He smiled. "Okay. We''ll go eat together."


    "That ce is pretty good. Thirty years from now, we''ll go there together, hand in hand," Finn added.


    He leaned down and kissed away the lingering tears on her eyshes.


    His warm breath on her eyelids felt ticklish, and she couldn''t help but clutch the front of his shirt again.


    "Evangeline."


    Just as Evangeline was about to say something, Soren''s urgent, frantic voice called her name from the nearby cave.


    Only then did it dawn on Evangeline that they weren''t alone anymore.


    Soren was here too.


    Not knowing what was wrong and worried something might have happened, they didn''t linger and hurried back.


    When they entered the cave, they saw Soren had fallen to the ground.


    He was struggling, one arm braced against the wall and one hand on the floor, trying to stand up with a pained expression.


    As if they were a nuisance, he had even ripped off the branches and vines she had used to splint his broken leg.


    He was trying to put weight on it.


    Evangeline''s heart leaped into her throat.


    "Don''t move!" she cried, rushing forward as he tried to stand again.


    But Finn stopped her, stepping past her to Soren''s side and helping him up.


    "Get away from me!"


    Fueled by a sudden burst of anger, Soren tried to shove Finn away, still determined to get to Evangeline.


    Finn, seeming to anticipate the move, didn''t budge. "Your leg is broken," he said calmly. "There''s no doctor here. If you keep messing with it, it might not set properly, and you''ll be crippled for good."


    His words worked. This time, Soren stopped struggling.


    He hadn''t managed to get very far in his stumbling attempt, and Finn helped him back to his spot.


    Soren looked resentfully toward Evangeline.


    Unlike his usual arrogant and cold demeanor, Evangeline saw a hint of grievance in his eyes.


    "Evangeline, you''re alive?" he asked, as if he still couldn''t believe it.


    Evangeline nodded.


    Seeing her confirmation, Soren let out a heavy sigh of relief.


    When he had woken up and not seen her, he thoughtst night had been a dream


    or a dying hallucination.


    "How did you survive?"


    "If you''re alive, why aren''t you trying to get back?"


    "Evangeline, do you have any idea how worried I was..." His voice trailed off, and he added awkwardly, "This happened because of me. If you had died wouldn''t have been able to live with myself


    Evangeline nodded, showing she understood.


    Up until yesterday, she had still harbored some resentment toward Soren.


    She had already divorced him and made way for him, yet she was still getting dragged into his messes.


    While it wasn''t entirely his fault, she couldn''t help but me him.


    After all, if it weren''t for him, she would be enjoying a romantic candlelight dinner with Finn in a warm room. If it werent for him, sh? wouldn''t be living in fear, and Finn wouldn''t have gotten sick.


    They should have been sleeping in their own bright, soft beds. Not in this damp, dark ce, sleeping on hard rock with na breakfast O lunch only wild fruit and hastily cooked mushrooms. And every night, the cold drafts would wake them up...


    In short, she had a thousandints against Soren.


    But now, seeing that Soren had enough of a conscience toe looking for them, and seeing him just as miserable as they were, she found her anger dissipating.


    "We might not be able to get back," Evangeline told him honestly. "There''s a chance we could die here."