CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
"Rest, Lily." Jake's voice is a soft command, but it brushes against my resolve like steel wool. I can feel the weight of his hand on my shoulder, urging me to sink back into the infirmary cot that smells faintly of antiseptic and old fears. But rest is a luxury I can't afford, not now when every parched tree and c***k in the earth screams for salvation.
"I can't," I murmur, pushing myself upright despite the way the room sways around me. My body protests, but I ignore the pain, the fatigue. There's a power inside me, a storm waiting to be unleashed—if only I can grasp it.
Jake's eyes lock onto mine, deep and fathomless as the night sky. "You've got to believe in yourself, Lily. You can do this."
His faith is a lifeline thrown into the tumultuous sea of my doubts. I
