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Rayne Callahan, King of Earth and Cinder, stared out at the approaching storm. With her knees gathered to her chest, her bare toes curled into the cool, damp sand. She rested her chin on her arms, folded across her knees. The wind blew her hair, draping around her blue dress. She wore it for Sagan.

“I’ll never be able to touch her like that outside of these constructs, will I?”

Nox didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. They both knew the truth. His boots continued to squish in the sand as he approached her side from behind.

While her friends suffered from Imminent’s infiltrations, the pair carried on quiet conversations in her mindscape. Waiting. The storm was so close now Rayne smelled the ozone from the lightning. She heard it strike the waves. The thunder called to her.

“I liked the lightning during our fight. I never imagined feeling anything like it.” Her nacre sang with it. A familiar thought occurred to her not for the first time. But this was the first time she wasn’t afraid to share it with someone. He’d never judge her for this. “I bet it looked cool.”

Rayne turned to him, standing so tall above her, and smiled. Letting him return to black clothes was a small kindness. He seemed uncomfortable in the white. In a shirt, for that matter. But she refused to compromise on that. No shirtless Nox allowed in her head. No leather pants, either. He got a loose fitting black tee and jeans. With a gentle nod, she indicated for him to sit with her.

Nox took the invitation and still towered over her. But she wasn’t scared. Never missing a beat, she clocked the easing of his posture and the exposure of his unarmed hands. He tried. That counted for something.

As Rayne stared into his true-black eyes, he cleared his throat before saying in that softened baritone of his, “I imagine it’s caused by an equal match. That’s only ever happened in two fights for me. You were there for both.” He stretched out one leg and kept the other bent, resting his wrist on that knee.

Right. Xelan and Nox fought on the night the older brother danced with Rayne and tried to force the younger one’s birth-nacre down her throat. Said Prince dropped through the glass ceiling and rescued her. After she stabbed Nox in the crotch.

Wow. Never mind.

It grew quiet between them as the storm seduced Rayne. With every strike of lightning and gust of wind, it asked her to embrace it. The wild torrent. The tempest in her heart. Nox watched it dance with her. She wondered if the siren called to him, too.

“The gold spikes were brilliant. Were they Kyle’s design?”

The abrupt interruption startled her, snapping her gaze to his. After a heartbeat, his words sunk in. Right. Tactics. She could talk tactics. “That’s right. The Brethren supplied him with the gold and the forge.”

They built the drop forge on the back of Xelan’s train, lovingly named Iron Hope. What would Kyle think about her discussing his baby with Nox? Unable to restrain herself, Rayne snickered into her hands like a child.

The former King of Cinder raised a heavy brow at her. Humor looked good on him, softening the harsher angles of his cruelly handsome face.

“Sorry.” She wasn’t really, and so she kept giggling. “It’s just… I’m sure he’d murder me if he knew we were talking about him.”

Nox’s expression shifted into bewilderment as he nodded his agreement.

A thought struck Rayne. “Speaking of tactics. You knew I could blind people. Why didn’t you defend for that?”

“One. I wasn’t intending to win. Two. We didn’t have the entire Vast Collective backing us, and nacre glass on that scale would require killing most of my people to fashion shields. I’m a monster, but that’s still too far for me. By then, I could see the outcome. It wasn’t worth it. I knew they’d receive aid for the visual impairment. Those who survived the war, I mean.”

Rayne frowned. Why did she frown? She thought through his words. The logic was sound, but… Oh. Turning to him with her cheek resting on her arms, she explained, “There’s a psychology in words, Nox. If a school of teens repeatedly picks on a non-promiscuous girl by calling her a slut, eventually she gives in and lives up to the word. I mean, if you face persecution anyway, at least enjoy it.”

The Icarus’ long black hair slipped from his shoulder when he tilted his head curiously at her.

“What I mean to say is, stop calling yourself a monster. And don’t let anyone else call you that either. Don’t tolerate that shit. Or it’s easier for you to give in and be one.”

Both brows shot up this time as he considered her words. After he gave a curt nod, they fell into another companionable silence.

Eventually, Nox’s gaze returned to the kinetic light show. Without looking at Rayne, he said, “Every minute with you is a revelation. The constructs…” He turned to her and gestured at the nacre belt around her waist. “How? How am I here? I was always taught that the victor’s nacre consumed the swallowed one completely.”

She considered how much to share with him and untied the rope fashioned from shards of their nacres. Her dress conformed to her and shifted into a long teal shirt over black leggings cut into shorts. He kept his eyes off her, as he did each time the mood struck her for a costume change. Rayne gathered her hair and plaited it. Patient, Nox stared at the ocean with barely a glance in her direction.

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

None of this was exactly real.

Rayne constructed this entire space in her mind to cope with her confinement in the Martyr Complex. Well, almost none of it. Nox, in some ways, was real. She permitted his conscience to enter hers. And, until recently, they shared every thought and emotion. She returned his privacy out of good faith. Here, where he couldn’t hurt her, she trusted him. It also helped her not to glimpse how much he considered her. His feelings for her. He… overwhelmed her.

But as to how… “You weren’t conscious after I killed you. So you don’t remember.”

Nox gave her his full attention. Respectfully, listening to the woman who lived not even a percent of his years.

“I held your nacre in my hand. Inert and empty. But Korac told me. He told me of Elden’s second Verse. ‘Bring the warrior you fell to victory with you.’”

Rayne went quiet with the weight of her reasoning at the time. Finally, she faced him, leaving the storm in the periphery. Her voice thickened with emotion. “I thought… I thought since you swallowed Xelan’s nacre that maybe he was still in there. And then in the end… You saved my life, Nox, when Celindria tried to kill me. I wanted to save you both.”

His gaze fell for the reason they both knew.

“That’s right.” Rayne needed to clear her throat to continue. “Your nacre consumed his, and he wasn’t there. Elden told me when he kept mine from consuming yours.”

Nox in shock was funny. His black eyes sparkled when widened in surprise. Even his mouth opened a little.

It lightened the mood and brought a smile to Rayne’s lips. “I never saw him. He was a voice in my head in a space like this one. In maybe five minutes of time on Cinder, he shared an eon of knowledge with me. The constructs. The folds. Those are his making. I think he’s been in his nacre all this time, challenging his mind to keep his sanity.”

Again, that quiet settled between them. They both let this revelation wash over them. It was almost too much to consider—

“I owe you a debt of gratitude.”

For the second time that day, the former King startled the current ruler with his unexpected regard. “Why?”

“That last construct you created.” Nox looked away, as if struggling to find the words. Rayne wished she could see into his emotions now. To understand him. Eventually, he looked at his hands where they tied another knot in the rope and elaborated, “I never thought I’d meet Surra in Eternity, but I’d hoped.”

“Who is—Oh.” Rayne swallowed her question. To see Xelan again, she created a construct of this same beach. But in this new iteration, it served as a meeting ground for daughters who lost their fathers. Nox was there with a baby. His unborn daughter.

“With Cascading Light, I once searched the Probability Matrix for an instance where she survived. There was only one out of millions.” Nox shook his head, as if failing to grasp it. “I’d grant you anything in my power to repay you for that.”

“Nox, I’m so—”

“Your majesty, I’m here to report,” Cypher interrupted Rayne’s condolences, sounding rather urgent.

She looked from the sky to Nox. He met her gaze, and they both listened intently.

From outside the Complex, one of her soldiers continued his briefing. “A group of humans are protesting at Cinder’s conduit against the dispensation of nacres from Enki. That’s right. Enki is granting us nacres.”

Nox shook his head and returned his gaze to the storm. He frowned as concern flickered in his eyes.

“Tell me.” Rayne wanted his insight.

“I wouldn’t trust nacres bestowed by the Tritans.” He met her eyes and gestured between them. “Look what happened to us. I can’t imagine what experiments they’d inflict on an entire planet of test subjects.”

Scary. But her friends were smart. They’d know better.

“Colton completed the excavation of Wingmaster’s stronghold. It’s structurally sound with the entrance restored. So that’s some good news. Here’s some more bad. Most of the Shadow is locked down in the arsenal. Celindria somehow inhabited Kyle’s body and arranged those strikes on Imminent last week. Including the one that killed Eminent Wiw.”

The Icarus beside her cursed under his breath and, in frustration, threw a shell clear to the horizon.

But Rayne already expected a strike from the First Progeny. The sinister woman’s organization coordinated their efforts to hit them on all sides. Trapped inside this box, the King of Earth and Cinder couldn’t communicate with her people directly. She tried through constructs and invaded their dreams. But it exhausted her fuse and risked the failing of Elden’s Sphere—the protective nacre shell around the planet preventing the red giant from swallowing Cinder.

Damned near powerless, Rayne balled her fists in the sand. Thunder rolled across the turbulent surf. It cracked around her, within and outside the construct. There was no sense in curbing her emotions. Let it rain. Let them know.

Cypher added, “Fury and Tumu stopped by the protest on their way to search for the Seamswalker. They’re headed to Gait.”

With the Shadow well and thoroughly divided, this was Imminent’s golden opportunity.

Nox’s frown never left. He sounded incredulous as he asked, “How detrimental are these individual attacks that your people leave you at risk—”

“We sure miss you, Callahan.” Cypher’s voice was filled with genuine warmth and more familiarity than necessary. It took the words right out of Nox, who closed his mouth instantly. The Iona soldier known for his crush on her mused, “We’ve started a pool on what would bring you back to us. A zombie apocalypse? Tritan invasion? Or will you last the entire fifty years? My money’s on whenever the hell you feel like it. Because that’s the kind of woman you are.”

Rayne wilted a little against the sand. Nox didn’t look at her. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. It was awkward for them both to endure this. Cypher was an outstanding soldier with a good heart. Harboring unrequited feelings for her wasn’t the end of the world. But his faith left her a tad uncomfortable.

“I think we’ll see you soon, Callahan. And we all look forward to it. Until then, I’ll update you the moment I have any news. Over and Out.” As a human, the gold filigree along the glass box left Cypher unharmed. He patted the top of it before leaving her and the Icarean giant in awkward silence.

The King of Earth and Cinder closed her eyes to the gusts of wind and took a deep breath of the ocean air. Without looking at Nox, Rayne offered, “He’s a good soldier.”

“He’s loyal to you, so I’m sure of it, but it’s also not any business of mine. My concern lies in the Progeny’s responses to Imminent and Tritan strategies. They’ve left their positions and their leader vulnerable.” Even dead, his voice held the command of a King with much experience in battle.

But he didn’t know everything.

“Nox, have faith in my family.” She met his gaze as he peered over at her. “They know what they’re doing.”

Quietly, he accepted this with a bow of his head.

They both looked back out at the roiling waves under a dark gray sky. Powerful gusts carried the electric potential and brine. The choppy ocean sent spray far enough to splash their faces.

She released the sand from her grip and relaxed into the storm’s song. Electricity charged Rayne’s blood and sent her hair standing on end. Every part of her sang with it.

Softly, her companion pondered aloud, “Not long now.”

Lightning struck the riptide. Rayne smiled. Nox couldn’t know how right he was.