BOOM.
A crash behind the tribunal doors.
The agents barely had time to turn before the chamber was flooded with soldiers, bearing the silver lion crest of House Matteo.
Seamus was the first through the door.
The moment he saw her—bloodied, dangling, too still, crimson running down her legs—he stopped. His soul left his body.
Then he ran to her, sword thrown aside, voice cracking.
"NO! Saintess, NO!"
He tore through the space between them, shoving aside the agents who reached for him.
"Lower her! NOW!" he bellowed.
When they didn't move fast enough, his men took matters into their own hands, overpowering the guards. Swords clashed with iron rods. Cries erupted. The Tribunal judges screamed for order—but no one listened anymore.
It was a full on battle against the Church itself.
Seamus held her.
His arms cradled her limp form. She was so cold. Her skin pale. Her face slack.
Seamus paid no mind the fighting around him. Everything else faded away.
"Elena," he whispered, shaking. "Please. You have to wake up."
He cupped her cheek, kissing her, fiercely, tearfully, shaking with grief. The kind of kiss meant to summon a soul from the dead.
His tears streamed freely now, soaking his beard, dripping onto her face.
"Come back to me. Please—don't leave me. Don't leave us."
A sudden, purple flash burst across her skin.
Her body jolted.
And she screamed.
A raw, piercing scream that tore through the noise of battle. All movement stopped. Every blade fell still.
She screamed like a woman in mourning. Like a woman being torn apart from the inside out.
And still she lived.
Elena sobbed in his arms. Loud, uncontrolled, grieving wails—the sound of a soul breaking open. The kind of sound you only make when you think you've lost everything.
When she finally went quiet, shivering in his arms, her eyes fluttered closed again. She was losing too much blood.
Seamus carried her out, bloodied and limp, as if she weighed nothing.
No one stopped him.
No one dared.
His mind raced with questions, fears, rage—but above all else, one plea repeated in his mind:
Please… let our child live.