Hazel's POV
The hospital waiting room smelled like antiseptic and cold coffee, and I sat in a plastic chair that did nothing for my back, still wearing the emerald dress, the hem stained dark at the edge where I had knelt beside Julian on the ballroom floor. Every few minutes a nurse walked past without looking at me, and every time the double doors swung open my whole body jolted forward before I caught myself. Adrian sat two chairs away, close enough to be there, far enough to give me room, and he didn't try to fill the silence with comfort he didn't actually feel. Professor Larsen had gone to find water none of us wanted, just to have something to do with her hands. I kept replaying the sound the beam made, that low groan before it gave way, and Julian's voice cutting through the noise
