I’m sitting at a makeshift table constructed from shopping trolleys and plywood, surrounded by the familiar faces of our inner circle. Cai is across from me. Beside him, Kirby traces complex magical formulae in the air while Harlen takes meticulous notes. Their easy partnership, the way they work together like parts of a single organism, still fascinates me.
Silas paces nearby, his pale features sharp with concentration as he reviews our calculations for perhaps the hundredth time. Every few minutes he stops to peer at Kirby’s work, offering corrections in that blunt, no-nonsense way of his.
We’re working on the fine-tuning now, the delicate nuances of the spell weaving we’re going to cast to close the portals. The broad strokes have been mapped out, but magic of this complexity requires absolute precision. All of us working together in perfect synchronicity. Each of us contributing a strand in the weaving of the most complex, metaphorical braid ever attempted. A single misstep could unravel everything we’ve worked toward.
Jack sits slightly apart from our magical discussions, calm and supportive in that steady way of his. He has no need to be here, the theoretical aspects of portal magic are far beyond his education. But his presence somehow lends quiet strength to our efforts, like an anchor point of humanity in our increasingly intricate planning. And he lends strength to me. He makes me feel brave. As if anything is achievable.
Every so often his eyes find mine across the space between us, offering silent encouragement. After last night’s revelations and confessions, after finally kissing him, the world feels different. More solid. More possible.
“The resonance cascade needs to trigger within point-seven seconds of initial activation,” Kirby is saying, his fingers dancing through equations that shimmer like starlight. “Any longer and the feedback loop will…”
A cracking sound echoes through the mall like thunder. Loud, violent and sharing.
My body recoils. My heart hammers.
Cai crashes to the ground, a neat hole punched through his forehead. Blood pools beneath his head, stark red against the dirty white tiles.
The sound was a gunshot. An attack by a sniper.
For a heartbeat, nobody moves. The sight is so unexpected, so impossible, that my mind refuses to process what I’m seeing. From one second to the next, everything has changed. Everything.
Then Silas explodes into motion.
“MI5 motherfuckers!” he snarls, his usual composure shattered as he sprints toward the upper level where the shot originated. The speed of his movements is pure wolf. Pure fury.
The puzzle pieces click together in my mind with horrible clarity. MI5 have done their calculations and analysis. They’ve concluded that Rhydian is going to win this war, that the fey will maintain their hold on Earth. So they’ve chosen to back the winning horse, in the hopes that the future will provide a more certain opportunity for liberation. In the meantime, they’ve decided to get into bed with their occupiers.
Taking out Cai is more than an assassination, it’s the strategic elimination of our only hope.
Harlen and Kirby drop to their knees beside Cai’s body, utterly distraught. Kirby’s hands hover over the wound as if he can somehow will it closed through pure desperation. Harlen’s face is white with shock, tears already streaming down his cheeks.
“No, no, no,” Kirby whispers, his voice breaking. “You can’t. We need you. I need you.”
Their grief hits me like a physical blow. These men who love each other so completely, who’ve built their entire world around their partnership. Watching them crumble is almost unbearable.
In the distance, I hear the thunder of dragon wings. Cai’s mount, feeling his rider’s death through their bond.The sound is mournful, haunting, a funeral dirge that echoes through the empty mall.
A strange thought flickers through my mind as I watch Harlen and Kirby weep over their husband’s body. I wonder if Jack would cry over my corpse like that. I wonder what it would be like to be loved and have someone fall apart at losing me.
And how would I feel if MI5 had decided to take Jack out?
The image of Jack shot and bleeding flashes unbidden through my consciousness, and the thought is so awful that bile rises in my throat. My hands clench into fists as nausea rolls through me. The idea of losing him, of watching that warm light fade from his eyes, is more terrifying than any torture the court could devise.
Angrily, I shake my head to clear it. Now is really not the time to get sentimental. I need to focus. There are actions that need to be taken. Work that needs to be done.
I look around for Silas, hoping to see him returning victorious. But there’s no sign of him in the maze of storefronts and shadows. I don’t think he’s going to make it back in time to help us. If Cai isn’t brought back right now, whatever is resurrected later won’t be him.
Everything hinges on Cai. Our entire plan, the salvation of both worlds, depends on his unique ability to channel and weave the magical energy of his husbands and all the dragons. It’s precisely why MI5 took him out, they understood the mathematics as well as we did.
Without him, we have no hope of closing the portals. Earth remains open, and the Resistance dies with him.
I stare down at Cai’s still form, at the blood spreading beneath his head like spilled wine. Harlen is sobbing now,raw sounds of anguish that tear at something deep in my chest. Kirby has gone silent, his face blank with the kind of shock that comes before complete breakdown.
This is it, then. The end of everything we’ve worked toward.
Unless...
I exhale slowly, feeling the weight of decision settle over me like a familiar coat. It is the last of my secrets, the final truth I’ve kept hidden even from myself sometimes. Maybe letting it go will feel freeing.
