The last echoes of the collapse faded into silence.
For several seconds, Olivia heard nothing but the frantic pounding of her own heart. Dust filled the morning air, obscuring the mountain of rubble before her. Beneath it lay the sanctuary, the chamber where her father had last stood, and the man who had sworn to destroy everyone she loved.
Her hands were bleeding. She could barely feel the torn skin beneath the dirt, yet she continued trying to pull the stones apart until Mathias caught her wrists.
"Olivia, please."
"Let me go!"
"There is nothing you can do with your bare hands!"
Mathias tightened his arms around her waist, holding her back as the ground shifted beneath their feet. His own body was barely holding together. His ribs screamed with every breath, and blood trickled from a wound near his temple, but none of it mattered when Olivia was looking at him with that unbearable desperation.
"He's my father!" she sobbed. "I can't lose him again, Mathias. Not again!"
