Korac helped save the worlds, and now he waited in glass chains. He hated waiting. They forced them through the conduit in a sizable herd. After arranging everyone, they stepped through the crackling electric portal.

Earth. Desert. The fortress. They took the stairs up the tower, while drones loaded the unconscious First Wave Progeny into nacre stasis pods like the three in the chamber on Cinder. Not exactly the last sight of Earth he wanted after winning it for the white hats. He wished he could return to the springs outside the caldera with Sagan before they hauled his ass to Gait.

Tameka supported Sagan behind him. He hated this for her. When he decided to work with her and the Progeny, he suspected this outcome as his end. But he never expected them to arrest Rayne. He worried about Sagan alone, given how much she relied on physical contact to keep her on this plane. “You all right, babe?”

She didn’t answer, but the scent of watermelon drifted to him. He popped an eyebrow and checked over his shoulder. She gazed at his ass as they climbed the stairs. Caught, she slid her eyes to his. “I’m committing every square inch of you to memory.”

Damn, but he loved the way she looked at him. He smirked.

Tameka groaned, “Can you not do that while I’m holding your injured ass off the ground?”

The blond pouted at her friend. “Special dispensation given my circumstances?”

The redhead rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

He peered next to him. Rayne’s eyes were straight ahead, but the sprite grinned hard at her girls. An opportune time to get to know his new King. “So, what’re you in for?”

She glanced over at him. “They wanted Nox alive to take him back to Enki.”

Korac blinked at her. Did she have any idea the kind of hell she saved his former King from? Or the hell that awaited her on Gait for killing him? Emotion thickened his voice, “You did the right thing.”

She rewarded him with an appreciative nod.

Tumu muttered beside her, “It would help yourself not to speak of your crimes until after the Tribunal.”

Two drones opened the double doors to the observatory. The Tribunal and Celindria waited inside.

Korac mumbled, “Son of a bitch.” It turned his stomach to see that devil in the room he built to share with Xelan without her constant, intentional intrusions.

Bearing a confiscated Night Killer beside him, Pehton surprised the Icarus with an unhappy, “Yup.”

Tameka actually growled, an impressive rumble that set his hairs on end.

Sagan took a seat on an ottoman and glanced between all the parties like she devised an exit strategy.

Abresson sat smugly between good ol’ Lance and Wiw at Xelan’s old conference table. Celindria stood behind them. Drones and Lyriks lined the bookshelves. Iuo captured the historical moment. Just like old times. Only now a projector televised it, in theory, to the worlds and Enki. Couldn’t persecute the new leader of the worlds without an audience.

Abresson spoke first after raking his gaze over King Rayne. “They were right. You really are that beautiful.”

Korac wanted to gag.

Even Celindria stared at the back of the Tritan’s head like she wanted to put her fist through it.

Abresson added with a shrug, “Shame.”

Lance at least had the decency to look dismayed at his cohort. “If we may proceed onto the matter at hand…”

Wiw muttered to Iuo, “Strike Abresson’s comments from the record—”

“Eminent Abresson,” the smug bastard corrected. He gave Rayne a lazy grin. “I was promoted for resolving the dispute between Earth and Cinder, single-handedly.”

Rayne stood tall with her shoulders back and her chin high. Within the last hour, that sprite executed the most powerful warrior in the galaxy and took his place. She tolerated the prodding of a weak creature like Abresson, like a professional at this game. Korac shook his head, impressed, and also pissed-off this was happening at all.

“You all right, babe?” Sagan’s voice soothed him almost immediately. Well, mostly soothed him. Other effects occurred.

Tumu chided gently, “Silence.”

Fuck it. Korac turned and looked right at the woman he wanted to take then and there. “Actually, I was wondering where we could buy some of these?” He showed off his cuffs and winked at her.

Pehton burst into laughter beside him.

Sagan’s soft, blushing smile made the blow to the back of his head worth it.

She cried out as Korac went to his knees. Night Killer hurt. Sore, but healing, he assured, “It’s all right. I’m fine.”

Pehton sounded genuinely apologetic, “It’s the job. You know how it goes. Now shut up, and I won’t have to hit you again.”

Abresson indicated Korac, “It is customary for testimonials to kneel.”

What the fuck were they thinking? “You’ll have the leader who just saved both these planets on her knees televised before her subjects—”

Tameka muttered, “Ugh, I hate agreeing with him.”

Pehton raised the staff and growled, “Korac! Shut. It.”

Rayne stared not at Abresson but at Celindria. The young woman said, “These men impress their dominion over me.” Her entire body shook as she seethed. Her eyes flashed in and out of Atramentous. “Assure me of their power and form.”

Celindria’s eyes went wide as she smiled in anticipation. As if she hoped Rayne gave the Tribunal an excuse to kill her. “You do understand?”

An exchange took place between them. One Korac didn’t want to understand. Once again, he found himself concerned about what might happen to the worlds if Rayne were ever tempted to sway from the side of good. So fucked.

The tension mounted until his ears wanted to pop when suddenly, Rayne gained control of herself and went to one knee. Then to both.

Celindria stared at her descendant as if considering her more carefully. Abresson stared at her with unearned supremacy. Everyone else possessed the excellent sense to look relieved.

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“Let’s begin.” Abresson tapped a stack of blank papers like he was a news anchor. “The Tribunal demands your testimony in the face of war crime allegations. Eminent Celindria—”

“Motherfucker!”

“Oh, dammit, Korac!” Pehton shouted right before she struck him again.

Tameka shouted, “How? How does this happen?!”

Sagan groaned, “You seriously made her an Eminent?! She’s evil.”

Celindria kept her eyes locked on Rayne with a secretive smile on her face.

Lance implored, “Keep your interruptions to a minimum. We only permit your audience on special request by Officer of the Third.”

They all turned and looked at Tumu. He cleared his throat. “Please continue, Eminent Abresson.”

“Yes, as I was saying, Eminent Celindria will list your crimes.”

“Rayne, King of Earth and Cinder, you are accused of assassinating Nox, former King of Cinder, to inherit his title via the Tenements of Vengeance. Testify your defense.”

For one brief second, the unsure eighteen-year-old flashed on Rayne’s face. As if she suppressed the urge to turn and seek guidance from Xelan in the audience. Elden, this was not right.

“It was an accident.”

All the Eminents gaped but Celindria, who narrowed her gaze at Rayne. “Go on.”

“He almost killed me. Shot me through the heart and lungs with something that jammed my nacre. Only at the last second did I recover, and by then, the new abilities you gave me, the ones I’m not practiced with, took over. I disintegrated him with my eyes closed, praying to Elden for my life.”

Celindria transformed into a statue. Stone, hard, dark. She stared at Rayne as if she wanted to will the girl out of existence.

Eminent Lance glanced from the woman to Rayne. When Celindria didn’t push, he asked, “What of his nacre?”

“Also disintegrated, Eminent.”

Korac caught Rayne’s eye as he recalled telling her Elden’s second verse. With barely a glance, she pleaded for him not to expose her. Holy. Shit. Rayne swallowed Nox’s nacre. Unexpected. To answer her pleas, he stared forward and gave the most undetectable of nods.

Celindria returned to the here and now. “By confession you are guilty.”

Sagan muttered, “No. No. Please no.”

Tameka called out, “Tumu, if you let this I happen, I won’t—”

The First Progeny interrupted, “But because you saved the two worlds, and you reunited me with my family, I grant you the negotiation of your sentencing should it suffice the Tribunal, of course.”

Family? Korac glanced up at Pehton.

She looked down with her jaw clenched and nodded.

No. They rescued the First Wave Progeny only for her to—

Celindria played victim much better than Rayne. But she had several millennia more practice. “I’ve worried a long time as to their whereabouts. Their safety. I knew they couldn’t be dead if I was still alive. Besides many of my father’s offenses, he lied to Enki about my siblings’ deaths so he could secret them away on Cinder.”

Rayne turned away sharply. Beside Korac, she clenched her fists tight enough he smelled the sharp tang of her blood.

Tameka sounded in tears as she spoke in a voice full of emotion, “How. Dare—”

“Don’t,” Rayne cried. “Don’t, Tameka.”

Celindria carried on as if none of this occurred, “Now I can take them to live with me on Enki as reward for the progress I made with the Vittle crop and restoring Icari from under Nox’s tyranny and Xelan’s measures. For all this, I have you to thank Rayne. In all the provocative ways you diverted that monster, I found opportunities to save my people.”

Korac was about to kill the bitch, himself, when Rayne suddenly called out, “Fifty years confinement to the Martyr Complex.”

He gaped at her with naked astonishment. He couldn’t help it. The Tribunal, Tumu, and Pehton did the same. Even Celindria stared at her like she grew a second head.

The cacophony came right after it sank in. Behind him Tameka screamed, “The hell you say?”

Sagan shouted, “I won’t let you do this, Rayne.”

Pehton announced, “I think we should postpone the testimony until she’s well. She’s clearly unfit, mentally, after everything she went through—”

Lance stopped the commotion with one word, “Accepted.”

“I have a condition,” Rayne added.

Lance waved to her, “Please state it.”

“I want time with my Shadow Progeny. A few days. This way I can also prepare the transfer of leadership for both planets.”

Abresson opened his mouth, probably to say no, when Wiw cut him off with a hand in his face. “You are very brave, young woman. The feats you and your people accomplished over the last four months are nothing short of extraordinary. I find all this—” He swept an arm the color of faded denim to indicate the circus. “—Distasteful. And if Nox were alive and returning with us, I don’t think I would have met you but long enough to shake your hand. Unfortunately, you broke the terms of your agreement with us. That said, choosing to lock yourself in a monstrous device to ensure emigration of a race from their dying planet onto your own? May I shake your hand now?”

With tears in her eyes, Rayne nodded, and the lanky, ancient Tritan approached her. Shaking her hand, he said, “I find the terms of your conditions beyond acceptable. Thank you, Rayne Callahan. As senior member of this Tribunal, I dismiss you for three and a half days.” The last look he gave pressed hard enough to leave a message for the girl.

Rayne nodded and stood. “Three and a half days. Thank you, Eminent Wiw.”

Abresson threw a fit while Lance tried to calm him down.

Wiw looked to Korac then, “Your Tribunal awaits on Enki. I think you understand we won’t be as lenient with you.”

Korac nodded, slowly.

Wiw turned back to his peers. “We are dismissed. Celindria, you are welcome to join us in Enki. You and your family. Imagine. All that time, you were trapped on Thailea, and the moment you returned to Cinder you worked to save it. You’re brave like your descendant, dear.”

Korac shook his head in disgust. T.A.O. awake and free for all of two hours. Would the devil make it worse for them? He glanced over at her.

Celindria beamed at Wiw as they wandered out of the observatory. “Thank you for the honor. I look forward to introducing my siblings to the lab you granted me so they can assist me in restoring our people.”

Oh, yea. They were worse off.

Tumu and Pehton stepped up on either side of Korac. Still on his knees, he looked up at them. “Processing?”

Over Tumu’s shoulder, Abresson said something to Rayne that made her eyes flash Atramentous. Behind him, Sagan despaired, “Tumu? Tumu, what’re you doing?”

Korac called, “Don’t watch, babe.”

Tameka implored, “Sagan, you need to be strong for this, okay?”

Korac straightened and kept his chin high. “Go ahead, Officer of the Third. I know it’s required for detaining war criminals.”

Pehton sighed. “This is one of the ugliest things I’ve ever witnessed.”

Tumu swallowed audibly. “How do you think I feel? I have to do it.”

Sagan cried again, “Tumu… Tumu, no!”

At least the knife was sharp.

Rayne gasped. “How could you?”

Korac peered over his shoulder at the pile of silver silk and diamonds on the midnight-blue carpet. Fuck, that took a decade to grow.

Sagan’s gentle sobs from behind broke his heart. He locked eyes with Pehton. Laid it on thick.

The Lyrik glared at him. They held the stalemate for another minute until Sagan whispered a helpless, “Why?”

Pehton rolled her eyes with a groan. “Fine.”

Still confined in glass chains, he stood and crossed the room in two strides. Sagan was on her feet in one fluid motion. She wrapped her arms around him, and he leaned down for her. They kissed in the middle. Her tears tasted salty against the sweet blood on her lips. He almost lost her today. And now she was losing him.

Against her mouth, he said, “I love you. I’ll keep our promise.”

She brushed her fingers through the chopped edges of his hair and whimpered. “No matter how long, Korac, I’ll keep our promise.”

Tameka sighed. “It will grow back.”

Rayne walked over with Pehton and Tumu. Words exchanged like “sentencing” and “clemency.” Interesting.

The orange-feathered woman grabbed him by an elbow. “All right now, General. Lt. General.”

Korac let her pull him away, smirking down at the woman he loved most in the worlds. “Warden, you’ll never know how lucky you are that she’s one of the heroes. And not more like myself.”

Sagan beamed back at him and mouthed, “Expect. To. See. Me. Soon.”

His smirk crooked even more. A paragon. “I look forward to it, as always, Lt. General.”

Rayne coughed out, “General. Ahem.”

They shared a smile over Sagan’s apparent promotion.

Pehton rolled her eyes. “You guys remember he slaughtered your entire school, right? And that helping you out as the tables turned in your favor doesn’t make him any less of a war criminal?”

Sagan looked from Rayne to Korac and shrugged. “I guess I got a thing for war criminals.” She glanced at Tameka for her approval.

“Yea, sure. And apparently, I fell in love with an evil scientist who developed children just to lock them up in a lab.” Those green eyes turned hard as glass. “Maybe we aren’t the people to fuck with?”

Tumu shook his head. Was he hiding a grin?

As Korac calculated the length of his sentence, his smirk softened. “Tameka, visit the tallest mountain on Cinder. It’s easy to find near Umbra’s Spire and Enki’s conduit.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Take Rayne and Sagan with you before her punishment starts. And Rayne?”

The brunette peered up at him.

“The only home you’ve known since falling. Floor three, room five. I left answers there you might seek.”

Her brows shot up in surprise, but after a moment she answered with a slow nod.

Korac looked one last time into Sagan’s beautiful violet eyes. She gripped both axes, and he almost lost it. “I have to go before I kill Pehton and Tumu to stay with you.”

“Go. Before I let you.”