At that moment, Julies' face flashed through her mind.
Her chest tightened.
His voice echoed faintly in her memory, gentle but firm.
"—Go and take care of yourself."
Alice's breath caught.
Something inside her cracked, and a painful surge of emotion welled up in her chest—grief, guilt, and something else… something warmer.
He saved me.
Because of him—because he had used the return stone on her at the last possible second—she was still alive. Battered, broken, humiliated, yes… but alive.
She hadn't even seen his expression in those final moments.
There had been no time.
One second she was facing down death, and the next—she was here.
Safe.
Because he made the choice.
He could have left her.
He could have used the stone for himself and escaped alone. That would've been the rational thing to do. The smart thing.
But Julies wasn't like that.
He never had been.
