*Lena*
“I am coming back,” he said, his voice a whisper.
I swallowed, nodding my head and looking down at the ground.
“Lena.”
“Yeah?” I looked up at him, unable to stop the tears from welling in my eyes. One tear spilled over and trailed down my cheek.
Xander stepped toward me, then knelt before me. He reached up and used his thumb to wipe the tear from my cheek. “This isn’t forever. I’ll come back for you.”
“We’ve said that to each other so many times–”
“And this is the last time, I promise.” He took my hands in his, knitting his fingers around mine. “I promise.”
“What–”
“I don’t know what we’re going to do, or where we’re going to live. But I need to return to Egoren to find that out. It’s going to be okay. We made it through this. We can make it through anything.”
He rose on his knees and wrapped his arms around me. I knew it hurt him to do so; I could feel the way his muscles strained and then trembled around me.