Page 106 of Rebirth

Turning away from him, I move to Sophie’s side, taking her limp hand in mine.

“Sense anything here?” I ask, but I know if Mina had sensed anything, anything at all, we’d be rushing Sophie into a regen tank as well.

Mina shakes her head.

Releasing a slow breath, I close my eyes.

“We should put her in a tank anyway,” I whisper. “He will want to see her if he survives. He will want to say goodbye.”

The others agree, a somber tone settling over all of us as Fer’ro lifts Sophie.

I watch as the tank rises around her, filling with fluid and she begins to float, her red hair fanning out like a halo. I can see why He’rox called her his light. He had never seemed so emotional, so truly alive, as when he was with her.

My gaze flicks to the one being in this room who holds my heart, and a part of it breaks.

If by some miracle He’rox does survive…I cannot imagine where he will go from here.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

HE’ROX

Darkness. Then the feeling of weightlessness. Fluid surrounding my body. My mind drifts in and out of consciousness.

Memories return slowly.

The battle. The Gryken’s tentacle piercing my flesh.

Piercing Soh’fee.

The sight of her falling still in Adira’s arms. My anguished cry.

I…failed.

I drift in and out of consciousness, my mind a haze of pain and regret.

I failed her. My light. The one being who saw past what I was to who I could be. Soh’fee brought me back to life when all I knew was vengeance and death. And now she is gone, snatched from this world because I couldn’t protect her.

The fluid surrounding me is meant to heal, to regenerate torn flesh and broken bones. But it cannot heal the ragged hole in my soul. My body may survive this ordeal, but the part of me that was patched together by the one thing I came to love in this universe will remain shattered.

Images flicker through my mind on an endless loop.

Soh’fee looking up at me, her eyes filled with curiosity, not fear. The feeling of her in my arms, her lips on mine. The sight of her still form after the Gryken pierced her heart.

I never got to see joy light up her eyes. Never got to see her carve out a life of happiness in this new world being built.

She never got the chance to.

A roar builds in my chest but comes out silent, soaked up in the fluid surrounding me. I slam a fist into the side of the tank, uncaring of the pain. Physical pain means nothing. This anguish is so much deeper.

For the first time, I wish for death. An end to this suffering and the chance, however small, to see my light once more. She deserves so much more than the violence and darkness that was all I could offer her.

I was never meant for someone so pure.

Floating to the bottom of the tank, I set my feet on the floor and the fluid begins to drain. I stagger out before the tank has receded completely, driven by the need to see her. To hold her one last time.

How long have I been floating there?

Minutes? Days? How many cycles have passed? How many—

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