{Earth}

Tameka squeezed Pax’s tiny hand as he fidgeted nervously against her leg. Proof that Nox didn’t lie about at least one thing in his Verse. Her son took after his father in toddler shyness.

Caedes knelt and assured the small child. “Auntie Sagan will take us on a trip. No pain. No tears.” He put his fist to his chest, and Tameka’s heart squeezed as Pax copied him.

“Ready to go?” Sagan took Tameka’s free hand.

“’Eady.” Pax nodded sternly after an encouraging pat from Caedes.

With the toddler wrapped around her leg, Tameka stepped through the Seam and into the stronghold. The place meant for her and Xelan to build their life together after the war. Elden, it smelled of him. And flowers, water, life. It smelled of life.

“We’re here,” Sagan called into the kitchen. As if the food waited for her to arrive.

“Mommy, look!” Pax detached from her and darted into the koi pond.

“Baby. Why?” She laughed softly as one fish nipped his finger before swimming under the planks.

“Don’t worry, Pax. I’ll teach you to fish.” Karter strode in with Chris behind her. “We’re up in the study. Searching for Bethany clues.” She and Tameka exchanged a brief hug. The redhead came to the Valkyrie’s shoulders.

“I’d love to help.”

Karter chuckled. “Oh, I think Jack is avoiding you.”

Tameka winced and squeezed out, “I really had no idea—”

Sagan cursed from the kitchen. She Seamswalked beside the two women and leaned on them both. “I need to get you guys some proper food. I’m starving, and I promise you there’s better stuff out there than bologna.”

Chris scoffed from the entryway, “That’s what the barbecue chips are for.” The dark knight always impressed Tameka with his immaculate grooming. Especially given the inconsistency of their living situation.

Sagan bowed to him. “I fall to your flawless logic.”

Caedes returned from the waterfalls with Pax sitting on his shoulders. Her son rudely gripped his bald head like a lifeline.

He bounced and squeezed his knees. “Go faster, Uncle Caeda!”

Tameka pointed to the floor. “You’ll want down for this part, honey.”

Pax squirmed as Caedes set him on the hardwood. He took his momma’s hand, and the group migrated into the chasm.

“Wow…” Her son looked up and then down. “Where it go?”

She kissed the top of his red curls. “Go on, sweetie. It’s a special space your daddy made.”

As far as Tameka was concerned, Xelan walked up beside her son, accepted his hand, and they took that first step together. Glass appeared under Pax’s untied shoe. He cried out in delight. The wonder in the sound broke her heart and expanded it all at once.

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A warm hand touched her shoulder. Sagan beamed at her. Tears sparkled in her violet eyes. Tameka squeezed her hand in place. This support system kept her chin up.

She frowned a little. Bony. Sagan’s hand was bony. Her face a little thin. Tameka opened her mouth to say something when Pax cried out, “I found it!”

Found what?

She rushed to his side with others lingering nearby. Some strolled casually into the study. Pax pointed to a strange translucent page preserved in glass plates. Lines. Grids. Some kind of architecture and blueprints.

“Sagan, do you recognize this?”

The Seamswalker checked it out and frowned. “I can’t make it out. Pax, why did you show us this?”

He turned his face into Tameka’s thigh and flushed in his brown skin. Those adorable freckles highlighted from the redness.

Caedes humphed and leaned into Sagan, whispering to her.

Her eyes widened and filled with warmth and kindness. Gently, she exclaimed. “Oh…” To Caedes, she added, “I’ll go see what the others are doing then.”

Pax watched her leave from his mother’s side, and she figured it out. She mouthed to Caedes, “Crush?”

The Icarus nodded, solemnly.

After another second, Pax led them by the hand to follow the Seamswalker into the study where Sagan approached Karter. “…So you don’t mind?”

Jack and Ross called out greetings to the new arrivals from the chess table.

Karter sat on the arm of a chair and folded her arms. “Para and I would be glad to help. What does Pehton need?”

Sagan stood in front of her and glanced awkwardly around the room before muttering, “It’s about Thailea. About Inanis.”

Tameka didn’t eavesdrop. She went to the other side of the room and found the most recent entry into Xelan’s expansive journal collection.

Pax opened it and pretended to read.

Softly, she told him, “It’s your father’s writing. He wrote that for us.”

Her vision swam, and she clutched the shelf for support. Chris rushed to her side. “Are you all right?”

No. Tameka caught Caedes’ concerned frown from across the room. She kept putting it off, but… “Do you mind watching Pax for a bit?” she muttered to Batman.

“Sure. We’ll entertain the kiddo.”

Ross waved Pax over to the chessboard. “Hey, do you know how to play?”

Tameka hoped the girl brought her A-game. Eminent Wiw couldn’t best her son at chess. Caedes followed her out of the study without a word. Down to the third floor. Fourth door. She took in the pictures Xelan framed of her and her friends all around the room. The room he decorated with her in mind.

“He thought of everything.” Caedes glanced around the space without putting his eyes on her.

Tameka understood. She sat on the bed and whispered, “We don’t have to do this.”

“I made a promise.” Caedes sat on the bed beside her. Calm. Resolute. No more words. He bared his forearm. The veins in his wrist faced upward. Faced her.

Faint. Almost weakened, Tameka brought his arm to her lips. He looked away, examining her photographs. Giving her privacy with his blood. Typically an intimate act, Caedes worked to make it as clinical as possible for her benefit.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“As I pledged. You’re welcome.”

He didn’t moan when Tameka bit into him. Although, she stopped herself from doing it. Blood tasted so good with a nacre. She wondered if it ever got awkward with Caedes feeding on John—

A knock sounded from the door, and Tameka jumped two feet off the bed.

“Tameka?” Sagan learning how to knock saved them a lot of trouble since that time she interrupted Lynn and Pablo with the trapeze.

Caedes stepped across the room and leaned against the wall, affording some discretion.

“C’mon in,” Tameka called.

“Sorry. I’m heading out.” Sagan came over and hugged her.

Tameka quirked a brow at her. “The bad boy toy?”

A shadow cast over the blond girl’s eyes before she looked away. Sagan shook her head and cleared her throat. “No. The mission, you know?” She offered a weak smile.

Fuck that. Tameka clutched her sister in her arms and held on tight. “You are more important than some objective. Take care of yourself first. If anything happened to you, I’d drain the Vast Collective.” She pulled away and brushed the girl’s hair back. “Do you hear me? Be careful.”

“Yes, mom.” Sagan rolled her eyes and then winced at her own joke. “Sorry.” She patted Caedes on the shoulder. “You two get back to whatever it was I interrupted.” With a wink, she walked into the Seam.

“Did she look thinner to you?” Caedes asked into the remaining quiet.

Tameka groaned and screamed her frustration into a pillow. Why was everything falling apart? Again.