The sun.

So bright.

And beautiful.

And angry.

Li’s explosion melted Elden’s flesh from his bones, peeling away blood and tears. They were not tears of agony, but of heartbreak. Savis was orphaned too young.

Silence.

Where are you?

With Elden’s dying breath, he scattered the molecules of his Coalition into a sphere around Cinder. Even then, he knew something had gone wrong. When his nacre reformed inside the sacred chamber, he could see Li had scorched the land and blighted the water, despite the sphere.

Umbra.

The fool strode out of the ashes with aims on Elden’s daughter, and there was nothing Elden could do to stop the spiteful Icarus.

Everything.

From up here, Elden saw everything.

Remorse.

Razor.

Celindria.

Lucas.

Elden saw it all.

And it made him weep.

Rayne stood in a white space and found it familiar. This was where she’d seen Elden for the first time. She wandered through it, calling his name.

The Icarus’ multi-figured shadow appeared before he did.

The sight of Elden always took Rayne’s breath away, but his tears hurt her chest. She searched the sun in his eyes and asked, “What can I do? How can I help you, forefather?”

“Daughter.” His voice was so like Nox’s, but with a slight echo. “The time has come.”

Rayne’s heart jumped into her throat, and she had to swallow to say, “You promised me a year.”

Elden shook his head, the black and white strands swaying in their braids. He opened his hand and in it was a nebulous cloud full of stars. As Rayne stared, the stars winked and disappeared until only the brightest star in the center remained.

The Probabilities.

“You have two days, and I will come to you.”

Even the sadness in Elden’s voice couldn’t diminish Rayne’s panic. Breathless, she asked, “The Probability Matrix ends in two days?”

Elden corrected her. “Everything ends in two days.”

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Celindria, too.

As Rayne stared at Elden, the figures in his shadow disappeared, starting with the smallest. Pax. Then Celindria. Xelan. Nox. Savis.

Only Rayne remained in Elden’s wake.

“I understand.”

Elden took Rayne’s hand, balled it into a fist, and placed it over her nacre. “Tell my children to offer no resistance. When the time comes to let you go. To let it all go. They know not who led them here, but they will see… Everything.”

A tear fell from Rayne’s lashes onto her cheek, and she winced. “Will it hurt?”

“Any other vessel would perish. You are the only one strong enough to survive.”

That wasn’t exactly a reassurance. Still… Rayne did something she’d wanted to do since the first time Xelan had sung Elden’s Verse to her.

She hugged Elden. “I’ll protect our family.”

Warm and strong, only one other Icarus gave better hugs than Elden, and Rayne smiled at the thought of telling Xelan.

Soon.

With her eyes closed, her body went weightless, adrift in the white space. Falling… falling…

Through the nothing, Elden’s voice echoed.

“Two days.”

Sweet copper filled Rayne’s mouth and brought her back to the treeloft. Nox was pressing his torn wrist to her lips, looking desperate and scared.

Sagan.

Korac.

Rayne must’ve scared them to death. She tapped Nox’s wrist until he pulled it away and licked the blood from her lips. It was her first time drinking his blood, and she hungered for more. But…

Korac and Sagan, wrapped in a sheet, stood beside the bed looking varying degrees of worried. Rayne, shielded in pillows, tried for a weak smile, but she didn’t feel like smiling.

Nox’s eyes were filled with concern and love. Into them, she said, “Thank you. For so much…” Her voice broke, and the tears started.

Because this was it.

Sagan lowered her hand from where it had cupped her mouth to ask, “Are you all right?”

“What the fuck was that?” A disgruntled Korac was worth a sad laugh, and it tore from Rayne on a trembling breath.

Nox answered, “It was Elden.”

The other couple balked. Korac asked, “Are you fucking with me?”

Sagan sat down on the edge of the bed and tucked a strand of Rayne’s hair behind her ear. “You didn’t tell us you could commune with him.”

Over the next five minutes, Rayne told them everything Elden had shown her. Silence, Remorse, One, and Tumu—All of it.

Korac paled, which was saying something given his white complexion.

Nox prompted his General, “What is it?”

“Father—Zero said something when I asked about the disappearing Probabilities. He said, ‘One would know,’ but I mistook it for a hypothetical ‘One.’”

Zero.

One.

“Your oldest brother,” Sagan gasped at the same moment Rayne put it together. “He’s alive…”

Nox, sitting in the middle of the bed with Rayne, suggested, “You could ask Razor. Pehton said he was ‘conscious.’”

Korac raked a frustrated hand through his hair. “I hate this. I’m already imagining the smug look on his face.”

“Tomorrow or the next day. We only have two days left.” The second Rayne said it, she regretted it. They all stared at her with shock plain on their faces. “Yeah. Sorry. I should’ve led with that. Elden said we had two days before the Probabilities close.”

Sagan frowned. “If only we knew who the Eternal Bind was… We could separate them somehow.”

Never had Korac ever stared at Rayne as hard as he was staring at her right then.

Please don’t say it.

Please don’t confirm Rayne’s latest suspicion and greatest fear.

Still staring at her from behind his composed mask, Korac said, “Nox, I think you’re—”

“I’m tired,” Rayne blurted. While Korac narrowed his eyes at her, she said, “And I could use some sleep. Sagan, do you think you can bring Tameka and Xelan here in the morning?”

Sagan looked between her husband and Rayne, sensing some tension. Despite it, she said, “Of course.”

Nox tucked Rayne against him, and she breathed deep of his warm scent. One she wouldn’t smell again after tonight.

A painful ache twisted in her chest, prompting her to ask, “Can we all sleep in the same bed again? Dying with Elden has made me want to cry.” While she resented the weakness in her voice, Rayne felt the anguish almost as strong as her love for the people in this loft.

After another stare off, Korac finally relinquished the glare and admitted, “It’s not as if I was getting any sleep on that couch.”

They cuddled in the same arrangement as the night before, except tonight Rayne wasn’t taking Nox for granted. The warm arm around her, the steady way he breathed against her back, the purring in his chest—She soaked it all into her heart and held it tight.

Win or lose. This was their last night.

Into the sleeping quiet, Rayne whispered, “I love you.”