Chapter 6
Bree
I’m not dead.
That’s the first thought. Stupid, maybe, but it’s the one that surfaces as my lungs pull in air and my chest doesn’t scream in protest.
I’m not dead, and I’m being held.
Arms around me. Warmth against my back. A heartbeat under my ear that isn’t mine.
Stellan.
I know his scent before I open my eyes. Something expensive and sharp underneath the ash and blood and exhaustion.
My body feels… fine. Better than fine. The bone-deep drain I expected isn’t there. I’m tired—gods, I’m tired—but it’s the kind of tired that comes after a good cry, not after almost burning yourself alive channeling enough magic to level a city.
I healed them.
They healed me.
That’s how this works now. I think I always knew that, somewhere underneath the fear. But knowing it and feeling it are different things.
I open my eyes.
They’re all here.
Gray on my right, close enough to touch, one hand hovering near my shoulder like he’s afraid I’ll disappear if he blinks. His leg is straight again—healed—but his eyes are red-rimmed and raw.
Wes kneeling in front of me, face blotchy, tear tracks still wet on his cheeks. He’s not trying to hide it. He’s just looking at me like I’m the only thing in the world that matters.
Rhett beside him, hands still faintly warm, fire banked but steady. The burns on his arms are gone.
Jace a little further back, one hand on his knee, the other pressed flat against the ground like he needs to feel something solid. His ribs aren’t broken anymore. I can tell by the way he’s breathing.
Theo watching me with quiet awe, like he’s seeing something no one else can.
Thane behind Stellan, silver eyes wet. Wet. I’ve never seen Thane cry.
And Seth—unconscious still, but breathing. The wrongness that clung to him is gone.
They’re all looking at me.
I should say something. Something meaningful. Something that matches the weight of this moment.
Instead, I start crying.
Just… tears. Streaming down my face, dripping off my chin, and I can’t stop them because I saw.
I saw everything.
I don’t know how to explain it—I wasn’t unconscious, not really.
I was there, floating above myself, watching them fight for me.
Watching Thane fall apart. Watching Wes scream.
Watching Gray crawl. Watching Stellan wrap himself around my body like he could hold my soul in place through sheer force of will.
“I saw you.”
The words come out rough. Broken.
Everyone goes still.
“I wasn’t—” I swallow. Try again. “I wasn’t gone. I was… above. Watching.”
Wes makes a sound like I’ve just hit him.
“I saw what you did.” I look at each of them in turn. “All of you. I felt it.”
Gray’s jaw tightens. Rhett looks away. Jace’s hand curls into a fist against the ground.
But no one speaks.
“I knew you loved me.” My voice cracks. I don’t try to fix it. “I knew, even if you didn’t say it. But I didn’t—I didn’t understand what that meant. Not until I watched you think I was gone.”
Stellan’s arms tighten around me. Barely. But I feel it.
“I’m here because of you.” I reach out—toward Wes first, because he’s closest, because his face is still wet, because he looks like he might shatter if I don’t touch him soon.
My fingers brush his cheek.
He breaks. Folds forward, forehead dropping to my knee, shoulders shaking.
I let my hand rest on the back of his head. Look up at the others.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
The words are simple. Quiet.
But I watch them land.
Gray shifts closer—finally touching me, hand on my shoulder, solid and warm. Rhett exhales shakily, his fire flaring once before settling. Jace wipes his face with the back of his hand and doesn’t pretend he wasn’t crying. Theo just nods, like he already knew.
Thane’s shoulders drop. Something in his face loosens—not much, but enough.
And Stellan…
Stellan buries his face in my hair and breathes.
I let them hold me.
For the first time, I don’t feel like a burden they’re carrying.
I feel like the center of something. A circuit. A constellation. All of us connected, all of us holding each other up.
Then my eyes find Riley.
She’s still. Ten feet away. Eyes open, fixed on nothing.
The tears change.
Not quiet anymore. Something deeper. Something that aches in a place I didn’t know I had.
She saved me. Her last breath, her last words—touch her, you idiots—and she saved my life.
My sister.
The one I never got to know. The one who took my place and lived my life. The one who I chose to forgive. Though I’ll never forget. The one who could have been my enemy and chose to be my salvation instead.
Gone.
Gray steps closer. Stellan’s arms tighten. Wes lifts his head, sees where I’m looking, and his hand finds mine.
I don’t have words.
I just cry.
And they let me.