“Your guidance was integral,” Elara said, bowing slightly at the hips. Then she pulled Rynna into a warm embrace, her arms wrapping with the strength of a lifelong friend. “I’m going to miss you.”
“Me too, El.” Rynna wiped her nose, her gaze shifting over Elara’s shoulder to Bran, who stood uncharacteristically quiet.
He ran his hand through his silver-streaked hair, his shoulders slumping. “You showed me friendship when nobody else would.” His voice cracked, and before he could finish, Rynna pulled him and Taren into a bigger hug, gathering all three of them close.
“And you brought the whole damn world together, weirdo,” she said, a grin tugging at her lips. “Showed them a better way.” She tightened her hold around him just long enough to give him one last noogie, her fist playfully digging into his scalp.
“Rynna!” Bran jerked away, laughing, rubbing his head. “You may look young again, but we’re all too old for that!
“Never!” She slowly began to back up, her hands slipping from theirs one by one.
Her fingers lingered before letting go as a bittersweet smile crossed her face. Then, she raised her fist high as the storm churned around her, the wind whipping faster, reaching higher, spiraling all the way up to the stars.
I’m ready. She squeezed her eyes shut, whispering one last time, “Fang Unit!”
Kaelithsatcross-leggedinthe tall grass, elbows resting on his knees, eyes fixed on the freshly turned grave a few paces ahead. Dew clung to the blades around him, catching the early morning sun, turning the field into something that shimmered—soundless and sacred.
The mound of soil shifted.
He watched, calm and patient. One corner of his mouth quirked as he lifted his hand and turned it slowly in front of him, palm to knuckles. The skin was smooth. Taut. Youthful again. His veins thrummed with blood—warm, real, alive. Or something close to it.
Humming low in his throat, he flicked his tongue across one of his canines, catching the sharper tip. Not the same poison-tipped fangs he’d gotten used to in his snake form, after the Phoenix had stripped them of the vampiric infection, but something cleaner. Efficient.
A sudden burst of movement from the grave. Then, a hand broke free, fingers clawing into the air around scattered soil.
“Nearly there, wolf,” Kaelith murmured, pushing to his feet.
More dirt sprayed, and a shoulder emerged, then the dark brown crown of a head, long strands of hair matted with earth. Fenn growled—a visceral, animal sound—and shoved his way clear with raw, unfiltered strength, before collapsing forward onto the grass, breath heaving, shoulders flexing with the strain.
Kaelith crouched beside him, offering a hand. Fenn slapped it away.
“We died.”
“Only technically,” Kae replied, amused.
Fenn rolled onto his back, chest rising and falling. His eyes opened, narrowing against the glare of the sun. “What did you do?”
“Perfected it,” he said, examining the other man, who only frowned.
“The vampire pathogen,” Kaelith added. “I refined it. Cleaned out the rot. No demon. No madness. Just strength. Healing. Immortality.”
“You infected me.”
“Of course.” He shrugged. “Imagine if I found her again without you. She’d kill me herself.”
“Rynna,” Fenn whispered.
Kaelith closed his eyes, and the skin at the corners crinkled—not from strain, but something quieter. Regret, maybe. Or worry wearing its most private face.
“She’s already moved on,” he said, the words tight, as if admitting them summoned a fracture he hadn’t quite prepared to feel. “I’ve stretched the mental link farther than I can, but she’s not here anymore. She’s begun her next Mission.”
Fenn’s hands curled into fists. The tendons flexed, muscles twitching with silent fury as he dug his knuckles into the dirt. “You arrogant bastard,” he muttered, not looking up.
Kaelith’s mouth ticked into a grin, faint and edged. “There it is,” he said softly. “I missed that tone.”
Fenn turned on him fast, his body already half coiled. “Where is she?” he demanded. “And what the hell are we supposed to do now?” His voice broke, anger bleeding into disbelief. “Are we meant to just…live forever without her?”
Kaelith’s smile faded. “No.”
