Page 54 of Storm of Stars

What if we marched on Praxis alone?

The image haunted me, our ragged team stumbling into the capital, outnumbered and outgunned, only to find a country too afraid, too broken to rise up. What if all we had done was not enough?

I squeezed Ezra’s hand again as my thoughts drifted to my brother. Jax.

It all started with him. This fight, this mission, this Reclamation. It began with a promise I made in the quiet of our broken home, that I’d find a way to give him a better life. That I’d fix a world that told him his body wasn’t worth healing. That I’d come back with doctors and answers and hope.

But what if I didn’t come back at all?

What if I never saw my little brother again? Never got to hold him close or tell him I loved him one more time? I could only hope Ava would tell him everything, that she’d explain why I had to go, why I had to risk it all. Why the fight was worth it.

God, please let him understand.

“Bex?”

My name, barely a whisper, but unmistakable. My eyes shot down to Ezra.

He stirred, lashes fluttering against his cheek, and I leaned in, barely breathing.

“Ezra,” I gasped. “Oh my God, Ezra. You’re awake.” Tears spilled before I could stop them, warm and unrelenting. I pressed kisses to his mouth, desperate and grateful all at once. “You’re awake.”

His fingers tangled gently into my hair as he kissed me back, the touch soft and sure.

“Good morning to you, too,” he murmured, the hint of a chuckle in his voice. He tried to sit up, and I moved instantly, wrapping an arm around his back, steadying him. He was stronger but still groaned in pain as he shifted upright.

“Nice to see you awake,” Briar called softly, glancing over her shoulder with a tired smile.

“Thanks for staying in the land of the living, man” Thorne added over the roar of the engine, eyes catching us in the rearview mirror.

“Thanks for keeping me here,” Ezra said, stretching. He winced as the motion tugged at healing skin, but he managed a smirk through the discomfort.

“How are you feeling?” I asked, running a hand down his unburned arm, grounding myself in his presence.

“Like someone tried to roast me over a spit,” he said dryly. “But honestly? Better than I should be.”

“Bex restarted your heart,” Briar said, nodding toward me. Ezra’s eyes locked on mine, wide with something I couldn’t name. He gripped my hand, his thumb tracing slow, deliberate circles into my skin.

“Yes, she did,” he said, voice low. The double meaning true and clear.

“And Devrin dressed your wounds,” I added. His gaze snapped to the man sitting beside Briar. For a moment,confusion crossed his face, then realization, then something softer…acceptance.

“Thank you,” Ezra said, sincerity laced through the words like steel. Devrin gave a small nod, already turning back to Briar.

Ezra looked back at me. “How long was I out?”

“Long enough for the Run to end,” I said quietly.

His eyes widened. “The medical trials?”

“You kind of… were the medical trials,” I replied. “We both were,” I added, lifting my bandaged leg for him to see.

He let out a dry breath. “So, I’m guessing that means I didn’t place very high.”

A smile pulled at my lips, but it didn’t last.

“When the Run ended, Veritas sent guards to execute us.”

Ezra’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t look surprised. Of course he wasn’t. None of us should’ve been. We should’ve known.