Samantha's POV
The cave's silence felt stifling. The fire had dropped to a flutter, creating lengthy shadows dancing over the jagged walls. The sense of time running out and of being on the brink of something permanent persisted in me.
Alex sat across from me, his body stiff and constantly ready but his eyes closed. The weight of his previously still words hung between us. He had declared, "I'm not letting you go." One could have hoped for something under any other situation. But here it felt like an anchor dragging me into a tempest I wasn't sure I was ready for.
I could see what was ahead. The last run-through with The Order. Bled for, all we had battled for—all led here. Still, there was a part of me unable to deny the mounting terror in my chest. About what would happen when it was
