Xenon had never understood what it felt like to be burned. He was born of fire himself, the very blood in his veins was the fiercest flame. How could he be burned?
But now, as he held her in his arms, her blood seeped into his robes. It grazed his skin, warm...too warm. And he finally understood it.
What it meant, to be burned.
She was breathing still. That was the first thing he'd confirmed.
Slow, and pained as each breath was, she was alive. And that meant there was still an opportunity to make it up to her, for these months... for this day, and for their numerous failures.
"Beloved..." Jian's voice trembled.
Xenon had never heard him sound like that before.
"Step aside." Everon's tone was clipped as he came up to them. In the way he always sounded when he already knew how grim the situation was from a glance.
"Will she be okay?" The question came from Kaideon.
The answer? Silence.
______________
When Neveah woke up, she was staring up at a strange ceiling.
