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When I’m empty, I sit back, and Beth wraps her arms around me

“Parnon?” Silmaran slaps his face, each thwap harder

“Please, friend” Nemar kneels on the wet floor “Please”

His chest doesn’t rise, and no breath passes his lips

“Parnon!” Silmaran yells and smacks him harder as Chastain clasps his hands in prayer to the Ancestors

“Coently

I want to shield her from this, from all of it But I can’t Not in this horrible place where the high fae have beco of slavery, the death of freedom

A shtly in ht, my beloved”

She hiccups on a sob “It’s just the cruelty It was so easy for the more than a fly to swat” Tears roll down her cheeks, and she buries her face in my chest

Sils her head “Parnon”

Chastain finishes his prayer and puts his hand on her shoulder “I’”

“There was nothing you could do” She ss a sob, her back shaking “You couldn’t do anything to save him They would have known you were part of the resistance” Her shallow shrug is hopeless “Maybe they already do”

“If they truly suspected Chastain, they would’ve arrested him” Nemar puts his hand on Parnon’s forehead “Rest now, my friend”

Siled I proht”

“And you’ll lose it without e breath, his eyes flying open

“Brute!” Beth leans forward as Silmaran jerks to attention “You made it!”

“Everything hurts” He coughs weakly, water flowing from his mouth

“We need to dry him out Hurry!” Silmaran takes his arm as if she can lift him on her own He doesn’t move

“Stay close” I kiss Beth’s crown and set her aside, then scoop Parnon into my arms

“Heavy, right?” Parnon’s tone is half-dead, half-cocky

“As light as a newborn winter realrithall

Nemar runs ahead and throws open the back door A sandy patio lies beyond, the high walls hiding us fro sky looms overhead

“On the sand” Sile chairs, and I lay hiround, still hot despite the sun’s absence

Parnon lets out a long sigh as water begins to sluice away fro up every ounce of water as his color returns

Silhs with relief and falls into one of the crooked lounge chairs “By the Ancestors, I thought it was over”

“It would have been if not for you” Chastain looks up at me

I shift fro”

“You saved him” Beth jumps at me, and I catch her in my arms

“For you”

Her kiss is a wild thing, fast, fierce, unexpected, and entirely welco the seaues caress each other as I lift her higher and angle her head so I can taste her fully She wraps her arainst s to the air This is what I was ive her everything she needs

So a master class on how to make a female curl her toes

“Oh, for the love of the Ancestors” Chastain huffs “Is no one going to ic after he beat the Spires out of me?”

Parnon’s laugh ruainst my mouth

5

Beth