianth, Mirel echoed softly, “Ryneth. Is that your name?”
“Water,” Kylix rumbled.
Someone passed Helianth a bottle, and he cupped a hand behind Ryneth’s nape to lift his head. “Drink. It will make you stronger.”
He hesitated, as if he meant to pull away, but thirst won. The drink sloshed over his cracked lips as it dribbled down inside his mouth. Then he drank hard, each swallow rough and audible, his grip tightening as he drank.
“The s-storm…the s—”
“You’re safe for now,” Helianth murmured.
“What storm?” Kylix asked, voice sharpening.
Ryneth’s gaze went past them, to the ceiling, and traced the cable veins. The lights trembled. “You h-have to—”
His voice faded when a sharp whine tore through the walls.
“What the hell is that?” Kylix rumbled, straightening.
Yure cut in over comms. “Those assholes put a bomb in the building. You need to leave now. The building will collapse!”
Kylix pointed toward Ryneth. “Take him. We go now!”
Daven didn’t waste any time. He yanked on the cage door, but it was locked. A focused burst of air into the latch blew it open. He did the same to the manacles binding the man’s wrists to the bars.
Behind him, guards ran around, the earlier practiced formation shattering as everyone searched for their own survival.
“Vandor,” Kylix ordered. “Get the doctor.”
Daven gathered Ryneth, pulling the man out of the cage and against his chest. Good Light, he weighed nothing.
“Go, go, go!”
Daven started running.
Chaos exploded around them as the ground shuddered, and suddenly Helianth was there. “This way, Daven.”
“The window?”
“There’s a helicopter. Go now.”
Daven held Ryneth like his life depended on it. Ash swirled through the corridor while the floors beneath them continued to fail. Vandor moved ahead to clear the debris.
Daven ignored the burning in his lungs and the rain of concrete from the ceiling. He pulled Ryneth closer, shielding him with his body.
