Sneaking down to the Probability Matrix lab for a quickie was the best idea Kyle had ever formed.

Two hours ago.

He groaned as Silence brought them both to the end.

Again.

That makes four since Kyle had first arrived. She’d thrown him into one of the examination pods, pushed him into the chair, and climbed on top.

Elden, Kyle would never tire of this.

But maybe he should consider a different deity to reference.

Silence had kept the blue streak of hair out of her high ponytail. Perspiration soaked it to her face after hours of sex, and Kyle loved it as he smoothed it back. She tangled her fingers in the curly mess he called hair, pleased with the scenario. The beautiful grin on her face told him so.

Between heavy breaths, Kyle said, “I love you.” He didn’t say it often. Sometimes after saying it, Silence got this look on her face like she was boxed in. Kyle assumed it’s because she would never truly move on from Elden, but he needed her to know how he felt and that there were no obligations from her. He understood. “You don’t have to say it back or even feel the same. I simply like to tell you how I’m feeling, so there are never any doubts. You don’t belong to me, and you never will. But you’re still choosing to wrangle my ass into this sad excuse for a broom closet, and I’m one lucky bastard for it.” Kyle let it all show in his smile, his eyes—Everything.

It moved Silence. Her eyes flashed their blue Atramentous, and he kissed her. No words needed—

Voices came from outside.

“Oh, yeah. Kyle and Silence are in the pod.” Smith was such a narc. “You might wanna give them a second.”

Korac’s voice came next. “Is everyone having sex but us?” Obviously, his remark implied that Sagan was outside the pod, too. But who else—

“Get your ass out here, Roberts.” Holt. Conscience—What the fuck ever. Andrew said, “We have work to do, and no. You won’t like it.”

Lucas’ voice came next, which made sense considering Korac’s comment. What Lucas said, however, made no sense. “Silence. It’s time.”

Kyle hated the way she stiffened in his arms. He knew her life was full of secrets, and he loved her anyway. Kyle took Silence’s face in his hands and kissed her. For reassurance. For comfort. Everything.

The desperation in her kiss was not very reassuring or comforting. More disconcerting. Kyle broke it to say, “No matter what they’re about to say, it won’t change how I feel about you. I trust you.”

Between them, those three words meant more than the others, and the appreciation in Silence’s eyes confirmed it. She said, “Let us take the last of this journey together.”

Again, disconcerting. But Kyle let Silence pull him from the chair, straighten their clothes, and fix their hair. When she brushed against him, he was ready to go again, and some part of Kyle was devious enough to make the others wait outside with their bad news while he and Silence went at it. But…

Kyle sighed as he opened the pod door. “What is it?” He sounded pissy, even to himself. With a roll of his eyes, he tried again for something more cooperative in his tone. “What do you need me to do?”

“We’ll need you to hold your shit together until we finish telling you everything.” Andrew did not make the situation better.

It got worse as Sagan suggested, “You may want to sit down.”

When Kyle did, all the anxious vibes surrounding him made his knee bounce. Silence, with all her grace and wonder, fixed it by sitting in his lap and kissing his cheek. Did he mention how much he loved her?

And man, did Kyle need her as Sagan went onto explain Rayne was still alive. He didn’t actually react as much as he probably should. It was Rayne, after all. She was capable of really anything. So what was the other shoe they were so afraid to drop?

“Just tell me.”

Korac and Sagan exchanged glances. Lucas and Andrew did the same. The anxiety in the lab spiked until Kyle gripped Silence’s hip so hard she felt the need to nip his earlobe.

Sagan broke it to Kyle, not gently at all. “With Elden’s blessing, Rayne resurrected Nox. And after six months of working separately to bring down the remnants of Imminent, they’ve combined forces and they’ve been living together. They’re the Eternal Bind.”

A fine tremor overtook Silence—

No.

It wasn’t her trembling.

It was Kyle. He was shaking so badly it translated to her because he was afraid to ask this question, but couldn’t stop himself. “How can she and Nox be the Eternal Bind? I thought the Eternal Bind were two beings drawn together inside the Probability Matrix.” He needed to swallow before he added, “Like soul mates.” The very notion made Kyle wince.

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Andrew looked to Lucas on this one.

The clandestine bastard said, “That is a crude summary for the intricate balance the two create within the Matrix. Through their rightful union, the rift in your universe will mend to one Probability. And I hope it’s this one.”

“You hope?” Kyle couldn’t keep the venom from his voice. “You hope?! And you—” His eyes went blurry, stinging as they filled with tears when he glared at Sagan. “You don’t look upset by this at all. I don’t expect your husband to be angry Rayne is cosmically bound to her rapist, but I thought you of all people—The only person to experience it with Rayne through a Divine Booth. That you would see how wrong this is! How can you all be so calm—”

Silence embraced Kyle, squeezing as much as he was apparently squeezing her. He buried his face against her neck and inhaled the scent of lilies. Home to him now, it brought some much needed comfort because this was the most fucked up shit he’d ever live through.

Rayne and Nox.

The Eternal Bind.

But…

“You knew, didn’t you?” Kyle muttered the words against the woman he loved, feeling betrayed.

Silence was kind enough to tell him the truth. “I did not know they were the Eternal Bind, but I knew they were in love before Rayne brought Enki to ruin. I knew my grandson was alive in her.”

Grandson.

Kyle sighed and nearly exhaled his soul with it. This was…

Too much.

Half-dead, he asked the others, “What exactly am I expected to do with this?”

Korac resumed the exposition. “According to Elden, we have less than two days before Rayne and Nox collapse the Probability Matrix. In that time, we mean to finish Celindria and the last of Imminent with her. Nox has volunteered as honey for the fly.”

At Kyle’s raised brows, Korac elaborated. “He will convince Celindria to surrender with him, and they will serve the empire through whatever rehabilitation Xelan designs. Together.”

Andrew picked up the mantle then. “But before we rely on Nox to save the universe, you and I need to screen him.”

Silence squeezed Kyle again as he tensed at the idea.

Inside Nox’s mind.

In his memories.

Less than pleased with the scenario, Kyle asked, “How can you trust me not to frame him? Not to say Celindria is manipulating him?”

The two couples exchanged glances again, but Silence answered, “I’ll be with you.”

“Fine. But expect me to be petty.” Kyle felt wanted to scowl and pout at the same time.

Sagan said, “As if you could be any other way,” as she opened a conduit to what looked like a forest on mushrooms.

She and Korac filed in first, leading the way to a massive column of tree. It climbed so high, Kyle couldn’t see the sky for the flourish of twinkling leaves above. It was pretty, but not as enchanting as the wonder in Silence’s eyes as she stepped through. She was the Mother of the galaxy, ancient, and yet there was still little of the galaxy she’d yet to see.

A vacation.

That’s what they’d do after this fuckery was over.

Silence’s white labcoat was gaping from their earlier sessions, exposing her long legs from the revealing black bodysuit she wore beneath the coat. The clasp between her thighs certainly came in handy, and Kyle knew he would lean into their sexual attraction more than usual during this circus. He kept moving his gaze between her eyes and the low neckline of the top—

Beyond Silence, Sagan caught Kyle doing it and snickered into her hand.

It was so silly. His mouth spread into an involuntary smile. Yeah, they were all still family, but this was going to suck.

Light caught Kyle’s attention, and he frowned when he spied the source.

Was that a door into a tree?

“Let’s go in.” Xelan alighted beside them, with Tameka at his side. Under his breath, but loud enough for Kyle to hear, Wingmaster said, “I don’t like the idea of them alone together.”

That set the mood as Kyle followed everyone in with Silence at his side. Instantly, the vibes in the loft blanketed him in grief.

Duffle bag in hand, Rayne was packing things into it. Not her shirt. Not her leather pants or shoes—

These were all Nox’s things.

There was a faint hint of salt in the air, and it tore at Kyle. Especially as she faced them.

Wrecked.

That was the only word for it.

Love and joy flickered in Rayne’s blue eyes before she ran across the cozy space and wrapped her arms around Andrew. Why did she always hug someone other than Kyle first—

“Oof!”

He gasped as Rayne violently drew him into the three-way embrace with ridiculous strength. More arms joined, and Kyle knew from their scents it was Tameka and Sagan.

The Progeny.

The original.

Wait, that wasn’t right.

Feeling uncharacteristically magnanimous and even nostalgic, Kyle waved for Xelan to join them. Despite all of today’s bad news, their guardian beamed and joined the platonic orgy.

Six of them in a massive hug, they met each other’s smiling faces inside the huddle. They’d started this thing together, and they would finish it the same way—

“Rayne, dinner’s ready—Oh.”

Nox.

They all looked up from each other’s faces to find the former King of Cinder standing like an enormous statue at the corner. And Rayne—

Kyle had never seen her eyes light up like that before.

And he hated it.

He took Silence’s hand, touched Xelan’s shoulder, and went in without bothersome formalities, like consent.

Nox’s memoryscape was a field of cranberry grasses under a clear sky. Stacks of stones—thousands, hundreds of thousands of them—circled out around them. As Kyle scanned the horizon, they formed a spiral. Under the shade of a black-barked tree with scarlet leaves, he, Xelan, and Silence stood with different expressions.

Kyle felt overwhelmed and imagined that he looked like it.

Xelan observed their surroundings, puzzled.

But Silence…

Why did she look mournful?

Kyle reached a hand out to her. “What is it? What is this?” It reminded him of something he couldn’t quite place.

While Silence took his hand, she lived up to her namesake and only glanced at him in sadness.

It took Xelan walking up to a stack of stones for Kyle to realize what this place was. A projection appeared on it and played a moment where an ugly motherfucker—obviously Umbra—slapped the point of view of the scene and spat on it. “Ungrateful heathen. Can you not see your mother and I are in the middle of a dispute?! Hide in your chambers and pray to your precious Elden I choose not to find you after I finish with her.”

Xelan looked away and stepped back from it, accidentally activating another. In this one, a black-haired, gray-skinned version of Pax ran into the point of view’s arms. Xelan as a toddler bawled within the memory.

Nox’s voice came from the point of view, concerned and angry. “Tell me.”

Little Xelan hiccuped half a sob, asking his older brother, “Why is father so mean?”

Even though Nox’s teeth were clenched together, he was gentle with toddler-Xelan. “Whatever father has done now, we can fix it. Now tell me, what did he do?”

All growed-up, Xelan backed away again, trembling from the visceral flashback. Kyle’s eyes followed his as they took in the stones with renewed understanding.

Billions of them.

Silence finally said something, and Kyle kinda wished she’d said anything else.

“This is an Icarean graveyard, and this is where Nox buried his trauma.”