Never take anything for granted. It was a lesson I’d learned young, when my mom died. The same lesson I’d learned again when Jax left me, breaking my heart in two. Now, I was learning a whole new dimension to that statement.

I was sitting in that gigantic bedroom again, staring out the window at the strange trees. The bizarre birds still flapped around carelessly, as if they had no worries beyond being pretty. I hadn’t left this room in a week. I didn’t even know how time was measured here or how much time had actually passed.

From the Rainer lessons I’d had at school, I knew they followed a system of time similar to Earth’s. A week was a week.

Then why did it feel like a year?

I’d spent days crying for my dad, for Malin, for all those innocent people. For saving me. Why me?

Now I just felt numb. I was on a different planet. I could never go home again. I felt so alone I could die from that thought alone. Apparently, they’d brought me to Terra, the continent on Caros where Maddox had a residence and had grown up.

Avital kept me company most days, sitting silently beside me. I was grateful for that. I couldn’t stand the sight of Kai and Jax; even though they’d saved my life, I still felt betrayed.

I could’ve given my seat to someone else—someone who deserved it more than I did.

Our neighbors had small children. We could’ve saved more people. The pod had been big enough for one more person.

“You need to eat, my lady,” Avital tried again, snapping me out of my thoughts, and she shoved a plate full of fruit toward me.

“It’s Lux… please call me Lux.” She smiled up at me with those big black eyes. “Please, Sir Skylar is going to be really mad at me if—” I interrupted her.

“Tell me whenever he’s angry at you. I’ll gladly kill him for you.” Avital shrank back.

“No… no… we can’t talk bad about the Paramores like that, miss!”

I huffed. “And what’s that—” My bedroom door slammed open with a loud bang.

“Speak of the devil,” I sighed as Jax strutted in, dark jeans and dark Henley on again, with his sleeves rolled up.

“My ears were burning—were you talking about me?” he drawled playfully. Avital looked horrified.

“Never, sir! Please forgive us!”

“Avital, relax,” he said, noting her scared expression. I relaxed a bit as well.

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“You’re dismissed,” he added. She ran out of the room as if it were on fire.

I gave him my darkest scowl and turned back to the window. He sat down next to me and just watched me for a while. I felt his eyes burn a hole in me.

“What?” I yelled, exasperated. After all those years, he still knew how to get under my skin.

He chuckled darkly and threw a grape at my head. Surprised, I widened my eyes.

“The whole world burned down, and you just threw a grape at me?” I screeched angrily, grabbing a piece of watermelon and splatting it on his handsome face with a loud slap.

He just stared at me with those intense baby blues as watermelon juice dripped down his chiseled jaw. I found it so funny I started giggling, then instantly felt bad about it. Always the one-upper, he grabbed the entire plate, mushed it all up in his palms, and came for me.

I squealed in fake fear and ran for the door. He followed, hands and face full of fruit. I sprinted toward the bathroom, trying to lock him out, but he was on me too quickly, so I bolted for the hot tub. I jumped in, still in my pajamas, and the bastard strutted in, hands full of fruit and a smirk on his face.

“You’ll pay for that…” he said darkly.

I backed up, nearly touching the waterfall, but he was on me in seconds, grabbing my face and smearing the fruit all over it. For the second time, he was fully clothed in my bath, with his shoes still on. Freaking heathen.

“Got you…” he winked.

I splashed him in retaliation.

He ducked, slid forward, and pulled my legs from under me. I spit water as I came back up. “Asshole!” With one last fake angry splash, I made my way out of the tub, wading through the strange current in the water that seemed to hold me back.

Then his hands found my waist, pulling me against his bare torso.

When did his shirt go? Or his pants? He was only wearing his black boxer shorts now—and his shoes.

“I’m sorry, Lux… I’m sorry that you’re hurt.” It was the first apology I’d gotten from him in four years. I’d waited for those words forever, and I couldn’t fully register them now, coming from the traitorous lips of my former best friend. The love of my life. Nope. Former love of my life. Definitely former.

I blinked away tears. “I can’t do this, Jax.” Meaning I couldn’t let my guard down around him, only to have him destroy me all over again. He kissed my temple softly.

“You and I will face this. We’ll get revenge. Together.” I blinked, taken aback. I hadn’t even thought about that. I simply asked, “How? How do we find them, Jax?” meaning the Fae, who were responsible for destroying Earth.

The Rainers had been battling the Fae for centuries. Jax had told me stories over the years, how the centuries-old war was what caused the infertility curse the Rainers had. They all suspected some kind of Fae bio-weapon had caused it.

Now they had killed all the humans who could reproduce easily by nuking Earth—the only other species the Rainers could reproduce with. It was as if they were killing the Rainers slowly but effectively. Without offspring, even with their prolonged lives, they would eventually die out. The Rainer race would simply cease to exist.

The ultimate genocide.

“We have to fix it, Jax.” I let out a shuddering breath. The moment of reprieve was over. All the hurt crept back in, and I stepped away from him, feeling as if he were dead himself.

His brows creased. I held up my hands to stop him from advancing. The playful food fight from just moments ago was so reminiscent of the old us, it cut me like a knife.

“We’ll face this, Jax. But not—” I took a deep breath. “Never again… together.”

I was better than this. I deserved more than a half-hearted apology after all that damage. I was stronger than I had ever been because of it, and I knew that now, ever since my heart had opened for Kai.

Jax Skylark and I would never be friends again. We simply couldn’t.