A sharp, searing pain shot through me, and I couldn’t help but groan in agony.
Altair held Saoirse in his arms, his gaze cold and unfeeling as he looked down from above.
No one could have guessed that this detached man was set to marry me in just one day.
Forcing my sorrow aside, I mustered every ounce of strength I had to crawl up and said firmly, "There’s an avalanche ahead. If we retrace our steps, there’s a shelter nearby. We should head there."
Altair’s eyes softened ever so slightly as he glanced in the direction I pointed.
With tears streaming down her face, Saoirse whimpered, "Oh, I’m so weak. What do I do, Altair?"
Without a word, Altair scooped Saoirse into his arms.
"I’ll carry you."
He tossed the backpack at my feet, signaling for me to hurry up and follow.
Climbing earlier had drained what little energy I had left. Gritting my teeth, I mustered the strength to beg, "Altair, can’t you let her walk? I’m injured and can barely move."
Altair glanced back at me, his gaze sharp.
"You’re the expert here. Just push through; you’ll make it. Saoirse is different; she’s never been here, and she’s running a fever. Stop pretending, Maliah, and move!"
Without another glance, he quickened his pace, heading toward the shelter.
Reluctantly, I grabbed the backpack and stumbled after him.
Altair moved swiftly, and before long, he disappeared from sight.
Then, the ground rumbled, and a deafening roar filled the air; the avalanche was upon us.
I couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but then I was jolted awake. The darkness had already settled in.
My colleague, Ravenna Roswell, was slapping my face, her tears falling freely.
The night had fallen deep, and the medical team couldn't make it up, but my colleagues had finally arrived.
"Your fiancé came back with that woman, saying he didn’t see you. We knew something had happened. We searched with the detector for hours before finding you. Maliah, hang on; we’ll get you down for treatment."
The team leader’s voice was thick with emotion as he gripped my hand.
By then, I was barely able to breathe.
"Ravenna, do you have the voice recorder?" I whispered, my voice weak. "I need to say something."
I had been buried in the snow for so long that hope had already slipped away.
Part of my soul seemed to float away from me, watching as Ravenna performed CPR, her face streaked with tears.
I followed them back to the base, but Altair had already taken Saoirse to the town below.
The remaining colleagues were unnerved, their unease hanging in the air like a storm about to break.
"Maliah’s fiancé said that woman had a fever and insisted on taking her first. He doesn’t care about Maliah at all. If you didn’t know better, you’d think he was someone else’s fiancé."
A heavy silence fell over the group, the words hanging between us like a cloud of uncertainty. They held a simple funeral for me and arranged for my body to be sent back home.
An inexplicable force gripped my soul, pulling me away, and I found myself next to Altair.
He sat beside Saoirse, feeding her tenderly, blowing on the spoon to make sure it wasn’t too hot before bringing it to her lips.
"Altair, we’re leaving like this? What about Maliah?" Saoirse’s voice was laced with guilt.
"Maliah’s the expert. She trained for a year before joining the team. I’m sure nothing happened to her," Altair replied, continuing to feed Saoirse. She pretended to be delicate, pushing the spoon away with a feigned reluctance.
Altair smiled indulgently, finishing the last bit of cereal straight from the bowl. It struck me as odd; he had a near-obsessive need for cleanliness and would never eat leftovers.
Just then, his phone pinged, a message flashing across the screen.
He opened it, and my faint voice echoed through the room.
"Altair, I’m dying. I will hate you for the rest of my life."
His expression shifted in an instant, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his face before he swiftly turned off the phone.
"Altair, is something wrong?" Saoirse’s voice broke through, her tone laced with concern.
