After skimming it, Nox tossed another leather-bound book into the pile which was growing in the middle of the observatory.

Korac rounded the open threshold. He took one glance at the cacophony and said, “Sorry for intruding, your majesty, but you’ve been at this for a week. It’s time to return to the war effort.”

Not that Nox owed his General an explanation, but maybe the pale-haired warrior could lend a hand. “There are four known descriptions of Elden’s Atramentous eyes. They all correspond. I must be certain, or it will drive me mad.”

“You have combed through every Icarean library on Cinder and Earth seeking the last account.” After a pause, Korac offered placations, “Should I assign some men to the search?”

Nox bit his thumbnail, distracted. His eyes darted over the increasing mound. He wondered aloud, “Maybe my brother stole it.”

In the corner of his eye, Korac fought vigilantly but failed to hide his recoil. Ah… ‘Brother.’ Not ‘Traitor Prince.’

Without addressing it, Nox hopped off the ladder and approached the three books on the desk. He read the selected line in all three, “‘Elden held Li captive in his eyes. On fire. Alive.’ I always wondered what that meant.” He recalled the last he’d seen of Rayne’s gaze—

Do. Not. Shiver.

Nox growled and tossed the precious sacred texts to the carpet. Angry with no one but himself, he muttered, “What have I done?”

“Sire?”

Nox turned back to face his only friend. “Do you think she could ever forgive me?”

After a long moment of Korac searching Nox’s face, he asked, “Do I have permission to speak freely, sire?”

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“This once.”

Without hesitation, Korac listed off Nox’s crimes. “You seized her planet, murdered her guardian, and tried in every conceivable way to break her. At this point, if she forgave you, I’d have to question her intelligence, at the very least, her sanity.” Stoic the entire speech, as always. The best soldier.

Nox ran a hand through his hair and blew the air out of his cheeks. “I believe I’ve made an error in judgment.”

“Your majesty?”

Did Nox dare confess this to another soul? If he couldn’t trust his General, who could he trust? Nox said, “She’s nothing like her predecessor, yet I inflicted all the punishment on Rayne that I’d wished for on Celindria. And now the only woman fit for my match, sleeps below my castle biding her time to deliver justice.”

“For your sake, I hope it’s swift.”

Nox admired the characteristic honesty, but still, “Permission revoked. Every hour. You, personally, check on her every hour. And find out why the Progeny are under the impression we killed their parents.”

Korac let slip a glimpse of concern. Interesting. “Their parents are dead, your majesty?”

“Rayne said as much in this very room. I planned to keep them around for leverage. Someone is undermining our efforts. Find out who it is and eliminate them.” Nothing infuriated Nox more than sabotage. He did not wait ten thousand years to seek resolution only for another to steal his glory.

“Yes, your majesty.” Korac took another glance at the pile of books.

“Dismissed.”

Nox turned his back on his friend as the soldier exited the antique room. Things were starting to slip from his fingers. He loathed losing control, and until Celindria, it was a foreign sensation to him. The cunning of the designs on his endeavors felt familiar. Almost as if—

Pounding Nox’s fist in the wall busted the sandstone bricks. He refused to entertain the idea any further. It was impossible after the reports from Thailea, but the sensation would not relent. Any other time he’d gotten this upset, he’d turned his thoughts to Rayne. She centered him. Until last week.

“What have I done?”

No one answered.

That sweet, happy, proud, powerful woman reduced to pain, rage, and grief.

Nox had done that.

In her adversity, Rayne would mete it out of him. Recalling their last moment, Nox could not refuse the shiver this time. Holding her down, feeling his bones break, the color shifting in her skin.

The worlds were spiraling out of his control.

Nox’s plans—his work—meant nothing in the grander scheme of things. No, the only thing he’d contributed to which had mattered was Rayne.

And the worst part?

He might not live to see it.

For when he gazed in Rayne’s eyes, Nox had seen his end.