Chapter 65: What Remains After the Storm

The first breath Lena took was shallow… then another… then stronger.

Alexander held her so tightly she could barely move, but she didn’t fight it. She curled into him like she was trying to climb back into his heartbeat.

“Alex…” she whispered weakly. “I’m… I’m okay…”

He let out a shaking breath that wasn’t a laugh, wasn’t a sob—

just a release of everything he’d been holding inside.

“No,” he whispered against her hair. “You’re not okay. You stopped breathing. Twice.”

He pulled back, cupping her face with trembling hands.

“Don’t say you’re okay.”

Lena tried to smile, but her lips only quivered.

“You were here,” she whispered. “That’s why I came back.”

Alexander broke.

His forehead pressed against hers, tears falling freely.

“Don’t ever do that again,” he whispered fiercely. “Don’t risk yourself for me. Don’t walk into death like that. Don’t—”

“I didn’t do it for you,” she murmured softly.

He tensed.

“I did it for Elias.”

Alexander swallowed hard, nodding slowly.

“I know.”

He lifted her carefully and held her in his lap, his thumb brushing away the dried blood on her cheek.

Her pulse steadied under his fingertips.

Alive.

Safe.

Back in his arms.

It should have been enough to calm him.

It wasn’t.

Not after everything.

Behind them, Elias struggled to sit up, bracing himself against the wall. His hair was soaked with sweat, face pale but eyes—now green again—clear.

He stared at Lena like she was a ghost.

“You…” His voice cracked. “You saved me.”

Lena turned weakly in Alexander’s arms to face him. “You saved me first.”

Elias shook his head slowly, guilt tearing at every word.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

“You shouldn’t have sacrificed yourself,” she countered softly.

Elias lowered his eyes.

“I didn’t know I’d come back.”

Alexander stiffened at those words.

Cassandra stood from behind the workstation, finally catching her breath. Her hands shook as she wiped soot and dust from her coat.

“None of you should be alive,” she said flatly. “Not after that.”

Alexander shot her a dark glare. “Helpful.”

“No,” Cassandra said sharply. “Correct.”

She pointed to Elias, whose veins still flickered faintly gold beneath his skin.

“You—your body is permanently linked to the purge. You won’t die from it now… but you’ll never be entirely free of it.”

Elias didn’t react.

He just stared at his hands.

Lena frowned. “What does that mean?”

Cassandra took a slow breath, choosing her words.

“He’s alive… but unstable. Emotion, stress, trauma—any spike can trigger a purge response.”

Alexander tensed instantly. “Like earlier.”

“Yes,” Cassandra confirmed. “He could lose control again at any time.”

Lena reached toward Elias without thinking.

“Elias, I—”

Alexander grabbed her wrist gently but firmly. “Lena. Not yet.”

Elias’s expression twisted with guilt, but he nodded.

“He’s right,” Elias said quietly. “I don’t… trust myself right now.”

Silence fell.

Heavy.

Painful.

Finally, Alexander pulled Lena closer against him and rested his chin on her head.

“Cassandra,” he said, voice tight. “Is there anything that can stabilize him?”

Cassandra hesitated.

“There might be.”

Alexander’s heart stopped again. “Tell me.”

Cassandra looked at Elias.

Then Lena.

Then back at Alexander.

“There’s someone you need to find,” she said softly. “Someone who knows the origins of the purge. Someone who can teach Elias how to control it.”

Lena sat up straighter, still weak but alert. “Who?”

Cassandra walked slowly to the far wall, pulling down a dusty metal box from a shelf. She opened it, revealing old papers—maps, photographs, documents in a language Lena didn’t recognize.

Cassandra lifted one photograph.

A woman’s face.

Hard-trained eyes.

A confident smirk.

A scar down her jawline.

Elias froze when he saw it.

His heart stopped.

Alexander frowned. “Who is she?”

Cassandra held the photo out.

“This,” she said quietly, “is the only person alive who ever mastered the purge.”

Lena leaned closer, her breath catching.

Elias whispered her name like a ghost:

“My mother.”

Alexander staggered.

Lena reached out instinctively and grabbed his arm.

Cassandra nodded slowly.

“Yes. She didn’t die the way you were told.”

Elias stared at the photo, tears filling his eyes for the first time.

“She’s alive?” he whispered.

Cassandra exhaled.

“No. Not anymore.”

Elias’s face crumpled.

Lena sucked in a breath.

Alexander closed his eyes.

Cassandra continued.

“But before she died… she left behind someone. Someone carrying her legacy. Someone who knows the purge better than any of us.”

Alexander’s voice was hoarse. “Who?”

Cassandra turned the photo over.

On the back was a single name.

Written in sharp, unmistakable handwriting.

Lena blinked.

Alexander went still.

Elias’s breath caught.

The name was:

“Sable.”