Elena’s POV

The lights returned in a sudden, almost violent rush of brightness that made me flinch hard enough to feel it in my still-tender shoulder.

I blinked rapidly against the glare as the lobby snapped back into sharp, ordinary focus around us. Voices rose in overlapping waves,guests exhaling in collective relief, staff calling quiet instructions, the soft shuffle of people beginning to move again after the long suspension of the dark. For one suspended second I forgot the restored power, forgot the watching eyes of strangers, forgot the residual ache in my body, forgot everything except the warm, steady pressure of fingers still wrapped firmly around mine.

I was...