— CASSIAN
Everything was dark.
Not the absence of light.
The presence of nothing.
I floated in it. Weightless. Painless. Free.
This was death.
Had to be.
I'd felt it coming. During the fight. During the stitching. During the moment I'd touched Mara's face and realized I was bleeding out.
But I hadn't cared.
Because she was alive.
That was all that mattered.
So I'd let the darkness come.
Let it pull me under.
Let go.
Then I heard it.
A voice.
Distant. Muffled. Like speaking underwater.
"Cassian."
I knew that voice.
Sophia.
My sister.
Come to bring me home.
"I'm here," I tried to say.
Nothing came out.
"Cassian. Stay with me."
The voice again. Closer now.
Not Sophia's voice.
Different.
Warmer. Rougher. Alive.
Mara.
"Don't you dare die on me."
Her voice cut thr
