[sylvanSpider]

Had Ashi not been gripped by fear in that moment, she would have retorted with something along the lines of “Weren't you going to do something along those lines anyway?” But instead she was curled up in Hyun's arms, trembling, terrified, ...useless. The fae was terrifying and unlike anything she'd ever seen. As far as she knew, there was no possible way to beat this thing.

Ashi felt a nudge, initially, and then pain, a searing pain. Wide blue eyes looked down at her arm for the first time since the beat in and sure enough, two bones were poking through her skin, one of which was in Hyun's hand as she wrenched it. She squeezed her eyes shut biting back a scream. “I'm—I'm sorry,” she squeaked, her eyes watering. Despite the pain though, she knew that Hyun was trying to protect her. She knew that Hyun knew that if they had just handed her over, she and Shaldag would both get out of there alive and untouched. But Hyun liked her enough to save her...to risk it all...to save her.

The tears streamed freely down Ashi's cheeks and she buried her head in Hyun's chest and began to cry. Never before had she felt like such a burden. But, never before had she felt so...

loved.