The water surrounding Umbra’s Spire put Sagan in mind of a hot spring. It scalded her as they swam behind the waterfall. She worried about Rayne, who hit the water unconscious with no active nacre healing.

“Is Rayne all right?” Sagan asked Kyle as she wrung out her clothes.

Kyle pressed the back of his hand to Rayne’s forehead. “She’s burning up, but she was hot before we jumped out of the tower.”

“Any sign of Tameka?”

Kyle stood and lifted Rayne in his arms. She draped, lifeless as he said, “Not yet.” He headed deeper into the cave. “But she’ll turn up.”

Sagan followed, ignoring the squelching of her shoes. She’d clung to her axe for the hundreds of stories down, but let Tameka’s hand slip with the blast.

Don’t think about it. Separate from it.

Shaking her head, Sagan spun the axe, instinctively. She needed some clarity. How did the parties involved know where and when to find them? And why did Celindria react that way to Kyle?

Glaring at the back of his moppy head, Sagan opened her mouth to ask when Rayne muttered something in his arms.

Kyle soothed Rayne, “What’s that?”

Louder, Rayne groaned, “Xelan… What happened to… Xel—”

Kyle exploded in anger, “Can’t you shut up about him? Jesus, Rayne, you can’t ask about us? We just dove from a mountain to avoid death at his hands, and all you can talk about is him!”

Sagan ground her teeth as she said, “Kyle—”

“Death?” Rayne’s voice gained some strength. “Xelan’s—”

Kyle interrupted her with a flat, cold voice, “He’s dead, Rayne.”

She cried, “No! You’re lying. Why would you lie to me like this? What’s wrong with—”

“Rayne…” Sagan couldn’t bear to break the news to her, but if Rayne refused to believe Kyle then that left Sagan no option.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Before Sagan could finish telling Rayne, tears streamed down her best friend’s face. It broke Sagan’s heart.

Rayne muttered, “No… No… Please, no…”

Almost unable to speak the words, choking on her own emotions, Sagan confirmed, “He’s gone, Rayne.”

No doubt. No disbelief. Just unadulterated grief. “What will we do now?”

Kyle cursed, “What the fuck do you mean ‘what will we do now’?!” As Rayne struggled to push away from his solid chest, he set her down as gently as her flailing would allow as he said, “We gave up everything to follow you. Everything! And you’re acting like without Xelan we can’t do this? Fuck him. He ruined your life—”

“Kyle?!” Sagan let the icy anger cool her voice.

Kyle froze.

Sagan asked, “How did they know where to find us? You were on lookout. Why didn’t you raise the alarm?”

As he straightened, his entire demeanor transformed. Loose, confident, unafraid. “Fuck.”

Weary of him, Sagan breathed, “What is it?”

“I’m surrounded by beautiful women too smart for their own good.” Kyle turned and pointed something small at Sagan.

One shot and Sagan went down with a grunt. Her vision blurred, and her stomach turned. Her muscles ignored her commands.

Get up.

Off in the distance, Sagan glimpsed the Seam.

Kyle whirled on Rayne and aimed the device at her face. On her hands and knees, she stared up at him. Already so helpless.

“No,” Sagan groaned.

Kyle said, “Relax. They’ll be here any minute.”

Sagan welcomed any kind of adrenaline in response.

Nothing came.

Terrified, Sagan watched helplessly.

Kyle stared down the smooth barrel into Rayne’s face. “Ugh. I can’t do it. Even with a harmless tranq gun, I could never hurt you.”

“I can,” a voice called. To Sagan’s dismay, Korac stepped into the cave and shot Rayne without hesitation. He addressed her, “General.” He glanced from her to Sagan before saying to Kyle, “Excellent work.”

Then Korac shot Kyle.

The traitor sank like a sack of potatoes to the rocks. Following that, Korac swiftly employed his axe to decapitate the two Icari sent with him to fetch the prisoners.

To Sagan’s shock, Korac knelt beside her to say, “Leave. Now.”

Confused, she shook her head. “I can’t leave her.”

“You can’t save her from what’s coming, but you can get away.” He growled, “I already lost one person I care about today. I am not watching Nox tear through another. Now go!”

Sagan hated the way Korac said it like it never occurred to him how wrong it was to leave a friend to such a questionable fate. She almost said so when Rayne croaked, “Go… Get Tameka… Save me.”

Korac gave Rayne his full attention then. Sagan struggled on the wet rock, unable to get to her knees, much less stand. With almost clinical objectivity, Korac lifted Rayne in his arms. He paid her as much regard as another checkmark on his to-do list.

Another knife in her heart, Xelan’s words came back to Sagan then. “You cannot trust him. He will play on your emotions, distract you from your cause, and when he shows his true face, it will destroy you.”

Xelan was right.

Both her lovers stared down at Sagan as Rayne muttered, “I’ll see you… in a few hours.” The frail woman trembled in the capable man’s arms. The intense terror in her eyes chilled Sagan’s blood.

Before succumbing to the drugs, Sagan vowed, “I will save you, Rayne.”

With the powerlessness too much for her, Sagan wished for elsewhere and shifted into the Seam.