I started with Karter, who of course wanted Para in there with her. Chris, too. We exchanged hugs, and I sat on the coffee table with them on the couch. "Before you ask questions, I've always wanted to ask you something, brave Valkyrie."

Karter and Para grinned at each other and both nodded.

"Can you tell me about your battle on the rainbow rings of Thailea?"

Chris smiled, and for once, it was an easy one. With his chin on his fist, he stared at them both dreamily, saying, "I love this story."

He got a smile out of me, especially as the ladies started their tale.

Para went first. "We'd pursued ourselves—our Inanis selves—through the stratosphere. High, so very high. Our ears popped, and our skin flushed. We thought we might burn but our nacres stayed true."

Karter went next. "Then there was nothing. No sound. No air. Just gas clouds and the ice... The multicolored ice crystals. I met myself in red."

"I was blue," Para added.

They both went quiet a minute before Karter said, "Thailea is beautiful from space. So bright and cold. Cascading Light showered in from the black. It was hard to take in..."

I asked, "Because it was so mind-blowing?"

Para snickered. "No. Because all the other versions of me had a mean right hook, and Karter's legs aren't just for show. Ourselves beat the shit out of us until I went unconscious, and well..."

"The rest you learned in my son's Verse," Karter finished.

Chris, still dreamily, requested, "Go back to the part where there were dozens of you—Ow." His small smile while chafing his arm was a testament to the progress he'd made. As if he'd heard my thoughts, Chris glanced at me, asking, "Can I get a moment with you, imperial majesty?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I nodded and looked at Karter. "Was there anything you wanted with me—"

The Valkyrie were already shaking their heads. Para assured, "We wanted to see you for a bit and let Chris talk to you."

Karter grinned, and it was perfect. "We know how to find you."

Both ladies left me with a man I had trouble looking in the eyes. "Yes, Chris?"

The veteran stood and saluted me, saying, "I never got the chance to thank you properly. That day you sent me to watch over Jack changed my life—saved my life. I will be forever grateful to you—"

The look on my face stopped him.

I couldn't... It was too much, Rayne. Celindria had tortured him—unforgivable torment. And I'd let her go.

You reach higher and squeeze my shoulder, saying, "You can tell him without giving it away. Tell him why you're crying."

"Chris, please. You protected Jack, so you owe me nothing. I owe you—I am so sorry." With my head hanging, I tried desperately to keep myself from falling apart again.

I couldn't see Chris, but he sounded so distressed. "Sir, how do you... Please don't blame yourself. You can't control what happens to everyone every second."

You force me to meet your eyes. "Listen to him. He's telling the truth."

Before I could say anything else, Chris said, "I only wished she'd survived."

Of course.

So we could repay Celindria in kind—

Chris confessed, "I don't think I could hold my sanity together if I couldn't feel anything."

That brought me around. "What did you say?"

Chris was mid-reach to console me when he settled back and said, "I've seen some awful things, and a lot of it, before I'd joined the Shadow. People all have their excuses for the decisions they make, but they can all feel. They all have a conscience they rationalize away to validate their misdeeds. Celindria doesn't have that luxury. I wished she'd survived so we could cure her and force her to feel it. All of it. Then maybe, one day, she could make up for it."

Yes.

Yes. That's exactly it.

I gripped this human by the front of his shirt and pulled him in for a hug, squeezing tight to the only person who'd voiced exactly my reasoning. On the verge of tears, I kept repeating, "Thank you."

You look thoughtful, Rayne.

A little smile appears on your lips before you say, "I like his idea."