I carried Elara back to the packhouse myself, refusing every offer to relieve me of the weight, though my arms ached long before we reached the gates.
She stirred halfway through the ride, weak but conscious, her head resting against my chest.
"You are still holding me," she murmured.
"I am not planning to stop," I said.
"Morgan ," she said quietly, "what he said, about existing nearby being enough eventually. Did you understand what that means."
"I understood it," I said. "I do not accept it."
"Accepting it is not the same as believing it will not happen," she said.
"No," I admitted. "But it means I refuse to let it happen without a fight."
She was quiet for a long moment, watching the trees pass overhead as dawn broke fully across the sky.
"I am tired of being something people f
