Page 48 of Scorched By Fate

We walked for over an hour before Selene’s voice drifted over. “Vyne.” One word, carrying the weight of so many unsaid.

I glanced over at her. There she was, crouched beside Reika, her hands steady.

Her tone turned firm, leaving no room for refusal. “She can't go much farther. We need to make camp.”

My claws flexed in resignation. “Soon.” The word came out clipped, more at myself than her. Her lips twitched in fleeting triumph, though her gaze stayed heavy.

“Good.”

I dropped to a crouch. The sharp pulse of pain still pounded steadily when I tucked them tighter, but nothing quieted the deeper pressure buzzing beneath it.

The outcropping up ahead wasn't much, but it was enough. Stone walls jutted between us and the open ridgeline, creating a half-shelter tucked against the mountain’s angry edges. No overhead cover to hide us from any Ignarath scouting aerial paths, but it kept the worst of the sulfurous winds at bay.

It would have to do.

Selene already had Reika settled near the base of one wall, propping her up with a pile of shredded fabric pushed under her head like a pillow. Her improvised med kit lay scattered across the ground.

Reika’s breaths came shallow and uneven, and her eyes fluttered closed against the world. Exhaustion had overtaken her panic for now. That alone did more for our chances of survival than any words I might have offered.

Selene’s head turned toward me, sharp and direct—an acknowledgment, not an invitation. Her hands stayed carefully busy, adjusting the thin strips of bandage around Reika’s bruised wrists. The movements were methodical, practiced.

“Selene.” Her name tasted unfamiliar on my tongue, drawing something gentler out of me. “Enough. She’s fine.”

For once, she didn’t argue. She breathed out, shoulders sinking. I wasn’t sure if it was exhaustion or agreement, but it didn’t matter.

Instead, she shifted subtly toward me, propping her back against the same slope of rough stone wall. Her hair fell looseover one shoulder. Without the distraction of motion, sharp exhaustion shadowed every inch of her.

“Let me see your wing.” Her tone was low but pointed.

I stilled, my own exhaustion heavy enough to blur the words before they sank in. “It’s nothing,” I countered too quickly. Vainly.

Her hand nudged toward my arm, not with force but with enough weight to slice through my half-hearted response. Her touch was light, but the slow trace of her fingertips across my wing struck deeper than her sharpest arguments ever had.

“I told you—” The words dissolved when her fingers pressed gently against the torn edge of skin along the membrane. My thoughts scattered in an instant, as though her lightest touch had broken them on purpose.

Her fingers withdrew in one swift, careful motion. "You'll live."

My own hand lingered just beside hers without thought—brushing lightly against the edge of her wrist.

It wasn’t enough.

It wasn’t ever going to be enough.

I settled against the rock, muscles tight despite the attempt to rest. Selene leaned into my side without hesitation.

Her breathing was steady now, slower than before but still weighed down by exhaustion. The tension in her frame hinted at an ache she refused to let show. Even now, when her body craved rest, her thoughts cut through the thick silence between us. I didn’t need to read her mind to know she was thinking of a dozen questions she wouldn’t voice, not yet.

She broke the haze of heat and silence with a pointed question. “How long will it take us to reach Scalvaris on foot?”

I turned my head. Her hair was still mussed, half sticking to her temple in damp streaks, but her eyes never wavered. Stubborn, focused, and entirely unyielding.

“A week.” The subtle twitch in my wing flared as if protesting. “Maybe more, depending on how far west we must go to avoid Ignarath patrols.”

Her lips parted to argue—or worse, suggest something reckless—so I cut her off. “Don’t even think about it.” My words came out in a low growl. “If you’re about to suggest I fly ahead to deliver the vyrathis, forget it. I’m not leaving you out here alone, in enemy territory, for days.”

Her brows furrowed, annoyance flickering bright for a heartbeat before she sighed. “I wasn’t going to say that.” Her tone remained low. “I figured out three hours ago that you'd say no."

I huffed a quiet laugh, shifting my weight to adjust the angle of my aching wing. “You're learning,Zhyvarin.”

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