{Ishkur}

Korac felt like a villain for dragging Xelan’s grieving carcass away from Rayne’s lonely side. Beside Korac, Sagan trembled from shock. Andrew and Kyle stiffly backed away, mumbling about watching for Tameka. Pax stayed with his father, refusing to release his hand.

And it was a good thing, too, because the Traitor Prince was an agitated mess. He’d fallen to the gangway with his head in hands and wept, quietly. Korac thought the volume was for Pax’s sake, but their leader was taking a well-deserved mental break before the show was over.

Sagan left the conduit open.

On the other side, the impressive Sprite hovered in space, forming a sphere of light, paralyzed. As they watched in a mixture of horror and fascination, the sphere expanded.

With a heart-wrenching gasp, Sagan turned her face against Korac’s side. “I can’t watch.” She sobbed, and the sound broke him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight so she didn’t have to look—

What… was that?

Something moved on the other side of the conduit. Korac could swear it did—

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There.

Again.

A flicker—A shadow. With eyes.

Not just any eyes. They were mirrors reflecting Korac’s image back to him.

Nox gazed at his General through the conduit, half-formed in the shade of Rayne’s glow. Solemn and grave, Nox mouthed something.

What was it?

Nacre.

Nacre what—

The conduit closed before Korac deciphered it, and Sagan sagged in Korac’s arms. “Babe. Amos, talk to me.” He checked her vitals. Her pulse was fluttery, but present.

“She succumbed to exhaustion.” Elden, Xelan’s larynx had seen better days. His voice sounded worse than Hell Kitten shit as he said, “She needs rest. We all do, but…”

Not until Tameka emerged. Korac assured him, “Any minute now.”

Yes. Any minute now, Fury would run through the last remaining conduit to Enki with Silence, Smith, and Lucas, having saved the day.

And then the impressive Sprite would die and take Enki with her—

What the fuck had Nox tried to say to him?! It would haunt Korac for Eternity—

“No sign of her, yet,” Andrew announced before he flipped his coin. Under his breath, but loud enough for Korac to overhear it, the Progeny said, “C’mon, girl. Give us something.”

Kyle stood beside him, quiet and pale.

As Korac laid Sagan on the gangway to Ishkur’s bridge, he admitted, this was a bitter victory for the Shadow, and only Tameka’s timely arrival could sweeten it.

Pax patted Xelan’s back, where he still knelt on the floor. “Mommy will come, daddy. She said nothing would keep us apart—”

“Incoming!” Kyle shouted as he and Andrew ran from the white light seeping out of the conduit.

On the heels of the blast was a wall of flames, hurdling straight for the bridge to Ishkur.