Ashton's shaky hand reached out beside her so she could grab the edge of a table. "What the hell is this?"

Elias turned on me then with his voice loud enough to reverberate off the walls of the small room. "What is wrong with you?" I'd never heard Piercey or Elias come close to yelling like this. Hearing his voice this way completely paralyzed me. "This is the one thing you absolutely could not do."

"No." I jabbed my finger at his chest. "We're not doing this. You go sit down with Ashton and explain everything to her."

"I can force you back to your world."

I snarled, tempted to do more than poke him. "You have repeatedly deceived me. You brought me into your problems and created a massive threat for my world. I don't care if you're mad at me. If you didn't want me to meddle, then you should have known not to involve me. Now go explain before she passes out from shock."

Elias seemed like in his blind rage he'd forgotten about her and turned now, breathing ragged. "Ashton, listen…"

Something flickered in Ashton's eyes as she took one shaky step forward. I waited, understanding fully how painful shock could feel.

Her stare scanned my body and then focused on my eyes. A calmness came over her, one that was unnatural and most certainly not how she felt. I recognized the feeling of slipping in her. Like I watched her leave her body in real time.

Hollow eyes shifted to Elias. "Explain."

She spoke only that one word in a commanding, emotionless voice.

#

For the next hour, Elias spoke with Ashton on the far side of the room, so I could hear and ensure he came clean, but also give him privacy. He told her everything about finding my world, what he learned there, bringing me here, hiding the truth from her. But when Ashton asked him about what the guild actually did, he turned away from her and rested his hands on the wall for support.

"I'll handle that part," I said gently.

"Fine," Ashton said. "I can agree to that."

After talking for a few more minutes, Ashton asked to talk alone with me, and sent Elias outside to find his composure.

"I should be surprised," she said quietly as she walked closer to me. "It makes too much sense, though. It's shocking, but fitting. He hasn't been himself."

"He told me that he needed my help because you were so loyal to the guild that nothing could ever convince you to betray them. They're your people. I came to realize that he actually never told you and all this time he wanted to protect you from this war he was starting."

She shook her head and then lowered it to her hands. "There's no way to keep me out of anything he does. He's being stubborn."

"I know."

"We used to tell each other everything, no matter how hard it was. There's things we probably should have kept to ourselves. So for him to hide all of this… It breaks my heart."

I nodded and said again, "I know. And I owe you an apology for knowing. It wasn't right for me to live through your past. The problem with apologizing is that I chose to do it knowing it was wrong."

"That's some apology."

Seeing another version of myself and witnessing her reaction to my own decisions really helped me to understand how other people felt interacting with me. I could be great to deal with. But I could also be a challenge. I supposed I owed a few apologies back in my world.

"I can't let your people invade my world and I thought you were supporting them."

It did nothing to lessen her anger–the fury had her pacing again–but I recognized that the truth of it resonated with her. This could have been her sitting here in different circumstances.

"I am sorry," I said.

"I guess it doesn't really matter since we're the same person. Just, that's my life. Mine."

I didn't say anything else. I had no right to defend my actions when I agreed with her.

"I would have done it too." She shrugged. "That feels really awful. Maybe there's something wrong with us."

"There is, but we could have worse faults, don't you think?"

That made her chuckle, though I knew she didn't want to let it. "I can't wrap my mind around this."

"I hate throwing all of this at you and showing up like this. I needed to move fast before Elias got his senses about him and sent me back to my world. He isn't thinking right. You know that. What you didn't know, though, was how far he's taken this. You need to know the truth."

Ashton faced me again at that, her eyes desperate. "I wanted to be there for him."

"Yeah." I bit my lip and scooted forward onto the edge of my seat. "You don't have as bad of anxiety as I do. I went through something with Dad in my world and it really sparked it for me. I know you still have it. So you should go ahead and sit down. We do better sitting down."

Expression blank, Ashton thudded down onto the chair. "This is so surreal."

Taking in a deep breath, I prepared myself to shake her world far worse than Elias and I had so far. She truly loved her Guild and had devoted herself to leaders she believed in. Even when she knew that they had issues, she worked through it, and saw the best in them. She would feel like a fool and I didn't want to make her feel that.

"Lote had Elias's parents killed."

Ashton didn't comprehend what I said. I knew that because she had absolutely no reaction.

"It wasn't the Silver Moon Guild."

Pain slowly spread across her face like cracks in a damn, breaking along the fault lines. "No. He wouldn't. He has his problems, but he loves Elias. He loved his parents. Every year, he visited their graves and made food for Elias. He…" Ashton touched her lips, eyes already turning red. The realization must have been spreading, because she knew Lote well enough to know that when he was guilty, he covered it up well.

"His parents realized that Lote had been using his influence to stir the feud between your guild and others, especially Silver Moon. He wanted you to control more of the resources and to be able to lead the Valley with a stronger hand. So he told himself that the little sins here and there were worth it, until he was secretly planning attacks on your guild, and pinning it on the Silver Moon Guild."

Ashton leaned forward with her hands covering her mouth and her elbows anchored to her knees.

"Elias's mom was the first to figure it out. She started to suspect something was going on while working on the finances. Lote did a great job covering his tracks, but she was sharp. She started asking questions. Stopped asking once she realized it was bad."

"She was incredibly wise."

"That's when she got Elias's dad involved. Together, they secretly figured it out. They were peaceful people and believed in the best in others, so they thought that they could convince Lote to change his mind. They believed that he had good intentions but his actions were misguided and he'd lost himself along the way."

She wiped tears from her eyes, clinging to every word I said. She knew I was telling the truth. I could see it in her eyes. Everything she hadn't wanted to believe, she'd hoped wasn't true, must have seemed clear to her now.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"They didn't tell anyone else or make any kind of arrangements to protect themselves. They likely hadn't uncovered the worst of what Lote had done. When they confronted him, he pretended like he was sorry and he was going to change. Instead, he had them killed, and made it look like the Silver Moon Guild. Of course, he left enough doubt that no one would ever be sure of who it was, but he planted the seeds of suspicion. Lote didn't stop or change. He dug his heels in and he got worse. He escalated. Now, he's out of control."

I breathed in deeply, hating that I had to hurt her this way when I knew what Lote meant to her. Our father hadn't been a good man in either world and he'd been like the father she never had. That was the problem with fathers, wasn't it? If someone didn't actually want to be a good one, they could abuse that sacred, special bond so easily. It was a vulnerable position, to look up to someone and trust them so deeply. My heart broke for her as I watched her lose the second father she had ever known. Watched her lose them both, because it only stirred up the loss of the first.

"How did Elias find this out?" Ashton asked.

"They recorded it and kept it hidden. He said that his mother kept a diary for everything. Lote knew this and I think he tried to find the diaries but couldn't. He must have assumed they didn't exist. After Elias talked to Jax, he couldn't get rid of the suspicion. He started to see it everywhere. Finally, he started investigating himself, and when he did, it led him to the same places his parents had been."

"That's how he found the diaries."

"Yes. His mother had hidden them away in the code of your world using a key that she'd taught Elias. She'd told him to only use it for the most sensitive information that he couldn't tell anyone, not even her, if such a day ever came."

Ashton's nod looked more like a tremble. "Did you see the diaries?"

"I did. Not all, but enough. The choice is simple. Do you believe his mother or do you believe Lote?"

Tears wet her cheeks. She looked away, rubbing her chest. "I've defended Lote so many times. That's the first sign, right? Why should I need to defend him to anyone so often? Defend him to myself? I never had to defend Sharice. Elias's mom was a saint. I would trust her more than I'd trust anyone."

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you."

"Why did he hide this from me? I stood with him through every second of his mourning. I grieved with him. I loved them too. Why wouldn't he tell me?"

"I wondered at first too. It's obvious now. He loves you, Ashton. He doesn't want Lote to kill you like he killed his parents."

"I'm not his parents."

"You aren't, but you are good like them. You wouldn't be able to sit on this information. You'd fight and Elias couldn't risk you in a fight like this. It's not a normal battle."

Her hands tightened to fists. "We could have done this together. Now he's brought you from another world and implicated your people in this as well. This is a mess."

"It is. I think learning about this broke something in him. He needs your help finding his way."

"So he thought he could bring over another version of me and just kill everyone?"

"Only your corrupt leaders like Lote. He hoped that by killing them, he could shake up the entire guild system, to bring more balance to the power they've taken for themselves."

Ashton groaned. "I'm too frazzled to even unpack that."

"In my world, we had a corrupt leader terrorizing our Valley. I killed him and our supervisor, the god of our world. I told you about them earlier. What I didn't tell you is that it threw our Valley into chaos. I don't regret killing them. It wasn't a solution, either though. It stopped him from hurting anyone else, but now I'm struggling to protect my people from enemies on all sides."

"You think it would be a mistake to kill Lote?"

"Not necessarily. I think that you have a different problem. You don't have one leader lording over the entire Valley. You have a network of competing leaders in competing guilds all working within a single kingdom. Killing Lote won't change things the way that killing my leader did. It'll hurt your guild. Maybe we could even take your guild down. But the kingdom isn't run by just your guild. Wiping out leadership made a mess in my world. It'll be worse in yours."

She crossed her arms and sat back. "If it's true that Lote has been sabotaging us to make us try to fight the other guilds, then he deserves to die. There's no convincing him to make peace. He's a threat to my people. He's keeping our kingdom from uniting as one."

The fervor she'd felt when she and Jax had dreamed of how to unite the guilds filled my own heart. "This is why Elias didn't tell you. You'd have to kill Lote and then you'd be a target. He's distanced himself from you so that you can't be blamed. You truly knew nothing."

"Does he expect that he won't survive his coup?"

When I didn't respond, she slammed her fist into her hand.

"He doesn't get to go martyr himself like this. It's unbelievable."

"We do it, don't we? We sacrifice ourselves again and again for our people. Elias is doing the same thing. It seems so obvious when you're seeing someone else do it. He needs help. He needs to work with people who care so that everyone can find the best path forward and survive it. Instead, he's battling on his own."

"I can't let him do this."

"He thinks I'm going to help him kill Lote. I met with him and pretended to be you."

"What do you really plan to do?"

"I don't know. I have to stop him and anyone else who wants to come to my world. If I just start killing people, it might be a long list, though. I don't know who all knows about my world."

"I know he did something horrible, but I can't wrap my head around it. I can't imagine killing him. I just can't believe I never saw it." Ashton's voice sounded broken.

"I wouldn't have either if I lived in your world. You're loyal and good-natured. Those are wonderful things about us."

"It still just hurts me that Elias didn't tell me."

"He couldn't be the man you would love for the rest of your life, so he had to be the man that saved you."

She lowered her head, shaking it softly. "I never thought he would do the things he's done. Love is not justification. Love doesn't mean lying. Love…"

"I know."

"I'll forgive him. He's finally come back to me and I'll forgive him." She looked at me. "I just wonder if he can forgive himself."

"I'm not sure."

"Maybe your Piercey can help him. From what Elias told me, it sounds like you got the best version of him."

Warmth flooded my heart. "Sometimes I still feel bad that I didn't love him when he deserves it so much."

"Well, you see how it worked out for us. I feel bad in a different way. It's not any better."

She was right.

We were both quiet for a moment and then Ashton laughed. "This is so weird."

"I'm desensitized to weird now. What will you do, Ashton? Now that you know what Lote has done?"

She rubbed her throat and closed her eyes. "I can't let him get away with this. I still contend that Jax's guild is terrible and dangerous. I don't think they're better than us. But Lote has taken it too far and everyone else is following after him. I need time to think about this."

"What do you think about bringing Jaxon in? I know the history is painful. We can trust him, though."

Of everything I'd said, this proved to be too much. Ashton walked to the window and looked out at the darkness. After a few minutes of quiet, she opened it and peered out. "Elias. Come back in."

Soon, we all sat together, Elias rubbing his arms as he shivered.

"I want to stick to business," Ashton said. "There's too much shit to deal with. If we try to apologize or talk about how we feel, we'll get derailed. There isn't time since Lote is wanting to arrest Elias."

"Agreed," I said.

"Of course you two agree." Elias averted his gaze after saying it and receiving a glare from both of us. "I just really didn't want you involved, Ashton."

"That isn't up to you. I told you we aren't going to get into the feelings side. We need a plan that we can all agree on."

"The plan," Elias said, "Is to kill Lote and anyone who will stay loyal to him. Jax will help. He has plans. Max has heard some of those plans which means you have too. You guys can finally fight for unity like you wanted to."

"This isn't how unity comes. We're going to end up in shambles like Max's valley."

"I don't want to be at odds with this plan, but they are not coming to my world. Whatever happens, I'm stopping them, and I hope you'll support me. It would be unfortunate if I had to fight another version of myself or Piercey or Nash."

I winced after I said his name.

"Nash?" Ashton asked.

Elias groaned. He had left mention of Nash out of the conversation and I'd done the same. Knowing that we were together could influence Ashton and she needed to make her own decisions.

"It's Jax's counterpart," I said.

"You know the other version of Jax?" More questions filled her mind, I could see them overwhelming her. "Were you also enemies?"

"Yes, but not the same kind as you. We should focus on our plans."

"What are you not wanting to tell me?" she asked. "You're both acting elusive."

I chewed my thumbnail. "I've already interfered in your world."

"Don't treat me like a child. I can handle it."

"Well," I began. "We're together."

It seemed to knock the wind from her. She sat back. "Together. Like–"

"Together," I said. "For a year now."

Ashton looked away. "I'm glad it worked out in some world."

I wanted to tell her it could work out in her world, only I knew to stay out of this. She had too much of a mess to clean up in her relationships for me to get involved. Hearing that it was possible for us to be together might make her even more angry with Elias–not that he didn't deserve it.

"I said we'd stick to business and I'm derailing us." She wiped her eyes and clasped her hands. "What if we confront Lote and tell the rest of the leadership?"

"My parents mistake was announcing their intentions. They thought that taking a stand would force change because they didn't understand how deep the rot ran. Lote killed them both and went dancing the same night. There's no point in confronting them. Jaxon tried to tell me but I didn't listen, not until I found the evidence."

Ashton cursed. "Why didn't Jax tell me?"

"I told him those were the kind of dangerous thoughts that could get people hurt and not to toy with your mind if he didn't have evidence. I begged him not to say anything until we knew because you would have to take action."

"I hate that you've been making decisions for me for years."

I lifted my hands. "I think one choice is obvious. We need allies. Jax clearly has been planning. Our next move needs to be to talk to him. And we'll tell him the full truth, just like we did with Ashton. I know Nash in my world and now I know Jax because of Ashton's memories. We need him and we can trust him."

Neither Ashton nor Elias said anything.

"Ashton, you can't be upset with Jax for wanting to kill your leaders when he knew that they killed Elias's parents. He's right. And you can't do to him what you're upset with Elias doing to do. He deserves the truth. Be strong and face him."

"Okay," Ashton said. "There's nothing like getting your ass handed to you by yourself. I just have to do it. Take us to him."