The grey light of morning didn't bring any hope to the cold cabin. Instead, it revealed the true horror of their situation. Ava woke up with her limbs frozen, the fur blanket barely enough to keep out the mountain chill. But the real cold was coming from Liam.
He was breathing in shallow, wet rattles, and when Ava touched his forehead, she nearly pulled back. He was burning—not just a fever, but a full-blown infection that was ravaging his body. The wound on his shoulder had swollen, the skin around it tight and angry purple.
"Liam... wake up. Please, Liam," she wispered, shaking him gently.
His eyes flickered open, but they were glazed, staring at the ceiling as if he were seeing ghosts. He didn't recognize her for a long minute. His hand fumbled for the knife on the floor, his fingers clumsy and weak.
"Ava...?" he finally croaked, his voice so thin it broke her heart. "You... you have to leave. They're coming. I can hear the dogs..."
"There are no dogs, Liam. It's just the wind," she said, her own tears blurring her vision.
She knew then that if she didn't get real medcine—antibiotics and proper bandages—he wouldn't last another twenty-four hours. But the nearest village was five miles down the steep, icy mountain pass, and Silas had warned them that the Council's scouts were already crawling through every small town in the Aosta Valley.
Ava stood up, her jaw tightening. She looked at the small, rusted handgun Liam had kept under the pillow. She had never fired a gun in her life, but the thought of losing the only person who made her feel alive gave her a terrifying kind of strenth.
"I'm going to get help," she told him, even though he had drifted back into a restless sleep.
She wrapped herself in a dark, tattered cloak she found in the cabin's closet and stepped out into the biting cold. The snow was deep, making every step a struggle. Her boots were soaked through within minutes, and her lungs burned with every breth of the thin mountain air.
As she neared the edge of the village, she saw the black SUVs—the same ones from the castle. The Council wasn't just looking for them; they were hunting them like animals. Ava stayed in the shados of the trees, her heart hammering against her ribs.
She saw a small pharmacy at the end of the main street. Two men in tactical gear were standing near the entrance, smoking and laughing. They looked bored, which was her only advantage.
Ava didn't think; she just acted. She found a heavy stone and threw it into a trash can at the far end of the street. The loud clang echoed through the silent village. The two men straightened up, drawing their weapons as they moved toward the noise.
This was her chance.
She ran—stumbling, her feet numb—to the back door of the pharmacy. It was locked, but the wood was old and rotting. With a desperate shove, she managed to break the latch and slip inside. The smell of antiseptic was overwhelming.
Her hands were shaking so hard she knocked over a display of vitamins. She scrambled on the floor, grabbing everything that looked like an antibiotic. Amoxicillin, gauze, antiseptic cream—she stuffed them into her pockets until they were bulging.
But just as she was about to leave, she heard the heavy thud of boots on the wooden floorboards.
"Check the back!" a voice barked.
Ava froze. There was no eskape. She looked at the small window above the storage shelf. It was tiny, barely big enough for her to squeeze through. She scrambled up the shelves, the metal groaning under her weight.
She felt a hand grab her ankle.
"I've got her!" the man shouted.
Ava didn't scream. She kicked back with all her might, her heavy boot catching the man in the face. She heard a sickening crunch and a groan of pain. Without looking back, she threw herself through the window, tumbling into a pile of freezing slush outside.
She didn't stop to check for injuries. She ran back toward the mountain, the sound of shouting and sirens following her. Every muscle in her body screamed for her to stop, but she could only see Liam's pale, dying face in her mind.
Dont die. Please dont die until I get back, she prayed.
By the time she reached the cabin, her hands were bleeding and her face was numb from the frost. She burst through the door, half-expecting to find Liam gone.
He was still there, but he had fallen off the bed. He was lying on the floor, his fingers clawing at the wooden planks. He looked like a fallen king in a forgotten tomb.
Ava collapsed next to him, her hands fumbling to open the medicine bottles. "I'm here, Liam. I've got it. I've got you."
She managed to get the pills into his mouth, forcing him to swallow with a bit of melted snow. Then, she began to clean the wound. As the antiseptic hit the infection, Liam's body jerked, his eyes snapping open.
"Ava..." he gasped, his hand reaching up to touch her face. His skin was still burning, but the glaze in his eyes was gone. He looked at her with a mix of horror and pure,
unadulterated love. "You... you went to the village. You risked everything for me."
"I told you," she whispered, leaning down to press her forehead against his. "We burn together, remember?"
Liam's grip on her hand tightened, his eyes filling with tears for the first time. "I don't deserve you. I've spent my whole life being a monster, and you... you're the only thing that's ever been real."
As the fire in the hearth finally died out, leaving them in the grey twilight of the cabin, Ava held him. She knew the Council was coming. She knew the village was no longer safe. But for this one moment, as she felt Liam's pulse steadying under her touch, she didn't care about the war.
She was a queen of the ashes, and her king was finally coming back to life.