OPERATION WINTERSPINE (Strings Between Us Book 2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: OF BREATHING GHOSTS, FLICKERING LIGHT,

Then—Xythe.

He came like night falling. Silent. Sudden. Absolute. The first attacker went down with a crack of bone and no warning. The second drew steel—but it was too late. Xythe had already moved.

He didn't hesitate. But this time... he wasn't fast enough.

Riyee heard it. A sound like the world exhaling pain. A gasp torn out of the air.

Xythe stumbled. His eyes wide. His knees gave way.

She caught him.

"No—no, no, no—"

Her voice cracked. Frantic. He collapsed into her arms. His weight. His blood. So hot it didn't feel real. Her hands pressed against the wound beneath his ribs—useless. Too small.

"Nate—stay with me—don't—"

His eyes rolled back. And Riyee screamed.

A scream that tore across campus. That summoned the Ardent Court in a full sprint. But the attackers were already gone.

When they arrived, they found her on her knees. Blood on her hands. His body curled in her lap.

It was Thres who reached her first, his hammer forgotten. Keryn froze mid-breath. Alexie went silent. Tofer's face drained of all color. Seb cursed violently. Saichel, for once, had nothing to say. Even Lyle faltered.

They had sworn to protect her. But it was Xythe who had bled. They took him. Rushed him.

His heart stopped. Twice. They brought him back—barely. But something in all of them cracked. Because she had screamed. And she wasn't supposed to scream.

****

Celestine Ardent Academy's THE RED SANCTUM– Infirmary Wing, Restricted Level

Riyee sat next to his cot like a broken statue. Arms around her knees. Uniform replaced. But the blood remained—in memory, in breath, in silence.

The curtain was drawn. The monitors were steady now. But her heart was not.

The others came. One by one.

Lyle.

Keryn.

Seb.

Tofer.

Alexie.

Thres.

Saichel.

They said nothing.

Because how do you speak when your Princess is quiet? When she won't look at you?

"He didn't hesitate," she whispered at last. "He just... moved. I didn't even see him get hit."

"He lived," Lyle said.

"But he almost didn't," she replied.

She stared at the place just beneath Xythe's ribs. Her hands curled tighter. "They wanted me. They took him instead."

"You didn't lose him," Saichel said.

But Riyee didn't answer. Because she wasn't sure if that was true.

Then—a beep.

A breath.

His fingers twitched.

"Nate?" She leaned in.

He opened his eyes. Cloudy. Familiar. "Elle?"

She laughed. Sobbed. Grabbed his hand.

"You idiot," she whispered. "You broke the rule."

"What rule?"

"You're not allowed to almost die."

He smiled. Barely. "Didn't plan on it."

She pressed her forehead to his. Closed her eyes. And the rest of the Court finally exhaled.

One Week Later

THE RED SANCTUM Infirmary North Wing, Restricted Level

Xythe couldn't move much. But when he could, his eyes tracked her.

Riyee came every morning. Sometimes she brought her journal. Sometimes she said nothing. But she always looked at him like he'd left and hadn't fully come back.

Until one night—

The sensors dimmed.

She slipped through the curtain like she'd done it a hundred times.

"Scoot over," she murmured.

"You're not supposed to—"

"I know."

She slid beside him. Careful. Close.

He didn't speak. Because he didn't want to wake the ache in his chest. And because silence with her was never empty.

"I thought I lost you," she whispered.

"You didn't."

"But you almost—"

He turned his head. "Elle."

She blinked.

"You're the reason I fought that hard."

She didn't speak. Just slid her fingers into his.

He held them. Not like a soldier. Not like a protector. Like a boy who had fallen in love—with the girl the world called Princess, but who would always be his Elle.

And in that tiny infirmary bed, wrapped in shadows and moonlight, they did what warriors rarely got to do—they held on. To each other. To breath. To the fragile, impossible hope that somehow, love could survive a battlefield.

PRESENT DAY - DELA VEGA MEDICAL CLINIC

KD's POV

"Don't... die."

Her voice. Barely audible. A whisper at the edge of a dream. I snap up.

Her fingers twitch. Curl. Find mine.

And just like that, she's not a memory anymore. Not the silent girl on the infirmary floor of some broken past.

She's here. Bleeding, yes. Fragile, maybe.

But breathing.

I lean close.

My voice is firm. Quiet. Frosted steel. "I'm not going anywhere, love."

She flinches—barely. But I see it. The way her lashes flutter. The tremor in her jaw. Like she's caught between then and now—between blood that once belonged to someone else,

and mine.

And this time, I hold her hand tighter. Because maybe, just maybe.. She's finding her way back.

And I'll be right here. When she does.