Chapter 56: Borrowed Time

Lena’s body was weightless in Alexander’s arms.

Her skin cold.

Her pulse gone.

Her lips colorless.

Alexander held her tighter against his chest as if sheer force could pull her back to life.

“No—Lena—please—” he choked, voice breaking. “Don’t leave me—don’t leave—”

Elias crouched beside him, face pale and tight with something he rarely showed:

Fear.

“We need to move,” Elias snapped, his voice trembling despite his effort to stay controlled. “Now.”

Alexander didn’t look at him. “I’m not leaving her.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

Alexander’s jaw clenched. “She’s dead—what do you expect me to—”

Elias grabbed him by the collar and dragged him close, fury shaking through him.

“She is NOT dead,” Elias growled. “Not yet. The purge energy is still inside her — burning her from the inside. If we don’t get her to Cassandra in the next fifteen minutes, Lena will actually die.”

Alexander stared at him, stunned. “C… Cassandra? The hell does she have to do with this?”

Elias stood and wiped the blood from his mouth.

He looked older. Worn. Haunted.

It was the first time Alexander saw him look like their father — not in cruelty, but in exhaustion.

“My mother’s only friend,” Elias said quietly. “The only one who knew how to survive the purge.”

Alexander blinked. “She—she’s alive?”

Elias nodded once. “In hiding.”

“Where?”

Elias’s jaw clenched.

“Off-grid. Deep in the northern woods. She knows the purge better than anyone. She… went through it herself.”

Alexander stiffened. “You mean… she—”

“Yes,” Elias said. “She survived what Lena is feeling right now. But only because of Cassandra.”

Alexander’s breath shook. “Then take me to her. NOW.”

Elias nodded sharply. “We need to run. We can’t risk the purge stabilizing inside her. It has to be transferred before it settles.”

Alexander lifted Lena in his arms, cradling her as if she was made of glass.

He kissed the top of her head.

“Just hold on,” he whispered hoarsely. “Please… hold on for me…”

Her body didn’t move.

Elias grabbed his arm. “Follow me. And Alex—if you slow down—she dies.”

Alexander growled, “Then I won’t slow down.”

Elias took off running.

Alexander followed close behind, Lena held to his chest, her hair trailing like dark silk against his arm.

Branches tore at their clothes.

Mud splashed their legs.

The cold night air pierced their lungs.

But Alexander didn’t stop.

Not once.

He murmured into Lena’s hair between ragged breaths:

“I love you… stay here… don’t leave me…”

Elias shouted from ahead, “Faster, Alex! Her heartbeat—what’s left of it—is fading!”

Alexander pushed harder, ignoring the burning in his legs, the pain in his chest.

They reached an old trail buried deep in the forest — untouched, wild.

Elias jumped a fallen log and shouted back:

“We’re close! She lives underground — in a bunker!”

Alexander’s heart hammered. “How do you know she’ll help us?”

Elias didn’t answer for a long second.

Then—

“She owes my mother,” he said. “And she owes your mother. It’s enough.”

Alexander felt a jolt of hope — painful and fragile.

They reached a clearing — silent, eerie, moonlight glazing the earth in silver.

Elias ran to an old steel hatch half-buried in moss.

He punched a sequence of numbers into a rusted keypad hidden under a stone.

The ground vibrated.

The hatch unlocked with a heavy metallic groan.

Warm light spilled out from below.

Elias yelled down, “CASSANDRA! OPEN THE DOOR!”

Silence.

Alexander shifted Lena in his arms, lips trembling.

“Come on… come on…”

A voice floated up from the darkness.

Calm.

Cold.

Female.

“Elias… you look like death.”

Elias exhaled in relief. “We don’t have time for sarcasm.”

Footsteps echoed up metal stairs.

And then—

She appeared.

Tall.

Dark hair.

Eyes like steel.

A necklace with an unfamiliar symbol around her throat.

Cassandra.

She stopped five steps from the top, staring at Alexander… at the motionless girl in his arms.

“Oh,” she whispered. “She’s taken the purge.”

Alexander stepped forward. “Can you save her?”

Cassandra frowned — not at Lena, but at Alexander.

“You,” she said slowly. “You’re the one she chose.”

Alexander swallowed. “Please. Help her.”

Cassandra’s eyes softened.

But only a little.

“Bring her down,” she said.

Alexander moved instantly.

Elias followed.

Cassandra stepped aside as Alexander carried Lena into the dimly lit bunker — filled with old medical equipment, computers, maps, vials of glowing liquid.

Cassandra shut the steel door behind them, sealing the forest away.

She turned to Alexander.

“Lay her here,” she said, pointing to a metal table.

Alexander gently placed Lena down, brushing her hair away from her face.

She looked peaceful.

Too peaceful.

Cassandra touched Lena’s forehead, closing her eyes.

“The purge is unstable,” Cassandra murmured. “It’s eating her alive.”

Alexander choked. “Then fix it.”

Cassandra opened her eyes.

And her expression was sharp.

“Alexander… I need you to understand something before we begin.”

Alexander stiffened. “What?”

Cassandra looked at Lena — pale, still, her blood glowing faintly beneath her skin.

“To save her,” Cassandra said,
“you may lose her.”

Alexander froze.

Elias stepped forward. “What do you mean?”

Cassandra inhaled slowly.

“The purge can be transferred out…

But the person who takes it—”

She looked at Alexander.

“—dies.”

Alexander felt the world tilt.

“No,” he whispered. “No. There has to be another way—”

“There isn’t,” Cassandra said quietly. “Her mother designed it that way. The purge kills its vessel… unless someone strong enough absorbs it.”

Elias closed his eyes.

Cassandra stepped closer to Alexander.

“You are the heir now,” she said. “Your bloodline can take it. You can save her.”

Alexander stared at Lena.

Her still body.

Her cold fingers.

Her face he loved more than anything.

He whispered:

“What happens to me?”

Cassandra said it without hesitation.

“You die, Alexander.”

Alexander’s breath broke.

Elias whispered, “Alex…”

But Alexander didn’t look at him.

His eyes never left Lena.

And he whispered the truth he’d been running from:

“For her… I’d die a hundred times.”