{???}

Rayne reached out and gripped Nox’s hand as they went over the edge together, both of them screaming. With delight. With the thrill. Abandoning their cares if only for a few quick seconds. And she squeezed almost hard enough to hurt herself.

Realizing Rayne must be hurting Nox, she let go as they surfed down the lavafall at a ninety-degree angle to the vertical drop. Standing upright while falling straight down was a sensation she’d never get used to if the broad grin on Nox’s face was any indication.

Rayne was fine with that.

While the fall took less than the time to prepare for it, she swore it went on forever. It was possible Nox prolonged it for their entertainment, a welcome distraction from their cyclical thoughts and unexpectedly comforting interactions. He advanced easily through her construct lessons, taking both less and more time than she did with Elden.

Of course, it was Rayne’s hope that in the land of nanites and nacres, somehow they could both manipulate the Dyson’s Sphere external to their strangely cozy mindscape.

Scenic, too. While they rode the lavafall down, lightning struck an impressive wave only a few hundred feet away. Salt and ash mingled as the storm claimed both constructs’ skies in clouds the color of Nox’s skin. The heart of it as black as his eyes. Same as the igneous rock all around them.

Funny how that manifested in their internal processes.

Was the water the same color as her eyes? The sands the same pale shade as her complexion?

And all these components coalesced into…

Into what?

“Prepare yourself. Realigning to the surface will—”

The sudden and stark righting of the skid rattled Rayne’s bones and chomped her teeth. The lava hissed and glooped where it plummeted here into the tide.

“—Suck.”

Rayne laughed, unable to stop herself. It was so unexpected for Nox to use that word. “I didn’t think that was in your vocabulary, former King of Cinder. How familiar are you with Earth slang?”

“Familiar enough.” Nox beat his wings to slow his glide, and Rayne copied him. They both glowed from the adrenaline, far removed from her earlier tears—

{We went to work for thousands of years. I created the exsanguination mechanism. And I’m not sorry. Celindria deserved to suffer. I hate that Rayne ever knew of its existence. I think I first regretted her fate when she came to the fortress for negotiations with Nox. So spirited and brave. Smart. An intergalactic leader in her youth, and I knew what we’d condemned her to.

For that, I am ashamed.}

“I knew you tried to cover for him.”

Nox looked away, seeming to concentrate on steering with his wings toward the riptide, where it swelled under the storm into an intimidating crest. He gave a satisfied nod. “This will do.” He turned back to her and challenged, “Are you prepared for part two?”

Rayne flexed her wings, getting a sense of the steering, all the while feeling a grin spread across her lips. Even amid her enemies and crushed under the weight of her worries and grief, he found a way to make her smile. “I think I’m more than up for this. Thank you, Nox.”

His anticipatory expression slipped into the faintest of frowns. At Rayne’s smile, he shook it off and left it unacknowledged to buffer his wings into a sail. “Can you feel it?”

She copied Nox’s actions, and the gusts glided beneath her wings. “I can.”

“Now!”

They both surfed on their skids across the fledgling tide, catching it before it rose. And rose. And swelled.

Icy rain. Lightning strikes. Ocean spray.

Tactile sensations that felt good on Rayne’s unreal skin. Beside her, Nox flattened his wings perpendicular to his crouching stance. At his nod, she mimicked him, determined not to need his help this time. All the while they rode the wave, Korac’s Verse continued.

{Back on subject. Nox took Celindria’s death like a train wreck. His fixation on her transferred to any news I gathered of her descendants. And I encouraged the distraction to maintain the perilous grip on his mind. These are my sins. My wrongs. But I was caretaking madness, and I don’t entertain excuses or placations.

I was less than a man, but not exactly a monster.}

Nox kept his stare on the beach as they rolled toward it, so very high off the roiling sea. Rayne provided him with the arena for his betterment, and she refused to wring his emotions out of his careful reconstruction. But damned if she wasn’t curious about what exactly took place in that mind of his—

“Caretaking madness…”

When he spoke, Rayne drew closer to let him know he had her attention. Meanwhile, Nox stared at the shore without blinking, despite the rain pelting his thick lashes.

That deep baritone of his softened as he ruminated unto himself, “Korac has a way with words, doesn’t he? Eloquent and regal—Almost a talent for this. Already it’s much better than mine.” The smile Nox gave the storm was bitter from the feelings it restrained.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Rayne maintained her balance while staring at him. Once a few heartbeats passed, she smirked. “I don’t think anyone expected this from either of you, and I can’t wait for the Vast Collective to circulate your words, Nox. They were brave and unyielding. You opened that door for Korac.” She let out a bright laugh, startling him. “Sorry. Can you imagine if Xelan writes one?”

Nox’s raised a brow at the notion. “The galaxy would tremble.” He nodded back at the surf. “We disembark here.”

Right. They were totally in the middle of something.

Facing the shore, Rayne mimicked his stances to ensure a smooth landing. This was her construct. She couldn’t manipulate Nox’s build, but she trusted him with that much control over her conscience—whether or not he knew it. Regardless, she wanted to ride this out with respect to the wave. No cheating.

The crest lowered them toward sea level. Rayne balanced the skid until at the last minute she spun and rode the wave in reverse. “Woo! I did it!”

“Rayne!”

The ride got real bumpy—

“Oh, shit!”

As the wave washed away and joined the foam over the shore, the skid lost its indifference to friction and decided to once again give a fuck. Rayne’s ass hit the sand and slid into the beach, her hands gripping the sediment to slow her roll. Literally. She landed with the skid over her head, laughing herself red in the face.

What in the name of yoga poses—

“I vow I’ve never met a woman more headstrong than you. You could control the entire landing, you realize that, don’t you?” Nox’s face appeared between Rayne and the sky. He looked the most handsome when in a tizzy.

Rayne filed that away for later. Right now, she needed to un-pretzel herself. “Ugh. I’ll take my lumps and unwind this myself. You. Try to be less with the ‘I told you so’s.’”

Nox stared down at her with a brow raised in bewilderment. “You’re absolutely right. You’re not the most headstrong woman I know. Rayne Callahan, you’re the most self-punishing, adamant force in the entire universe.” He bent and offered his hand. “And I fell to you. So perhaps there’s something to your method of banging your head against a brick wall until you break through.” Shaking his head incredulously as she clasped his wrist, he pulled her easily upright on the skid. “Like water through a canyon, your majesty. Only much less patient.”

Rayne dropped his hand and glared at him through narrowed eyes. “I take every one of those words as a compliment, soldier.”

“As ever, your loyal servant.” Nox dropped to kneel at her skid and unfix the straps confining her combat boots before unfastening his own.

Rayne watched him, fascinated by his unassuming nature around her and mesmerized by his careful measures to assure her comfort in his presence. She wanted Nox to know that she saw it. Saw him. But he only shirked any sign of gratitude she paid him, implying that she made him uncomfortable in doing so.

A soft impasse. A gentle obstacle.

One day, Rayne hoped they overcame it together. Until then…

The strips of battle gear covering Rayne receded and refashioned the constructed material into a long-sleeved backless top held together with strings. Wine colored. The matching wide-leg bottoms caught the sea breeze in a playful sway. Her hair, once freed, joined in the game, soaked and curlier than before.

Nox kept his eyes averted when she changed, as always. When he faced her again, he stared. He didn’t mean to. Rayne knew because he looked away as soon as he realized.

The tension between them grew more comfortable with each passing day, and Rayne found herself easier in Nox’s presence at the same rate. One day she could even see them happy here as friends.

Happiness.

Such a foreign concept to her outside of Sagan’s arms or Xelan’s warmth.

Especially considering the next segment of the broadcast.

{[SS]: I have to clear my throat to speak. “Sorry. I… Razor was so twisted.” It took Matt, Lucy, Puk, Pehton, Korac, and I sitting around like a support group discussing our encounters with him before I puzzled together exactly how badly he manipulated me. Never mind the actual support group the Lyriks established to cope with their very serious trauma.

Rayne, I’m sorry I wasn’t more like you. I should have killed him the first time he smiled at me.

No. We are not doing this. Break time.}

White magnesium heat flared through Rayne. The storm inside and out howled, reverberated in the chambers of her heart. She trembled with it.

How could her friends think less of themselves for being good people? For trusting? It’s not their fault that assholes took advantage of their kindness. Continually! Sagan. Poor sweet Sagan—

“Is it time, King Rayne?”

Nox was why. His story. The hidden potential beneath the monster that generational abuse tried to make of a good Icarus. A story like his waited behind all their foes. But not everyone was worth saving.

Rayne gave Nox the full force of Li in her eyes, looked into his metaphorical heart, and begged herself to forgive the hope inside her. Inside Sagan. All their people.

Powering down took the breath from her. “No. Not yet.”

Nox manifested a reinforced canopy and stood under it with an invitation in his eyes. “Come in from the rain,” they said. He knew the solace she found here, but it isolated her even from someone inside her conscience. Xelan wouldn’t like Rayne withdrawing like this.

Upon entering the canopy, Rayne enjoyed the sound of the rain on the roof enough to let herself dry for a while. Swallowing, she managed to say, “I hated the shame in her voice.”

“You’ve heard it in your own,” Nox stated, not questioned.

Rayne gripped her hair and shook her head, frustrated. “Sagan thought she found an ally. She shouldn’t blame herself.”

Nox looked out toward the tide with his eyes narrowed, but Rayne knew he was carefully wording what he wanted to say next. “There is a certain education in trust. Her regret is valid. Yours is valid. The shame is part of the experience. Let yourselves feel it, take the lesson, and move onto the next.”

After that, they sat in the sand, fell quiet, and listened more to Korac’s Verse.

The death matches.

Ementa’s demise.

Abresson and T.a.o.

Nox and Rayne ended their silence simultaneously, “I want to break that Tritan.” “No way he lives.” They both glanced at each other, a pact between them. Abresson was priority one.

The only external indication of the story’s emotional impact on Nox was the thickening of his voice as he confessed, “Korac never told me how he earned his credits, and I… despise that he ever encountered that Aegis beast on my behest.”

“I don’t think he does,” Rayne offered, hugging her knees to her chest and staring at the sand. “I think you were the best thing to happen to him. Until Sagan, of course.”

Quiet descended once more. The story carried into Korac acquiring Cascading Light for Nox.

{To an Icarus, under the weight of Li’s deadly promise—Rayne—you, in that image, represented our true salvation. I believe that’s why so many Icari easily accepted your leadership after the war. It was the natural order of things.}

Nox nodded his agreement. “True.” He returned to their comfortable rapport as Korac continued narrating the event.

{Our King wasn’t obsessed with the image of our salvation.

Nox was obsessed with the young warrior inside that fire.

That posed a complication I never predicted.}

Months ago, Rayne would’ve tensed at Korac’s words in Nox’s presence. As it was, her Icarean companion stared intently at the horizon. But she saw.

He clenched the fist opposite from her until his knuckles went white and cerulean blood dripped from his nails.

“I’ll regret it until I’m gone, until I’m dust, and long after.”

“Nox.”

Frozen, he hesitated before turning to her. “King Rayne?”

“Let it go. I did.” She meant it. Not that she forgave him, because she couldn’t. But she believed him to be a good man, confined by a lifetime of poor decisions—his and those who made him. The Icarus next to her deserved another chance to try, and so far, she was glad he took it. Better off, even.

Nox let his gaze slip back to the storm, and Rayne followed.

“In due time.”