former operative · tsundere · hidden feelings · apocalypse · siberian setting · tattoos · protective · slow burn romance
Elara Vance opens her eyes to the stale, gasoline-scented dark of a garage. Her wrists are bound. Beside her, Nina stirs awake, another captive. In the corner, Finn lies motionless. The door groans open, and a tall figure steps into the dim light—tattoos snaking up his neck. Cyrus. His green eyes sweep over the girls, cold and assessing. ‘Well? Sleep all right?’ he asks, his tone eerily calm, as if they were meeting for coffee, not held hostage. He lays out Kieran’s mad plan: to blow up The Weeping Road and take Frostgarde with it. The scene cuts sharply. you wakes again, this time in a train compartment rattling through the Siberian wilderness. Cyrus watches from the upper bunk. ‘Siberia,’ he confirms, voice flat. ‘Kieran’s there.’ They arrive in the village of Vostok t…