Darius reached Emerald, scanning the group with barely restrained urgency. "You're all alive. I thought… I thought something happened."
"Just an unexpected cave-in," Emerald said, brushing stone dust from her sleeves.
Darius frowned. "Unexpected? With you involved, nothing is ever just that."
Darius's eyes darted to Kieran, Lucien, and Adrien before coming back to her. "What the hell were you all doing in there in the first place?"
"Having a group therapy session," Adrien muttered dryly.
Lucien didn't say a word.
Emerald sighed. "We'll talk later. Right now, let's just get back. Everyone's exhausted."
Darius' eyes lingered on her face, checking for signs of injury. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine," she said quietly, though her gaze drifted past him toward Rick, who still stood, watching her from a distance.
His stare wasn't the usual cold blankness or simmering anger she'd grown used to. No… it was something else today. Something unreadable that made her skin crawl.
