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like she snuffed it out. Ripped me from it.
She, and Cairn, and everything they did to
me.” She gulped down air, and Rowan
wrapped her in his arms and pulled her onto
his lap. “I am so tired,” she wept. “I am so, so
tired, Rowan.”
“I know.” He stroked her hair. “I know.” It
was all there really was to say.
Rowan held her until her weeping eased
and she lay still, nestled against his chest.
“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered.
“You fight,” he said simply. “We fight.
Until we can’t anymore. We fight.”
She sat up, but remained on his lap, staring
into his face with a rawness that destroyed
him.
Rowan laid a hand on her chest, right over
that burning heart. “Fireheart.”
A challenge and a summons.
She placed her hand atop his, warm despite