“By all means, search for Silence. Tear down the foreigners to find her.”

One’s words came to Elden on the eve of every campaign. Yes. By hindering the Primary and sabotaging his fight against One’s people, Elden did his adversary’s bidding. But the Primary was keeping Silence somewhere. It was in the pit of his voids. If he’d only relinquish her, Elden would cease and never return. Until then…

The conduit led to another laboratory filled with the black fire and instruments beyond Elden’s recognition. He came through the floor, flew into the sky above the vast space, and opened his eyes.

Tritans and their allies screamed in agony. They would survive this ambush without their eyes. Like all the other incursions, they fled their stations, but unlike the other incursions, they’d left their works.

Elden alighted and signaled for Silence’s personal guard to enter the conduit and raid the lab. The female warriors emerged and set to dismantling the facility, followed by Vinco and Umbra. More advanced than the fighters, the Coalition could designate which materials to destroy and which to take back to Cinder while Elden wandered, seeking anything close to an answer.

Where was Silence?

And why was the Primary so desperate to suppress her?

Elden passed a wall of Cascading Light, angry at its poisonous existence, when something shifted in it. The lab workers had left an image on display inside the flames. A young girl, little older than Savis, cried in the image, glowing in a light much like Elden. Her cheekbones and jaw resembled his, with a more feminine softness to his harsh angles. The blue of her eyes was unlike any he’d ever seen, but the sorrow in them was wholly familiar in Elden’s reflection.

A fellow martyr. One entirely too young for the lifetime within her eyes—

“As I live and breathe, I have never seen a female more beautiful.”

Umbra.

In recent weeks, Elden’s Coalition sergeant had intruded on Elden’s thoughts with reckless recommendations for strategy and outright conquest. Once more, the manner in which Umbra laid his eyes on Elden’s daughter demanded correction.

Now.

“How can one look at this child and think of her beauty and not her pain? Do you not see her grief, Umbra?” Elden nodded at the apparition.

Umbra said, “Despite her age, I find myself drawn to her.”

Elden faced Umbra, who shrugged with boredom plain in his eyes, failing to see this as a reprimand.

Yet.

But he soon would. Elden said, “I find it shameful to consider a child a woman until her time of maturity, when she is old enough to choose love of her own accord.”

Umbra looked from the fire to Elden, recognizing the message in his words. He bowed to his leader and assured, “I harbor no intentions on Savis until she is of age. I come to you and ask only for her betrothal in a beneficial match for our lineage. We can make sons and daughters, leaders and warriors to carryout the Icarean Prerogative—”

“No.” Elden turned his back on the thinly veiled chagrin in Umbra’s eyes. Before the other Icarus garnered a protest, Elden said, “Savis will choose when she is ready. Not a moment before. If there are any attempts to pressure, manipulate, or force her, I will strip the Icarus responsible of their memory and leave them in the Ignis Desert to wander for Eternity. As long as I draw breath, Savis commands her own person. Am I understood, Umbra?” Elden glanced over his shoulder and glimpsed a trace of vehemence in the Coalition sergeant’s expression.

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Umbra hid it with another wordless bow, thoroughly chastised. When he straightened, a hint of resignation was set in his shoulders. “Very well, Elden. As it is your wish, I will follow your command.”

Vinco rushed into the alcove with Amolot. The female looked Umbra over, as Vinco began their report. Elden listened, but let his thoughts drift to Savis. Only the maturity of a girl on the brink of womanhood, and she was already as incandescent as her mother. Elden mourned that Silence had missed much of their daughter’s life already, but he knew his mate would agree with Savis’ upbringing. As well as his decision to spurn Umbra.

No one would force Savis while Elden yet breathed.

Rayne’s heart ached as she opened her eyes.

Elden…

She wondered if he approved of Nox and Rayne’s relationship. As she thought it, her skin glowed. Incandescent.

It helped lift Rayne’s spirits as she realized Nox was no longer in the bed, but there was a note on his pillow.

Breakfast. Be back, Pretty Warrior. Love, Stabby.

Rayne slapped a hand over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut, suppressing a snicker. Behind her, Korac and Sagan were still sleeping in each other’s arms, him on his back and her sprawled on top of him. They were much less put together in their sleep.

On tiptoe, Rayne padded barefoot through her morning routine, including one mega large cup of tea and headline research in her favorite nook. From the night before, people had reported a Nox and Rayne sighting at Night Rayne’s Tomb.

One witness said, “They were uh[sic] fucking a meter away from me.”

Another said, “Whoever Iuo is paying for these stunts to promote Rayne’s Verse deserves a bonus for dedication. I saw Rayne once at the Volcano Day battle. This girl looked just like her, but with better eyebrows.”

Rayne giggled into her tea—

The stairs sighed as Korac took them, graceful in his light steps. Rayne smiled at him and tried to ignore that he was shirtless in his white silk pajamas. She’d expected him to pillage the kitchen or take a shower. Instead, he came over to the library and took up an armchair across from Rayne.

Curious, she watched Korac comb through his hair with his fingers and tousle it for some volume. Silky and soft-looking, Rayne wanted to play with it—Oh, shit. He caught her looking.

Ugh.

Now Korac was smirking.

Rayne rolled her eyes, went back to her reading, and sipped her tea.

“That mug is ridiculous. It’s bigger than your face.” Only Korac could make such an elegant cadence sound so snarky.

With her eyes on the tab, Rayne shrugged and asked, “Did you come over here to make me jealous and pick on my breakfast?”

Korac leaned back in the chair and steepled his fingers. “Have you told him you love him?”

Rayne snapped to him so fast her tea sloshed. Staring into eyes—They were neutral. Judgment-free. She felt safe to confess, “No.”

The dip of Korac’s chin said he’d assumed as much, but it didn’t tell Rayne how to proceed or tried to force more conversation out of her. She valued it. Instead, Korac said, “I’m curious how you reacted to many events in the Verses, but there’s one question from my Verse we wanted to ask you.”

“What is it?” Rayne’s voice was breathy, waiting.

Korac leaned forward onto the edge of his seat to ask, “If you could change it, would you? I can’t fathom another world than this one, but the Probability Matrix presents us with options. There’s a version of us out there for every decision, but in some of them, none of us ever meet because Nox never fell in love with Celindria. Would you change a single outcome, Rayne? A single thing about you and Nox?”

The Icarean General had asked Rayne this in his Verse, and at the time, she’d only thought of her mother. Of telling Michelle Callahan about the Progeny and Cinder. Or staying home from school the day of the Invasion—So many things.

But would Rayne change anything about her and Nox?

She opened her mouth to answer—

“This is a glorious sight first thing in the morning,” Sagan called from upstairs, leaning on the banister and looking for all the world as if inappropriate thoughts filled her head.

“No.”

Korac and Rayne said it at once, shared a look, and both laughed.

Sagan pouted.

Rayne set her empty tea mug aside and changed the subject. “Nox is playing good host and went to hunt us some breakfast. Should we get ready for training while we wait?”

Korac held up a finger. “May I propose an excellent suggestion?” The broadening of his trademark smirk into a grin both terrified and intrigued Rayne.

“Go on.”