Page 12 of Storm of Stars
Then…
Clang.
Bex’s cell door flew open.
Relief slammed into me so hard my knees nearly buckled. I was already moving before I registered it, sprinting across the floor as she stumbled from the cell, her face pale, her chest heaving. She embraced Briar first, and my sister pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, whispering words meant for only her. And then, Bex turned and she was in my arms, colliding against me with a force that rattled every bone I had.
Her heart pounded against mine. Or maybe it was mine pounding against hers. I buried my face in her hair, breathed in the scent of her sweat and adrenaline. My arms tightened around her like I could anchor both of us with sheer will alone.
“Thank God,” I whispered, voice breaking as I pressed my lips to hers.
She kissed me back, fierce and trembling, like neither of us were sure this moment wasn’t a dream that would splinter apart. I held on anyway.
But even as the relief swelled in my chest, a jagged, brutal fear still lingered.
Because Ezra was still inside.
And there was only one spot left.
“Ezra,” Bex whispered, her voice barely more than a breath against my chest. She twisted in my arms, her eyes darting to his cell across the room. I followed her gaze. Ezra was still at his terminal, his shoulders hunched, his jaw clenched so tight it looked like it might shatter. His whole body was a coil of tension, the kind of pressure that could crush a person if it lasted a second too long.
“He’s still got a chance, love,” I murmured against her hair, holding her tighter, like maybe if I kept her close enough, my words would become true.
Briar sidled up beside us, her voice low, almost ashamed. “Fenly looks just as lost,” she said, motioning subtly toward the last remaining Challenger, Fenly Nots, sweat beading on his brow. “Same boat as Ezra and Bex were. He’s scrambling.”
I hated how Praxis had turned me into this, someone silently hoping for another person to fail, for a life to be condemned just so the people I loved could crawl one step closer to survival. How easily these trials twisted us into their monsters.
“Come on, Ezra,” I whispered under my breath.
“That was nearly impossible,” Bex choked out. Her fingers clung to the fabric of my shirt like a lifeline. “I think I… I just got lucky. I caught a pattern in the code, but barely. And if he can’t…” her voice cracked, and she bit down hard on the wordslike maybe if she didn’t say them, they wouldn’t come true. “What if he can’t do it?”
She started trembling, a ripple running through her body. I tightened my hold.
Then a metallicclangechoed through the room.
Another cell door slid open.
Bex screamed. A raw, gut-wrenching sound that tore through the chamber like a blade. The sound of a heart breaking open in real time.
Fenly Nots stepped from his cell, pale and shaking… but free.
And just like that, Ezra was the last one left.
Bex broke from my grasp, sprinting forward before I could catch her. She collided with the bars of Ezra’s cell, gripping them so tightly her knuckles went bloodless. Ezra was already there, meeting her at the divide, the two of them just inches apart but impossibly far.
“No, no, no, they can’t… they can’t do this!” Bex sobbed, trying to reach through the bars, desperate to touch him.
“Shh, baby,” Ezra murmured, his voice so gentle, so steady it made my chest ache. He cupped her face through the bars, his thumb tracing the wetness on her cheeks. “It’s okay.”
“I can’t lose you,” she cried, her voice shattering around the words. Her legs buckled beneath her, and she crumpled to the floor, clutching at the bars like she could tear them down with sheer grief.
Ezra dropped down with her, mirroring her posture, refusing to let her fall alone. The anger that had lived in him through the trial was gone now, in its place, something quieter, heavier. Acceptance, maybe. Or the last, thin veneer of bravery.
“You’ll never lose me,” Ezra promised, voice rough. “I’m yours, Bex. My soul, my body… all of it. It’s yours. And no matter what happens to me, you get to keep it.”
Bex sobbed harder, banging her fists against the bars like if she hit them enough, they’d bend for her. Ezra caught her hands in his, holding them tight.
“Look at me, baby,” he begged, voice breaking. “I’m so sorry. We had so much left. You and I… God, we were just getting started.”
