Author's Note: This is a short update, but since I had this first part of the chapter ready, I decided to go ahead and give it to you instead of making you wait any longer than you already have. Thank you so much, all of you, for your patience while I have been absent from Wattpad. I hope you enjoy this new update :)

 Clutching her hand to his cheek, Caden sat frozen while every fiber of his being felt like it were being ripped apart, piece by agonizing piece. Blood ran down his arm where he supported her shoulders to drip off his elbow and pool around his knees, staining the fabric crimson. She was still alive, that much was proven by her shuttering gasps, but he knew it wouldn't be long before that too would cease. Then, she would be gone.

 Just like the others...

 That thought sent a ripple of anger throughout his body that flared white-hot in its intensity. His jaw clenched and muscles hardened until he shook with the barely contained rage, and in that instant, he knew he couldn't stay—it would destroy him.

 With as much gentleness as he could manage in his current state, Caden brought her palm away from his cheek and pressed it to his lips before laying it to rest on her abdomen and lowering her still form to the ground. His gaze lingered on her pale features just a moment before traveling down to the gaping hole in her chest, and then, he felt something break within his.

 Abruptly, he shoved himself to his feet and turned away. Before he knew it, he was running. Someone shouted after him, but the sound didn't even register in his ears. All noise was drowned out by a high-pitched ringing; his sight narrowed down to a pinpoint. Bloodlust consumed him.

 They will pay, he vowed as he ran. Every, single, last one of them until there’s no strength left within me.

“Caden! Where are you going? Caden!”

 “Emmerich, let him go,” Amelyn called to her son.

 “But he—”

 “Just let him go,” she repeated. “Let him grieve in his own way.”

 Turning back to the group, Emmerich balled his free hand into a fist and cast his gaze to Eva's pallid complexion. The revolt was over. The Base had won their freedom, yet no one felt like celebrating or rejoicing. “He shouldn't have left her,” he said more to himself than anyone else. “Not now.”

 Amelyn knelt in the space left by the Warrior's departure and gathered up Eva's hand into hers. The grey wolf that had accompanied Caden into the great cavern sauntered up next to her and pressed his wet muzzle to Eva's temple with an affectionate whine. “It's all right, boy,” Amelyn comforted while brushing his thick fur. “She'll be at peace soon.”

 The sound of soft weeping soon filled the room, and glancing down, Emmerich realized that it was Adiel. Her tiny frame quivered in his palm with poorly restrained sobs as she curled her knees to herself and buried her face in them.  Moved with compassion, one of the other female captives stepped forward and gently removed the faerie from his grasp. Then cradling her weeping form to her chest, the woman began whispering words of comfort to the faerie while moving to rejoin the others who had gathered around Eva’s body.

 Unable to bear watching any longer, Emmerich tore his gaze away from the scene and strode to the nearest wall. He stood facing the cold stone for several moments until, abruptly, he lashed out. With a muted thud, his fist collided with the unyielding surface, splitting the skin across his knuckles and sending a jolt of pain up his arm, but it wasn’t enough. The misery eating away at him would not be so easily dispelled. Hot tears of grief welled up in his eyes to pour down his face and drip onto the floor.

 This isn’t the way it was supposed to be! He struck out again. This time, there was a definite crack to accompany the thud of impact. Grinding his teeth against the pain, he laid the flat of his good hand against the wall for support and then pressed his forehead against the cool, smooth stone as the tears continued to fall.

 “Wait! What's that?” Jael exclaimed suddenly, shattering the solemn quiet that had enveloped the room.

 All eyes turned to where he pointed. There, buried within the gruesome wound marring Eva's chest, a soft, silvery glow had begun to bloom. It flickered like the weak flame of a candle, but grew stronger as it refused to be extinguished.

 “Bring me closer,” Adiel spoke with urgency while quickly wiping the moisture from her face. As the woman holding her did as bidden, the little faerie pushed herself up to her hands and knees and leaned out over the fingers to see better what was going on. “By the Tree!” she said after sucking in a gasp. “I don't believe it!”

 “What? What is it?” Emmerich questioned while stepping closer. “What's happening to her?”

 Instead of answering, Adiel jumped down from the woman's hand and onto Eva's chest, which was still rising and falling with shallow breaths. Kneeling beside the wound, she then stretched out a hand toward the glow. It twisted and spiraled this way and that like a luminous mist, but when it brushed against Adiel's out-stretched hand, it suddenly flared brighter before waning back to its subdued glow when she withdrew. “Her magic is trying to heal her,” Adiel said at last.

 “But I thought only Royals had that kind of magic,” he responded skeptically.

 “It appears our Eva is more than what she seems...” Adiel mused aloud.

 “So,” Amelyn began, interrupting the faerie's thoughts, “Is her magic enough? Will she be able to heal herself?”

 Adiel was shaking her head before the woman had even finished. “It has no direction in its healing. It is only responding out of instinct and necessity.” Folding her arms across herself, the little faerie began rubbing her elbow thoughtfully as the wheels in her head turned. She gazed unseeingly at the space in front of her for quite sometime while she seemingly struggled to come to a decision.

 “What is it?” Emmerich urged with impatience. “What more have you to say?”

 “It might work,” Adiel mumbled to herself as though she hadn’t heard his question, “but then again it might not. And even if it did, I’m sure it’d be breaking at least a dozen Faerie Laws.”

 “In the name of Elor, spit it out!” he cried with fists clenched and face flushed.

 Casting an irritated glare at the bothersome human, Adiel stared him into silence, but as her eyes returned to the dying woman before her, her features softened and she made her decision. With a deep breath, the little faerie closed her eyes and extended her hand to the shimmering magic once again. It brightened at her touch just as before and curled around her wrist in a tender embrace. The little faerie’s translucent wings fluttered with pleasure for just a moment before her own magic then sprung to life, enveloping her slender frame in an azure glow.

 Straining with the effort, Adiel felt as though she were slowly being unraveled as she forced her remaining magic out in a steady trickle to join Eva’s. Instinct screamed at her to preserve her strength for the sake of her own survival, but she willfully ignored the warning and pushed harder. I can do this, she told herself as her brow broke out in a cold sweat. Just a little more…

Azure swirled with silver, creating a grey-blue rainbow that continued to blossom and expand until the faerie was completely enveloped in its glow, hidden from view. Then, in a sudden burst of brilliance, the entire room was washed in a white light that was blinding in its intensity. Long shadows were cast across the floor and ceiling by the figures on the ground and the hanging mineral deposits above. Those nearest to the source were forced to shield their eyes and turn away, but the luminosity only lasted a moment. After just a few heartbeats, the light faded and disappeared, and as their vision struggled to adjust to the renewed darkness, no one could mistake the sound of a single, sharp intake of breath.