Eleonore’s POV
I coughed violently as I fell into Rhett’s arms, my hand immediately going to my neck to try and relieve any of the pain that had been gathered there. I had no doubt that there would be a hand shaped bruise by the end of all of this. I looked up as Rhett lifted my face gently to look at him, and I nearly lost my breath with the way he looked at me.
“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice the ghost of a whisper, broken and fragile in a way I had never heard it before. It was all I could do to nod, I didn’t know if I was alright, I didn’t know if we were going to make it out of this alright, but I nodded despite it all.
I looked from Rhett to Hayden, to see that he was already watching me. I tried to offer him a smile, but it came out less confident than I had intended. He didn’t return it, instead he just turned his fiery eyes from me to Bastian. I looked towards the boy’s body too, and saw that he was beginning to stand up now.