Aurora's POV
I can't stop touching him — his shoulder, his arm, like some part of me needs to keep checking he's actually solid and not something my exhaustion invented out of dirt and heatstroke.
"You're alive." My voice comes out wrecked, half-laugh, half-sob. "You're actually alive."
Theo pulls back just far enough to look at me properly, and something crumples in his face, the reserve I remember from childhood cracking wide open.
"Aurora." He says my name like he's testing whether it's real too. "Look at you. All grown."
"You used to call me a crybaby." I swipe at my own face, laughing wet and unsteady. "You and Nick both. You made me cry over that stupid frog you put in my bed, and then you laughed at me for crying."
"That was Nick's idea."
"You held the frog."
A rough laugh b
