~Alora~

He said my name one more time after I collapsed into him.

Just Alora — soft and exhaled, like a breath he'd been holding since the moment Maxwell named me as his opponent. His hand came up and found the back of my head, fingers threading gently through my hair in that way he had, that particular tenderness he reserved for moments when words weren't sufficient.

Then his knees gave out.

"Lucian—”

He went down so suddenly and so completely that I barely caught him. We went to ...