Gideon's POV The hours crawled, each minute stretching impossibly long. I stayed beside Rebecca, watching the shallow rise and fall of her chest. The healers moved around us in near silence, checking her pulse, adjusting blankets, murmuring to one another in low, tense voices. Maddie hadn’t left either. She remained at Rebecca’s side, holding her hand, her eyes red and swollen. "She's still breathing," Maddie said for the third time in an hour. Like she needed the reassurance. Like saying it out loud would make it more true. "She is," I said. But barely. Her skin was still too pale, her breathing too shallow. The antidote had stopped the poison from spreading further, but the damage was already done. Now it was just a matter of whether her body could fight back. The door opened behind me. I turned. The Queen entered, her expression composed as always, but there was something different in her eyes. Fatigue, maybe. Or calculation. "Commander," She said quietly. "A word?" I nod
Last Updated : 2026-01-30 Read more