Shhh!!!
"Shhh." Cassidy soothed, kissing Mia's temple softly. "I'm here, love. Thanks to him… I'm here."
The room was quiet. Mia's stifled sobbing and Cassidy's soft whisps were the only things heard. The weight of it all—fear, relief, residual heat from what had transpired—still hung in their air like smoke. Neither moved for this delicate instant. Mother and daughter held one another as if the years between them, away from and anxious for each other, could be undone in one hold.
Mia buried her face further into Cassidy's shoulder, shivering, her little fingers grasping the robe of her mother as though releasing them would break it all apart. Cassidy enveloped her in a tighter hold, eyes shining. For the first time in so long, she wasn't the poisoned warrior struggling just to live—she was just a mother, alive, breathing, whole enough to hold her child in her arms.
Then—
Cough. Cough.
