Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Chapter 33

The forest was quiet now, the chaos of battle fading into an uneasy stillness. Ragnar and Finn walked hand in hand through the misty trees, their fingers intertwined, their shoulders brushing with every step. They had been walking for nearly an hour, following the map toward the extraction point, and for the first time since the mission began, they were alone.

Really alone.

"So," Finn said, breaking the comfortable silence. "When did you know?"

Ragnar glanced at him. "Know what?"

"That you liked me. That you wanted... this." He gestured vaguely at their joined hands.

Ragnar was quiet for a moment. "The first training session. When you fell off the climbing wall and landed on your face."

Finn groaned. "That was so embarrassing. I broke my nose."

"I know. You got up, wiped the blood off your face, and asked if you could try again." Ragnar’s scarred face softened. "Most first-years would have quit. Would have made excuses. You just... got up. I knew then you were different."

"Different how?"

"Different like me. Someone who doesn’t know how to stay down." He squeezed Finn’s hand. "What about you? When did you know?"

Finn was quiet for a long moment. "The cafeteria. The day after my first training session. You walked past my table and dropped an extra ration bar on my tray. You didn’t say anything. You didn’t even look at me. You just... dropped it and kept walking."

"I remember that. You looked like you hadn’t eaten in a week."

"I hadn’t. I was too nervous." Finn smiled at the memory. "That was the first time anyone at this academy did something kind for me without expecting anything in return. I started paying attention to you after that. The way you moved. The way you fought. The way you always stood just behind Soren, like you were ready to catch him if he fell."

"He’s never fallen."

"I know. But you’re there anyway. That’s what I noticed."

They walked in silence for a few more steps. Then Ragnar pulled Finn to a stop.

"Our first kiss," he said. "Do you remember?"

Finn laughed. "How could I forget? You nearly broke my jaw."

"It was an accident."

"You slammed me against the weapons rack and kissed me so hard I saw stars."

"I was trying to be romantic."

"Romantic? You growled at me!"

Ragnar’s ears turned red. "I was nervous."

Finn’s laughter faded into something softer. "It was perfect," he said quietly. "Terrifying, but perfect. I’d been wanting you to kiss me for weeks, and then you finally did, and I didn’t know what to do with myself."

"Neither did I." Ragnar cupped Finn’s face with his free hand. "I’d never felt that way about anyone before. I didn’t know what it meant. I just knew I couldn’t stop thinking about you."

"Still can’t?"

"Still can’t." Ragnar leaned down and kissed him soft and slow, a promise in the middle of a nightmare. "When we get out of this forest, I’m going to take you on a real date. Not a sparring session. Not a secret meeting in an empty classroom. A real date."

"A real date?" Finn’s eyes sparkled. "Like, with dinner and everything?"

"Don’t push it."

"I’m going to hold you to that."

"I know you will."

Soren’s team moved through the forest with renewed urgency. The extraction point was still miles away, but the rogues seemed to have retreated for now. The map Orion carried showed a relatively clear path through the eastern sector, avoiding the ravines and the densest fog.

Nyra was still on Soren’s back, drifting in and out of consciousness. He could feel her heartbeat against his spine, steady and strong. Alive.

Our mate is resilient, Kael murmured in his mind. The white wolf had been quiet since the battle, exhausted but satisfied. She fought beside us. She killed their leader. She is worthy.

"I never said she wasn’t worthy."

You never said she was, either. You’ve been fighting this bond since the beginning.

"I’ve been... confused."

And now?

Soren didn’t answer. But his arms tightened around Nyra’s legs, pulling her more securely against his back.

Valeria walked a few paces behind, her eyes fixed on the pair ahead of her. She had been quiet since their reunion too quiet, for someone who usually filled every silence with words. She watched the way Soren carried the prince. The way he adjusted his grip every few minutes, as if making sure he was still comfortable. The way his head tilted slightly when he murmured in his sleep.

He never looked at me like that, she thought. Not once. Not in all the years I’ve known him.

The jealousy was still there. It would probably always be there. But it was tempered now by something else something that felt almost like resignation.

She had seen Soren fight for her. He had chased her into the forest and faced down a pack of rogues to save her life. But he had done it out of duty. Out of responsibility. The way he’d said it himself: You’re part of my team.

And the prince, Valeria was almost certain now had come for him too. Had run into the forest alone, had fought beside him, had killed their leader with a wolfsbane dagger and a ferocity that Valeria couldn’t help but respect.

She’s braver than I gave him credit for.

It didn’t make Valeria like him. It didn’t make the jealousy go away. But it made things clearer. Soren had made his choice. He just hadn’t said it out loud yet.

They were crossing a wide clearing, the trees thinning overhead to reveal a pale gray sky, when the ground began to shake.

At first, it was just a tremor a subtle vibration that could have been mistaken for distant thunder. Then it grew. The earth rumbled beneath their feet, and the trees around them began to sway, their roots groaning in protest.

"What the hell—" Orion started.

The ground split open.

It happened in an instant. One moment there was solid earth beneath them. The next, a massive fissure tore through the clearing like a wound, dividing the team in two. Chunks of stone and soil crumbled into the darkness below, and the sound of the earth tearing was deafening.

Soren threw himself backward, Nyra still on his back, as the ground where he’d been standing collapsed into the chasm. He landed hard on his shoulder, twisting to protect her, and scrambled away from the edge.

On the other side of the fissure now nearly twenty feet wide and still growing stood the rest of the team. Orion. Silas. Elias. Draven. Valeria.

"Soren!" Valeria’s scream was raw with terror. She was at the edge of the chasm, her hand outstretched as if she could reach across the impossible distance. "Soren, jump! You have to jump!"

Soren looked at the gap. Too wide. Too deep. The darkness below seemed to go on forever.

"I can’t!" he shouted back. "The edge is unstable! Any more weight and it’ll collapse!"

"Then what do we do?"

He looked at the map Orion was still holding. "Find another way around. There has to be a crossing point further north. I’ll take the western route. We’ll meet at the extraction point."

"And if you don’t make it?"

"We’ll make it." Soren’s voice was iron. "Get moving. That’s an order."

Valeria hesitated. For a long moment, she just stared at him across the chasm, her dark eyes filled with something that looked almost like grief. Then she nodded.

"Don’t you dare die," she said.

"I don’t plan to."

Orion gave a sharp salute. Silas nodded grimly. Elias melted into the shadows without a word. Draven, still silent and unreadable, turned and walked away.

And then it was just Soren and Nyra, alone on the western side of the great divide.

The ground was still trembling, aftershocks rippling through the earth. Soren adjusted Nyra on his back and turned toward the western forest.

"Just you and me now, princess," he murmured. "Let’s get you home."

Nyra stirred against his shoulder. "Soren?"

"I’m here."

"Where is everyone?"

"On the other side. The ground split. We’re separated."

She was quiet for a moment. Then: "Are we going to die?"

"No." His voice was steady. Certain. "I didn’t carry you through a rogue-infested forest just to let you die in a hole in the ground."

A small, exhausted laugh escaped her lips. "Romantic."

"I try."

He started walking, the fissure at his back and the western forest ahead, and Nyra let her eyes drift closed again.

Behind them, the chasm continued to widen, a dark scar across the face of the Mistwood. And somewhere deep in the shadows, something stirred.