Page 122 of Burning Ice
Kylix made a sound between a laugh and a curse. “You fool.” He held him tighter and rose, dragging them both toward the extraction corridor where Helianth’s team was retreating.
The structure screamed. Beams cracked. A column of flame tore up the central shaft. They had seconds left.
Mirel felt Kylix shift his weight, the motion jolting him back to focus. He blinked through smoke and heat, struggling to stay conscious. The corridor ahead was caving in. The noise vibrated through his bones. Through the fractured windows, he glimpsed searchlights slicing through smoke. A Luminary dropship hovered outside the upper floors, turbines hammering the air. Its hull gleamed silver under the blaze. Helianth stood in the open side hatch, one arm braced against the frame, shouting over the wind.
“Move! Thirty seconds before she goes!”
The craft’s magnetic clamps locked onto the wall and shattered the glass with a thunderous pulse. Wind howled through the corridor, scattering sparks and ash. Yure was already inside, securing Ryneth to a stretcher. Daven crouched beside him, one hand steadying the boy’s arm as blue static flickered under his skin.
Kylix ran for the breach with Mirel limp across his shoulders. Vandor reached through the smoke as the floor buckled beneath them. The shockwave from the collapsing core roared after them.
Helianth leaned out. “Jump!”
Mirel gripped Kylix’s arm. “No, we jump together. I’m not losing you.”
Kylix met his gaze through the smoke. Something fierce and unspoken passed between them. He caught Mirel’s jaw and kissed him hard, tasting ash, blood, and the cold of dying frost.
Helianth shouted again. “Jump!”
Hands reached through the smoke. Mirel felt a sudden pull. Helianth’s grip caught him and yanked him up into the dropship’s cabin. Behind him, through the blinding heat, Kylix still stood at the edge, firelight crawling across his back. The structure gave way in a thunderous collapse.
“No!” Mirel screamed.
Kylix jumped, vanishing into the blaze an instant before Helianth slammed the hatch controls. The doors sealed, cutting off the roar of fire.
When the engines leveled, silence arrived like mercy.
Steam thinned to mist, metal ticked as it cooled.
Mirel counted heartbeats against Kylix’s palm and found them steady.
“Told you,” he murmured, eyes half-closed. “I’d come.”
Kylix’s laugh was low, unsteady. “And I’d burn for it again.”
The air smelled of wet iron and smoke, but beneath it lived something clean.
He let the quiet settle, thin, trembling, alive.
The roar vanished. The air pressed close and hot.
Mirel sat where they dropped, foil crackling against his skin. Every breath scraped through smoke. His hands shook. He tried to slow them but they kept trembling. The heat of the fire still lived in his clothes.
Kylix knelt beside him. His coat was torn, soot streaking the edge of his jaw. He didn’t speak. He only touched Mirel’s neck, two fingers finding the pulse. The contact steadied more than words could.
“I’m fine,” Mirel said, though his voice rasped.
Kylix’s hand stayed where it was. The warmth bled down his spine until he could breathe again.
Helianth moved past them to the front, shouting orders at the pilot. Vandor checked the locks, his armor scratched and smoking. The floor vibrated under their boots as the engines climbed.
Mirel looked down. The frost had faded from his skin, leaving pale marks that would bruise by morning. His chest hurt. His throat burned. He looked up again to find Kylix still watching him.
“I thought you—” Mirel stopped. The word broke apart.
Kylix leaned closer. “You didn’t lose me.”
Mirel nodded, unable to trust his voice. He wanted to laugh, or cry, or both. Instead he reached out and caught Kylix’s sleeve. The fabric was still hot. He held on anyway.
