CHAPTER 158IRIS’S POVThe world didn't come back in a rush; it leaked in, drop by agonizing drop.First, the smell: scorched ozone and that sharp, medicinal sting of hospital-grade bleach. Then, the sound: a low, rhythmic throb that wasn't a siren or a heart monitor, but the building itself, humming like a massive, cooling engine.I opened my eyes, and for a second, I thought I was still in the sub-basement. The ICU room was draped in shadows, the clinical white tiles cracked and blackened in a circular pattern around the bed. The glass observation deck had shattered outward, fine shards of diamond-like dust coating every surface."Darius?" I croaked, my throat feeling like I’d swallowed a handful of dry sand.A hand, warm and heavy with a familiar, grounding heat, found mine. I turned my head, my neck clicking in protest. Darius was slumped against the wall beside me, his charcoal suit jacket gone, his white shirt torn open at the collar. He looked like he’d been through a centrifug
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