ELIAS'S POV (continued)
"You're a girl…?"
Her eyes fluttered weakly open.
Then shut back close and she fell unconscious against my arm. But she kept on smiling.
She collapsed against me like a puppet with its strings cut, all the strength leaving her body at once. Her weight slumped forward into my arms, too light, far too light for someone who had just fired a beam powerful enough to pierce straight through a king's skull. I caught her instinctively before she could hit the dirt, one arm around her shoulders, the other steadying her waist.
Her head lolled against my chest.
Her breathing was shallow but steady.
And even unconscious… she was smiling.
Not proudly. Not triumphantly. Just a small, tired smile, like someone who had finally finished something that had been dragging at their soul for years.
