Page 125 of Savage Crown

The path is clear.

I don’t hesitate.

I disappear into the tunnels, Seraphina held tight against my chest.

I don’t stop running.

Not until the fires fade behind us.

Not until the screams become nothing but a distant whisper of death.

Not until I know we’re safe.

Only then do I finally collapse to my knees, dragging in breath after breath.

And only then do I finally let myself look at her.

Seraphina.

Her skin is too pale in the dim torchlight.

Her breath too slow . My heart beats like a war drum, frantic and racing.

No. No. I can’t fix this.

I hold my hand against her wound, trying to stem the bleeding.

Trying to keep her here.

Her eyelashes flutter.

She’s barely clinging to consciousness.

But she’s fighting.

She’s always fighting.

I brush blood-matted hair from her face.

She leans into the touch.

Barely.

But enough.

Enough to make something crack open inside me.

Something raw.

Something terrifying.

Something that feels too much like love.

I swallow hard.

She can’t see me like this.

Can’t see me break.

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