"I don't want the Haven to close," Rhea continued, her voice softer now, almost vulnerable. "Not after all the time I spent over there."
Freya's gaze softened, her blue eyes meeting Rhea's amber ones. "I don't want that either," she admitted, her voice low, the confession carrying a weight she hadn't expected.
Rhea chuckled again, the sound tinged with irony. "Weren't you always itching to run from it? First chance you got, you'd be gone."
Freya's lips curved into a rare, genuine smile. "Guess it wasn't much different for you, was it?"
"Got me there," Rhea murmured, her smile widening, a shared truth binding them in the suffocating dark.
Their clothes were battered, scorched, and soaked, their bodies pushed to the brink, but in that fleeting pause, they were just two fighters, bound by shared struggle.
