After watching the way Nox and Rayne had just left the treeloft, Andrew totally expected the Matrix to lose a few thousand Probabilities. Then Xelan and Korac came and took the girls for a ‘walk.’ Everyone was out having a good time in the woods or fouling up the drinking water.

So Andrew pounced on Lucas, literally trying to jump his bones. Unfortunately, Lucas held Andrew aloft above him with an incredulous laugh. Andrew asked into the man’s glorious smile, “Why not?”

The smile softened from joyous to sad. Where Andrew’s hair fell into Lucas’ face, the Icarus with golden eyes tucked the strands behind Andrew’s ears, saying, “I need to tell you. Everything. Before this is over, I want you to know the truth.”

Andrew laid down on the plush rug beside Lucas, stretching the length of his partner on his side. He propped his head on his hand, elbow bent on the floor. “So tell me.”

Lucas mirrored Andrew and held out a capsule. It was for memories. “Rayne and Nox inspired me. Take this, and you will live my life as I’ve lived it. I can understand if that’s too much—”

Andrew snatched and downed it before Lucas could put up more bullshit about extremes. Only after did he realize he ought to have listened.

Light.

It shone in every color, and some shades Andrew couldn’t even recognize. His brain wouldn’t allow it.

Was this the cosmos?

Was this the beginning?

“Andrew, follow my voice.” Lucas’ words exploded through the non-existence. It sounded wrong here.

As a consciousness, Andrew followed the sound to its source. Where the prismatic light collapsed into a void, he entered. Waiting there, Andrew counted three hundred and twenty-two men with white hair and white eyes. Only their pupils differentiated them.

In the middle stood Lucas, sandy blond hair and golden eyes. As Andrew watched, the color seeped from his lover, and the veil lifted when his pupils formed into stars.

“I am One, Zero’s first son.”

Wow. All this time, Andrew was doing an Aegis.

Lucas winked as if he could read Andrew’s thoughts before balling his hands together and crumpling the matter around them like aluminum foil. Inside the tin ball, Andrew had no form. He could see the matter bleed mercury drops onto a blank canvas.

“By now, Sagan has told you what the Exalted said of the formation of worlds. Not only the planets and this galaxy, but all things. Breath. Vision. Light.”

The mercury drops hardened into a mirror. Andrew was in its reflection.

“We brought you into existence when we entered a less malleable dimension. Here, we were challenged to create and innovate.”

As Lucas told the story, the mirror cracked.

“But our entry shattered the fabric of this plane. With every decision we made, it splintered. It was only after I constructed Enki, our weapon, that I discovered the disastrous course of your Probabilities.”

Rayne appeared in the shattered mirror in tears.

Lucas’ booming voice softened as he said, “The girl would destroy Enki, unaware she would liberate the woman who would take it all. Both of them were drawn to the same warrior, honed by inexplicable circumstance. But I get ahead of myself.”

Sudden enough to flip Andrew’s stomach, Lucas gave him form again. Andrew stood on the bridge of Ishkur. Here, Zero’s many sons gathered around the same pods Andrew, Silence, and Smith worked inside to observe the Probability Matrix. Lucas—One—was there, washed out, but still distinctly more handsome than his brothers.

The Exalted appeared from thin air onto the bridge and called to his oldest son.

Alertness washed over Andrew until he almost stood at attention. It was Lucas’ emotions.

“Father, by studying the Source, I have determined the results of the fissure we created. The fracture in the multi-verse centers on this girl and her relationship with a warrior of her time. One already in the making.” The intensity deepened Lucas’ voice to an octave Andrew had never heard before. “Unchecked, the girl’s ancestor will corral all beings of the Matrix under her control in pursuit of this warrior.”

The Exalted’s eyes widened. His pupils were white-filled rings. At the news, they tripled in number. Still, Zero sounded calm as he asked, “All beings?”

Grateful his father didn’t doubt the situation’s severity, Lucas said, “Yes. She’ll harness the Source and exist across the Probabilities. But she’s a broken thing.”

“What are your plans to correct it?”

Lucas glanced back at an Aegis Andrew hadn’t noticed until now. He looked like Zero’s other sons, but smaller. His eyes had two pupils, both in the shape of crescent moons.

Razor.

The smaller Aegis perked up when he saw his father and brother noticing him. The eagerness on his face, and how it fell when they looked away, touched Andrew.

Or touched Lucas, and Andrew felt it vicariously.

Probably both.

The scene abruptly paused, and Lucas said to Andrew only. “We feared the experimental son and his capabilities. As you know from your time manipulating Cascading Light, we only saw uncertain glimpses. Through them, we knew Three Two Four could bring about the end of our race. So we othered him.”

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This was another scenario to prove Andrew’s theory that the Probability Matrix only generated self-fulfilling prophecies.

Sharp regret lanced through Andrew. This time, he knew it belonged to Lucas. Into the ether, Andrew said, “Please continue.”

Lucas detailed a plan to his father with suggestions on how to stop Celindria from owning the multi-verse. “I will start with preventing her creation by separating those who came before her and work my way out from there. If she still comes to be, I will abort the resulting splinters and try again. Until I am successful, I will not stop.”

Intrigued and a little concerned, Zero asked, “How far must we go?”

Despite the apprehension in him, Lucas said, “To the beginning. And not we. I will go. Alone.”

Zero gripped his son’s shoulder. “Go. I trust your discretion. Should you fail, try again until you come home to us. Do you understand?”

Despite Zero’s optimism, both men knew this was the last they’d see of one another. Lucas accepted his mission.

The scene crumpled again and melted into a mercury spiral, swimming down a drain.

No.

This was the maelstrom beneath the bridges of Enki and Ishkur. Andrew was staring at it from where he stood on the lowest gangplank. Only now he saw it more clearly.

Each flame of Cascading Light held a unique image of Lucas in an infinite swirl of Probabilities.

Eternity.

Scenes played in every lick of fire. Some Andrew recognized—Standing on the roof of J.A. Fair’s burning ruins, their first time making out in Iona-28’s library, preparing Korac for his wedding—

Holy shit! Korac was Lucas’ brother.

Andrew would get back to that.

Other scenes were older and unfamiliar. One such scene captured Andrew’s attention. It was Silence, strapped to an uncomfortable table. Andrew winced when he realized there were stirrups for the awful existence she’d endured before discovering Cinder. She was sleeping when…

Lucas.

He slipped into the lab and removed the nacre shield restraints. He unchained her from that life. And he wasn’t alone.

Tumu let him into the lab.

In fact, the old Primary was in most of the ancient scenes. The most curious ones involved an Icarus with charcoal skin and Nox’s enormous frame.

Elden.

On the glass platform, Andrew looked away from Eternity and into his lover’s unfamiliar eyes. “You experimented on Elden.”

Lucas—One—nodded. “He was one of many fulcrums. I learned early in my research there was no way to prevent the making of Celindria and Rayne. The Probabilities terminated without them, but I learned there were ideal circumstances I could cultivate and shape into more positive threads. Elden and Silence must meet in order for Rayne to exist, but Silence need not escape on her own and destroy Enki with the Chorus to find Cinder. And so on.”

Andrew needed to swallow before he could ask, “Did you hurt Elden?”

Again, Lucas nodded. This time, more solemnly. His voice was soft—almost apologetic—as he said, “It was necessary.” He took a step toward Andrew, and when the younger man didn’t retreat, Lucas took it as encouragement to continue. “Across Eternity, I’ve loved and hurt each of you. In hundreds of thousands of ways. But this was my first time loving and hurting you. This was the first time I was happy, despite losing my family. My entire race. In this Probability, I saw Silence revived. I saw my half-brother marry the love of his life. And your smile meant more than all of it combined.”

Andrew’s heart skipped a beat. He felt the same way about Lucas, but… “Are you saying you’ve been manufacturing our lives? Our relationships? You and me?”

Lucas went still as a statue. His mouth didn’t move as his voice came from everywhere on the bridge all at once. “Not you and I. The Shadow are always full of surprises. Despite my best efforts, no one in existence is completely predictable, and I have never calculated a single Probability with one hundred percent accuracy.”

When his voice returned to him and his mouth moved with the words, they were softer as Lucas said, “I think I would’ve gone mad if that were the case. It’s why we fear Celindria’s empire. No one should have pure dominion over others. Your diverse lives, with all their variety, are what make you beautiful.”

Andrew didn’t need to check Lucas’ intentions. He knew in his bones this was the truth. However, he still had questions. “What happens to us, our Probability, if the Matrix collapses? All those decisions branching into universes—Do they simply stop forming?”

“That is the going theory. Your outcomes will form along this dominant thread and only here. No one should notice a difference aside from those who have touched Cascading Light. The world will no longer appear fragmented, having been cemented into one Probability. It will look as it had before I pushed you into the flames.”

The blurry three-dimensional lines which constantly framed everyone and everything Andrew could see. They would disappear. How long ago did he last see the world as solid?

Wait.

Did Lucas say ‘theory’?

Andrew asked, “You mean, you don’t know?”

His Aegis lover smiled as if endeared by how long it took for Andrew to notice that detail. Lucas said, “Since the fissure ruptured when we entered your dimension, I’ve never seen this realm without the veil of Cascading Light. I hope to see it in its natural state with you at my side.”

‘Overwhelmed’ wasn’t the right word for how Andrew felt, because the mystery behind Lucas stopped shocking him long ago. Instead, they’d become part of Lucas’ charm. Andrew took his eyes off his lover to peer down through the glass at Eternity below. He could dive in and learn every secret there was to know about Lucas. This was his chance to unmask his lover fully—To know him inside and out. And Lucas was inviting Andrew to do so. But…

“I’d rather get back to the loft and fuck you before this finale kicks off, if that’s okay with you?”

Lucas grinned, and the stars in his eyes sparkled with affection. “That suits me just fine.”

Andrew held up a finger. “But before we go, do you want me to start calling you ‘One’ in the heat of passion?”

Incredulous, his lover shook his head, still grinning. “‘Lucas’ sounds more at home to me now than my birth name.”

While he asked a few more questions, Andrew took Lucas’ hands in his. “What about the perception filter? Are you planning to leave it on around the Shadow? Will you let them know the truth, too?”

“I think some have guessed I am Aegis. Silence and Smith have always known. I could live among the Shadow in my natural form, and I would like to get to know Korac as a half-brother. Yes, I believe it’s time.”

Andrew’s chest swelled as he beamed. He wrapped his arms around Lucas and squeezed tightly. When his lover returned the embrace, Andrew said against his shoulder, “You’re not alone anymore. We’ll finish this together.”

They shut their eyes and soaked in the love.

When Andrew next opened them, they were back inside the treeloft, surrounded by Shadow.

Xelan perked up from where he was sitting in the nearest armchair. “Hey, they’re back.”

So many beloved faces peered up from the couch, around the corner, and from upstairs. Lucas and Andrew exchanged a confused glance before Andrew asked, “What happened to everyone taking the night off to be together?”

Sagan, Tameka, and Rayne looked at each other with knowing grins before Sagan said, “It’s morning already. We’ve planned the entire premiere without you, and now we have only a few hours to prepare.”

Korac stepped into view, arms folded and looking serious. Only then did Andrew realize Lucas’ perception filter was still off. The General asked, “Are you One? Are you Zero’s first son?”

From behind Andrew, someone held out a hand. Lucas clasped it to stand up and helped Andrew up. They both looked to find it was Nox.

After Lucas nodded at him, he faced his brother. “I am.”

There was a long pause while both white-haired men stared at each other. With the filter removed, the similarities were obvious. Same jaw and cheekbones. Korac’s brows and lips were softer—No one could look prettier than the Silver General, and it was almost enough to make Andrew roll his eyes.

Korac cut the tension by unfolding his arms and gripping Lucas’ shoulder while saying, “We’ll talk when this is over.” The man’s usual composure slipped enough to show the esteem he already felt for his tailor through the warmth in his eyes.

This could work out.

Andrew had faith in Lucas and the Shadow. There was only one other thing on his mind.

“So, do you guys mind if Lucas and I sneak off somewhere real quick or do you just want to watch us bone here in front of you?”