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The , Jacin saw that Cinder and Scarlet had followed hi a respectful distance back

"Winter would trust him with her life," said Scarlet "I say we open it"

The doctor hesitated ato the foot of the tank and tapping some commands into the screen

Jacin tensed

It took a moment to notice any difference, but then he saw a bubble of air forlass encaseh the bottoh soed above the blue-tinted liquid The difference was striking, to see the lingering redness in her lips and the occasional flutter beneath her eyelids

She was not a corpse

She was not dead

He was going to save her

Once the liquid had drained, the doctor tapped at the screen again and the lid opened, sliding off the base on skinny rails, leaving a shallow bed where Winter lay

Her hair, dael, had settled in lilistened where the light struck her Jacin reached for her hands, unlacing her fingers so he could slip his own pale around her fingernails was obvious now

The doctor started to remove the needles and tubes froenated without breath, that had kept her brain and heart functioning while she slept in peaceful stasis Jacin’s gaze followed his deft, wrinkled hands, ready to knock the oldBut his hands were steady and practiced

Slowly, Winter’s body began to recognize that it was no longer being assisted Her chest started to rise and fall Her cold fingers twitched Jacin set the vial beside her body and lowered himself to his knees aers against her wrist The pulse was there, growing stronger

His gaze returned to her face, waiting for the moment when her eyelids would open When she would be awake and alive and, once again, completely unattainable

He flinched It was all too surreal, and he’d al upon a bower of tree branches She was still a princess, and he was still nothing

The re face, the feel of her hand in his, the fantasy of what it would be like to witness her still, sleeping form each day

A footstep padded behind him and he re in, not so close as to be suffocating, but closer than he would have liked, given that he’d forgotten they were there at all

And here he’d been thinking of bedroo to his feet, Jacin waved his hand at the crowd "Don’t you have an uprising to plan or soht," said Scarlet She was holding an e up," said the doctor

Jacin swiveled back around in time to see her eyelashes twitch

The doctor had one hand on Winter’s shoulder, the other holding a portscreen over her body tonors will be sore for a while, but I suggest we go ahead and give her the antidote now"

Winter’s eyes opened, her pupils dilated Jacin gripped the edge of the tank "Princess?"

She blinked rapidly a few ti to shake the reh he tried to stifle it, Jacin grinned, overwhelmed with relief There had been so ain

"Hey, Trouble," he whispered