The ear-splitting cry brought Felix's mind to a screeching halt. Aiko's distress pricked his skin with thousands of tiny needles; it twisted his heart and stirred some deeply suppressed instinct within him to protect at all costs. Before he could even fully acknowledge it, his hands were moving of their own accord. He tucked Aiko against his chest, kneeling between her and Dinah. With one arm wrapped around her shoulders, he brought his knife to the ropes binding her wrists behind her back. A thin slit broke apart the shimmering veil that suppressed her flames, and beneath it, fire licked at the ropes. He stiffened.
Though Ameris had failed to cut the binds, he had severed Dinah's suffocating hold on Aiko. Maybe that had been his intention all along, or maybe it was a lucky coincidence. Either way, Felix silently thanked him as he dragged his knife up the slit until it dissipated with a whirl of cold air. It didn't stop Aiko's screams, but it did allow her flames to breathe. They quickly leapt to her aid, eating away at the ropes until her hands dropped free and fell in place at her sides. The heat beneath her skin seared his body where she touched him and he flinched away, dropping her in the dirt. She clamped her jaw shut and cut off her cry, though the twist in her brow still hinted at her pain. The cracks reached her face and she sucked in a sharp breath as she wrapped her arms around herself.
"Please," she choked out in a whisper, her voice teetering on the edge of breaking. "Please, make it stop."
He shot to his feet and whirled around to face Dinah. She paid him no mind, her gaze locked on the Core, her hand still outstretched toward it. The blue glow on her chest had brightened while the Core had dimmed significantly already. His shoulder burned, his head spun, and his palm ached, but his feet moved him without his command. There was no time to think.
Don't hesitate. Just kill.
"Please, make it stop."
Dinah's gaze snapped to him the moment he was within inches of her, carried by the rhythm of his master's old words and the burning desire to fulfill Aiko's request. Her smile climbed higher and she raised her free hand. Silver entwined her wrist, humming with the familiar lull of magic's presence, and she snapped her fingers. His body jerked to a sudden stop, frozen with his blade a breath away from her neck. All it took was the flick of her pointer finger and the invisible force slammed him against the ground. A cloud of dust flew up around him.
Stabbing pain laced up his back as the force pressed him to the ground. Dust stung his eyes and dirt burned the back of his throat as he gasped. Ice raced through his veins, no longer chased away by the Core's fading heat. There was nothing to keep away fear's frigid claws, and they sank deeper into his heart as Dinah stood over him. Her skirt brushed his leg. He gritted his teeth and shoved against the force, but his body refused to move.
"So persistent," she chided him, green eyes glinting maliciously in the orange light. "All it takes is a pitiful look from Aiko and you throw your life away. You've changed so much in such a short amount of time, and for what? It's pitiful." She dropped her hand and the pressure of her magic vanished. "At least you no longer regard everything with that emotionless expression of yours. Weak and controlled as it may be, there's life in your eyes when you look at her." Pursing her lips, she turned back to the Core.
"I hate it, Felix. It's creepier than your blank. When I kill her and take the Ember Core for myself, you'll go back to the way you were. The way you were designed to be."
"I won't let you. I'm never going to be your tool again," he spat.
Dinah chuckled. "Do you still believe it's your choice? You were created to obey—that's what blank, weak flames are for. You mean nothing to her; you don't mean anything to anyone. Only I can wield you properly, so you would do well to stay with me."
Her words made his head spin as though they were filled with venom, crawling through his body toward his heart. Even his flame seemed to shrink back from her somewhere deep inside him. He shoved up, scrubbing dirt from his eyes. It stung and they refused to open properly; a curse slipped from his lips as he fumbled for his knife.
Nova's crossbow clicked as another bolt slid in place, drawn back along the track. His heart stopped and his body stilled, desperately sweeping his half-lidded vision across the room for a glimpse of the raven-haired girl. There was no sight of her. His throat constricted. By the time he heard the crossbow discharge the bolt, it would be too late to move out of the way if he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.
The tips of his fingers brushed the hilt of his knife, but it was pulled from his grasp by a warm hand. His blurry gaze snapped up, landing on Aiko's face. She was balanced awkwardly on her uninjured leg beside him, though the arrow was missing from the wound. Gripping the knife, she shot forward, hands blazing with the Core's flames. Her red cloak billowed around her—a beacon that guided his dim gaze to the source of the sound. A few feet away, Nova was standing amongst the shadows, her one visible eye wide with surprise and a hint of fear. Her aim shifted from Felix to Aiko. The twang of the bolt shooting off the track followed, but it hit the dirt as Aiko spun out of the way, slipping into Nova's blind side. Ducking low, to avoid Nova's awkward swing, she drove the blade up. It plunged into Nova's chest and the girl choked out an anguished scream. It cut off sharply as she collapsed at Aiko's feet. Fire licked at the wound, quickly devouring Nova's limp body and leaving nothing but her ashes behind.
Emptiness hollowed Felix's insides and he stared numbly at the place where she had been. All that hatred ebbed away in an instant. All that bitterness, that fear, that panic. Gone. He gingerly reached up to touch his wounded shoulder, and his mind subconsciously drifted back to Mae's tiny body in the throne room.
Breathless, Aiko turned stiffly to Felix, careful of her wounded leg now that blood poured from the injury. Her hand trembled at her side, steeped in scarlet which dripped from the tip of her blade. Regret darkened her eyes, but her lips remained sealed. Whatever she wished to say remained locked behind the prison of her mind, and he was stuck on the outside looking in.
Dinah's hand dropped to her side as she clicked her tongue against her teeth, glaring at Aiko. And yet it wasn't the face of a woman who had her companion murdered. It was the shadowed look of a noble lady whose dress was stained with new wine. "You couldn't sit still and let me rip the Core from you, huh?"
"I told you to leave him out of this," Aiko hissed. "Touch him again, and I will kill you."
"I haven't touched him at all, oh wise and powerful Ember Core, soul of the phoenix god." Dinah splayed her hands innocently. "Even if I did, why should it matter to you? If you do manage to stop me, you can always find another weak flame. Surely the Core will extend a little bit of grace for its Bright Soul, hm? It shouldn't take you too long. You lose nothing if he dies, and he loses nothing if you die. The only one at risk of losing something worthwhile is me. Without your Core, I'll be stuck as a lowly queen. Why stay there when I could be a god?"
With a roar, Aiko charged for her, flames twining around her fingers as she lifted Felix's knife. As soon as his vision cleared, Felix pushed to his feet and joined her, drawing a longer blade. It was heavy in his hands, free of the nicks and stains that covered so many others. A little slot hollowed out the hilt and he uncorked one of the poisons—a clear liquid this time—and slid it inside. He had never used the poison blade before, but if Dinah was going to use magic against them, it was a good time to test it.
Aiko sliced Dinah's wrist, searing her flesh and leaving the deep wound blackened at the edges. Silver closed the gash just as quickly. Felix plunged the knife into her chest. She sneered as she shoved him back with the invisible force again. Even that wound closed in seconds, and Dinah still stood there proudly with a smug glint in her eyes. It didn't matter how many times they cut, stabbed, sliced, burned, and fought. The silver always sealed her wounds once again.
Exhaustion began to slow Felix's strikes, his vision growing dark and hazy. Dinah's magic shifted from hard walls of force to thin blades of air. Each new cut bled out his energy in the sticky waterfalls of blood. It left scarlet droplets on the sand, stirred up in crimson clouds with each clumsy movement. His steps faltered as his body teetered on the edge of collapse. He shook his head and forced his gaze to refocus.
Hidden beneath her gown, humming with the familiar melody of magic's breath in the air, was the blue glow. It brightened, illuminating her with its pale light. It danced and flickered, curling as it rose higher, like a ghostly mirror of the brilliant flame in Aiko's eyes.
Her soul. He jerked out of the way of a shifting blade of her magic, eyes fixed on the blue core in her chest. If I strike there, will it kill her?
"Felix!"
His gaze snapped up to see the shimmering edge of Dinah's magic blades headed straight for him. Time seemed to slow. His body remained frozen in place, pinned by weariness and panic that shattered his blank. He couldn't think. He couldn't move. He couldn't...
Aiko shoved him aside and the blade sliced her, tearing through flesh easily and soundlessly. A raw scream tore from Aiko's lips. She collapsed with a groan, her hand pressed to a deep gash that cut from her shoulder all the way across her chest to her midsection. A large, red blotch had already spread across her tunic, clinging to her fingers and seeping into the dirt beneath her.
"Aiko!" The broken cry rose unbidden, drowning his mind in the waves of panic. Adrenaline coursed through him. For a moment, his wounds meant nothing—neither did the sweltering heat of the Core or the fuzziness of his distant thoughts.
In a blur of nauseating fear, he whirled to Dinah and sped toward her, closing the distance between them. Hesitation flickered in the depths of her green eyes and he seized that moment to plunge his poisoned knife deep into the center of her ghostly blue flame. With a heavy shove, he threw her to the ground and raced to Aiko's side, begging that the poison would kill Dinah if nothing else did.
Sand scraped his palms as he dropped to his knees beside Aiko, but he didn't care. There was blood everywhere. It stained her clothes, it soaked the ground, it clung to her fingers, it splattered across her face, it plastered the delicate curls of her hair to the deep gash. He was no stranger to the sight, and even the wound was familiar. An easy blow. A killing blow.
He never wished to see her suffer like this—cut and bleeding all over, the life slowly seeping out of her body.
"No, no, no," he breathed. He brushed his hand across her cheek. Her skin had already grown cold, her eyes distant and unfocused. The flame in her gaze had shrunk to barely even a spark, and the cracks of the Core had receded to faint markings across her dark skin. Her breath barely stirred her chest, and it passed through her lips in small gasps. She was already fading. "Stay with me, Aiko. Please. I promise it's going to be okay. I—I can get us out of this."
Her fingers brushed his hair back from his eyes. The touch made his skin tingle and he shivered, leaning into her palm. A warm smile curved her lips as her gaze settled on him. "I owed you one, didn't I?" she whispered. The words shook, breaking as they slid from her lips, but the softness in her expression didn't waver. "Now... we're even."
Realization slammed into him, tugging sharply at his shoulder. He pressed a hand against it. He could almost feel Nova's arrow piercing his flesh again and he swallowed hard. "This isn't a joke, Aiko. I told you not to do that. I told you not to be reckless. I—" He shook his head, sucking in a sharp breath through clenched teeth. His whole body ached, but it was nothing compared to the helplessness that chilled his insides. There was nothing to be done. Lips quivering, he pushed back the curse that rose in the back of his throat and pressed his forehead to hers. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Aiko."
"Dinah," she murmured, threading her fingers through his hair. Her nails brushed his scalp and it brought a spark of nostalgia to the embers of his flame. "If you... stop Dinah, the Core will mend what is broken. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. While you live on, your soul beckons thus: magic binds magic and you destroy us."
"I can't do it." He combed her hair back from her face, clinging to the feeling of his sliding between his fingers. The ends were sticky with blood and he shuddered as it came away on his fingers. "Don't make me do it. She'll kill me too. Death... death isn't freedom. We both deserve better. I can't do it."
"The Core will mend what is broken." She tilted her head slightly, hesitating for a moment before her lips brushed his. It was featherlight, as gentle as the touch of her hand against his cheek, and yet it choked him. It only lingered for a moment before she pulled away with a shuddering gasp.
"Remember the book," she said. Though her voice was soft, there was a desperate, deliberate edge to her words. It was as if she clung to a thread that she wound tightly around his finger, hoping he would remember what it connected to. Yet all he could do was stare after the unseen end and wonder.
Her hand slipped from his face and her body fell still, but there was still life in her eyes when he pulled away. A fiery rebellion lingered there, though dulled by the wound that held her life at death's door. Unclasping his cloak, he tugged it free from his shoulders and fished the last of his materials from its pockets. He laid it over her wound. "Keep pressure on it at least," he murmured. "It... it may help."
She nodded slowly, but it did little to reassure him. Doubt clouded his image of the future. Her time was limited and he had no choice but to trust her that the Core could fix it. He had no choice but to face Dinah.
He swallowed hard and turned away.
Dinah had risen to her feet, panting as she fumbled for the knife in her chest. Her skin had taken on an ashen hue, her face gaunt and her hair ragged. The wound oozed with silver blood, bubbling at the edges of the cut as though the poison had angered it. Her gown was ripped, exposing more faint markings on her skin, fading as her wound bled out. The blue glow beneath the knife's hilt had dulled to a faint spark. Now, only the Core's magic penetrated the air, and it buzzed with angry heat. It seemed to know of the damage inflicted upon its host.
He couldn't help but think of Cinere.
"You think you're clever, don't you?" Dinah hissed. Gritting her teeth, she ripped the knife free in one smooth motion, flinging it aside. It hit the opposite wall and clattered to the ground. She heaved a deep breath and pressed her hand to her chest. Slowly, the flow of blood began to trickle to a stop. "I'm afraid it takes more than that to kill me, little assassin."
The familiarity in her voice sent a shiver down his spine, but he didn't have time to shrink back from her—though every part of him wanted to. There was something in her eyes that was more frightening than her magic or even her ability to evade death. Something that knew him.
Don't think, he reminded himself, feeling for the hilt of his last dagger. Kill. She heals slower in that one spot. Keep hitting it.
There was no guarantee that his words were true, but he clung to them as though they were. Every person had a weak spot, he simply had to find it and destroy it. His legs were like lead, but he ran anyway. His muscles begged for rest and his shoulder screamed for him to stop, but he raised his knife anyway. If he died, so did Aiko, and Dinah would have claim to the Core. He didn't care what she wanted it for—noble or not. There was no freedom in death, and he had promised to release Aiko from her cage.
Dinah conjured a blade from the hazy heatwave of her magic. She sliced in an upward arc; he ducked low and dived out of the way of its edge. The rhythm of battle was one he knew by heart, and its phantom song guided him through strike after strike, forcing Dinah back with each one. Her magic sliced his flesh, staining the floor with his blood, but he didn't care. His vision flickered, and his lungs screamed for lack of air, but he didn't care. Dinah was tiring. Her motions slow, her magic weak. Silver blood leaked from the gashes left by his blade. She wasn't all-powerful. Her magic wasn't limitless.
She was no god. She was just a queen; they too were nothing more than pawns in life's game of death.
A frustrated growl tore from the back of her throat. He turned for another stab, and she snapped her fingers. The sound echoed loudly in the silence. His heart dropped to his stomach as his body froze. Laughter rang through the air, and it took him a moment to register it was Dinah's voice through the haze of weariness.
"Time," she began, stepping closer. She trailed her fingers up his wrist until they brushed the hilt of the knife in his hand. A grin lit up her face as she pried it free easily. "It's so precious to you. You cling to the hope that the Core can mend Aiko if you first stop me from taking over it, yes? A pity. You gamble too much, dear Felix. You see, I have all the time in the world. It's foolish to challenge me when yours is so limited." She ran the blade down his wrist, tearing open his flesh.
He winced, biting down on his tongue to keep back his cry as his blood poured from the wound. Like the snake she was, she only smiled as she cut him a second time. It burned and a yell finally broke from his lips. His mind jerked his body away, yet he remained frozen, pinned in place by Dinah's haze of invisible magic.
"Poor thing." She leaned in close to his face, pressing the back of her hand to his forehead. "You're trembling."
"Get away from me," he snapped. His vision flickered and it took all his effort to simply breathe. He could almost feel the blood leaving his body. Bile rose in his throat as he caught sight of how much had already pooled at his feet.
"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't betrayed me," she purred, trailing her fingers down the side of his face. "You wouldn't be suffering, Aiko wouldn't be suffering, and I wouldn't have to deal out such harsh punishment to both of you."
"You were going to kill an innocent girl!" Felix met her gaze with a firm glare, his face warm with anger, though it felt distant and cold the more time slipped through his fingers. "I couldn't... I couldn't do it."
"Why is this any different than all the others?"
"Because I screwed up!" he bit back. "I messed everything up. It was doomed to fail the moment I set foot in that forest, the moment I laid eyes on her. I..." His words trailed off, his tongue heavy and his mind dull. A ringing filled his ears and his hope drowned away with it. As long as she held him, there was nothing he could do. Time would run out for him and Aiko, and death would claim both of them. Then what? He had sent so many to death's door, yet he had no ideas as to what it was like. He clung to the idea of a peaceful afterlife, but was that really what awaited him?
"Interesting. You're starting to sound quite familiar." Dinah tipped his chin, jerking him out of his reverie. She frowned as she studied his face. "I never realized it before, but you have your mother's eyes."
Every inch of Felix's body stiffened, and his breath caught in his throat. He couldn't recall the last time anyone had mentioned his mother, or when he had last thought of her. Yet the mention of her was enough to snap his attention back into focus. His brow furrowed as he searched her expression for a hint of a lie. He found only truth in her gaze. "How do you know her?"
"I see her every day." Dinah smiled. "In the mirror."
Cold settled over Felix's core and his heart shuddered. The words echoed in his mind, ringing clearly despite the foggy haze of pain and exhaustion that slowed his thoughts. "What?"
Dinah giggled like a giddy young servant who had overheard the most fascinating bit of gossip in the palace. She gave his cheek a quick pat. "Oh, come now, don't act so surprised. I was a young girl. I made many mistakes at the time; you were one of them. Such a creepy kid. You never cried—not even as a baby. Even as a young child, you were a freak. I was glad to be rid of you when I caught the eye of the uncrowned king of Furvus. Truthfully, I never thought I'd see you again when I left you in some backwater town." Her snakelike grin returned; her piercing green eyes narrowed like slits, focused solely on him. "Part of me is proud to see someone molded you into such a fine young man—a blank tool who does only what he's told. But you're broken now, and you know what we do with broken things."
Her magic's hold weakened enough that his head could shake in disbelief. "You're lying. You're just stalling."
"I'm only doing one of those things, and it's not the one your heart wishes it is."
He dropped suddenly to the ground, released from the invisible hold. Shivers wracked his body. It didn't matter how many deep breaths he fought to take in; his lungs were still empty, his head still light, and his vision still tunneling. She wasted his time yet again. Aiko. He risked a glance back.
"Now, now, it's rude to ignore your mother when she's speaking to you."
Dinah's foot connected with the side of his head, sending him sprawling. Thousands of needles stabbed his skull, though the rest of him had gone numb. The world rocked beneath him as he pushed up. His vision tunneled to a small dot, with Dinah at the center of it, rapidly approaching. He fumbled away, desperately searching for a way to turn things around.
His hand hit something hard. A rough leather cover, with weathered, crinkled pages stuffed beneath it. The touch tickled his skin. Goosebumps rose along his arms. It was the same book he dropped. "Heed my warnings before you find yourself drawn in too far."
He glanced down. Scorch marks blackened the dirt beneath him. It was the very same place he had stood with Aiko before when she revealed the truth, when she stopped him from getting too close to the Core.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust...
Dinah's slow, deliberate steps drew closer and closer. The light glinted wickedly off his blade in her hands. Pride lifted the corners of her lips. It echoed in her steps, it resonated in the silver blood that stained the front of her gown, and it oozed through his memories of her words. Yet there were no lies in her face, and no blank to hide them behind. He could find only truth in her emerald gaze, though it carried no hint of affection. A hunger for power lurked there, drunk on the idea of stealing the Core and taking its magic for herself. Regardless of what she said, she was not a mother he should submit himself to, not a queen he should swear loyalty, and not a master who should ever command his blades.
She was a monster.
He steeled himself against her sickly sweet words, locking the dilemma away behind his perfect mask. The heat of the Core pressed against his back—his mind screamed at him to move away—but he dragged himself closer. Dinah followed.
"You're pathetic," she sneered. "You were born worthless and empty, and you'll die the same way. No one will mourn a cold, empty, murderous freak like you."
"Then kill me. What's stopping you? Haven't you squandered enough time?" he snapped. "Or is there still some humanity buried deep inside you that knows spilling blood gets us nowhere?" Even the effort it took to speak left him dizzy. He clamped a hand over his bleeding wrist.
Runes traced the face of his knife. Weapon bared, Dinah lunged for him. He shoved himself back, rolling past the scorched line. The Core's hum turned to an angry rumble. A roaring flame lit within its egg-like body, burning away the black vines that criss-crossed the surface of it. Dinah had barely crossed the scorched line before she was consumed by a pillar of fire. Orange flames licked at her gown, hungry to devour her flesh. Her scream pierced the air and died away just as quickly. Only Aiko's gold cuff remained, clattering against the packed dirt as Dinah was reduced to a charred, blackened lump of ashes.
A queen no more.
Breathless, Felix stared numbly at the ashes. He shivered involuntarily. "The Core is displeased with your actions," he murmured.
The Core shuttered once more. Its brilliant light turned blinding, mirroring the unforgiving wrath of the sun. With a resounding crack, the surface split, releasing a dizzying wave of heat. The black vines fell away and the Core dropped heavily to the ground, sending a tremor across the dirt that shook the walls. The room groaned. Overhead, the ceiling split, dropping bits of stone to the ground.
"Aiko," Felix breathed. He shoved himself away from the Core as another shudder cracked its amber face again. He stumbled and dropped heavily beside her. Bits of rubble rained from the ceiling above as the room shook once more. Cursing, he shielded her with his body.
A pair of dim hazel eyes stared back at him, and a smile narrowed them ever so slightly. "Felix." She reached out a hand and he took it firmly in his. It was ice against his palm. "You need to go. The Ember Core... time is short."
"Time is...? No, no, no." He cupped her face. "No, you said it could fix you. All I had to do was stop Dinah, right? You're not going to die here. There's still time, just stay with me." He pressed his bloodied cloak against her wound. It was already steeped in blood, sticky beneath his hand. Aiko winced under the pressure.
"This isn't Dinah's doing," she whispered. She guided his hand to her lips and pressed a faint kiss to the scars that traced his skin. "It's... ours. It needed a willing weak flame to cut off the source of magic. But I..." Tears welled in her eyes. When she tried to blink them away, they trailed down the sides of her face. "I ran out of time. The Core... my curse."
"I don't care what the Core does!" he cried. "I care about you, Aiko! All I care about is you. If the world turns to ashes, so be it, as long as you're here to face it with me. I won't leave without you!"
Behind him, the Core shuddered again. White light engulfed the whole room; Felix squeezed his eyes shut against it, but still it shone through his eyelids. The humming grew louder until it drowned out the buzz of his racing thoughts and the drum of his heartbeat in his ears. Heat rolled off the Core in thick, sickening waves, like fire racing through his veins. The pressure in the air climbed until it threatened to choke the life out of both of them, though they barely clung to its edge.
With a final crack and a loud boom that shook the walls, the fiery heat exploded out from the Core. It passed over them as a gentle caress of a hearth's warmth, but it collided forcefully with the walls. The ground shook as rubble rained on top of them. Far above, a loud groan filled the air, followed swiftly by a heavy crash.
It ended just as quickly, and a deafening silence filled the air.
Felix shot up, shooting a glance back at the Core. Sunlight broke through a hole in the ceiling above it, stretching all the way across to the stairs opposite them. Chunks of rubble littered the ground, surrounding the Core in a graveyard of the castle's flooring. It lay in shattered chunks of crystal, drained completely of its amber light and hearth-like warmth. No fire danced inside its body, no magic twirled around its frame. It was an empty shell of what it had once been. It had freed her.
"Felix." Aiko's voice came as barely a whisper. If it weren't for the dead silence that surrounded them, he might have missed it. His gaze snapped back to her. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" he choked out. "Please, Aiko. Please. We can still fix this!"
Silence met his words. Her eyes slid closed as her head rolled limply to the side; her grip relaxed and her hand slipped from his. Lifeless and empty, like the Core she hated so much.
"No, no, no, no!" His vision blurred, eyelids hot as tears quickly gathered. It choked him like thorns wound around his neck, stabbing his flesh with their poisonous barbs. A sob rose to his lips, but he had no energy to breathe life into it. It slipped out as nothing but a strangled, desperate cry. Hot tears streaked his face. Salt filled his mouth with its familiar tang, but the wet trails that marred his face were new. Dinah said he had never cried; for once, he believed her words.
"Aiko." Nothing else came to mind. Memories pulled him beneath the waters of boundless regret, and he struggled against its heavy, murky depths. Laughter rang through his mind—hers. The one she would give when she was teasing him, as though this was nothing more than a cruel joke. Perhaps it was. Like everything always had been to her, perhaps it was nothing more than another game, and he was a victim of her wicked schemes.
He gathered her in his arms, ignoring the persistent ache in his wounds, the pounding in his head that threatened him with unconsciousness. He tucked her head against his chest, and laced his fingers through her hair, cradling her body close as the world fell into a painful, numbing lull around him. He swallowed hard against his sobs and bent down to press a kiss to her forehead.
He froze with his lips against her skin. Gasping, he pulled back, surprise nipping through his grief. She had been cold moments before—icy as death swiftly stole away her flame. Now, there was warmth to her skin. It thrummed with the steady beat of her heart; faint, but there all the same.
Aiko was still alive.
I can't even begin to express how much anxiety I have over writing the end. I feel like beginnings are easy, but the end is where the pressure sets in. I set up all this stuff so now I gotta pack it in nicely.
Oh and look at all those plot twists lol :D
Uh anyway. Enjoy the pain, or don't. Whatever floats your boat. I will be here drowning in my manta of "it's a first draft so stop stressing over it." Someday, maybe I'll listen to it, but that day is not today.
One more chapter to go! See you there! :D