"Can you stand?"
Alessandro's question reached Elara through the grinding roar of the collapsing chamber, yet she remained upon her knees beside the shattered crown, unable to tear her gaze away from the fragments scattered across the ancient floor. Dust clung to her cheeks, mingling with the tears she had not realised were falling, while the crimson light beneath her skin flickered like a dying flame that refused to surrender its last breath. She pressed one trembling hand against the stone, determined to rise without assistance, but the moment she shifted her weight, the ground lurched beneath her and a sharp pain travelled through her injured shoulder. Alessandro reached for her instinctively, then stopped himself when he remembered the promise he had made to her, leaving his hand suspended between them as he waited for her decision.
