“Yes,” I reply.
We hold each other, breathlessly overwhelmed with relief, gratitude, and pure happiness. I press my forehead to hers. Our hearts beat in perfect sync. Our legs windmilling beneath us. “So long as my heart still beats, I am yours. Nothing can take you from me.”
“Let’s go home,” she whispers through tears.
Holding hands, we swim toward the center of the glowing lake together, the gods’ light parting before us. As a current gently pulls us home, I look to the shore once more, where Selene now stands. She throws me one last sad smile, and there’s a flicker of peace in her lavender eyes.
Go, she says with her gaze.I’ll be okay.
It’s time. We take a breath, diving underwater, and leave the darkness of Mictlan behind.
It’sthe hour between night and morning, that time when everything merges into the same faded color. I crouch beside the runes Sama and I carved into the dirt surrounding the lake. Pallas stands nearby, his earth magic protecting the runes from the elements. All that’s left now is a signal from President Janus Dyer, and Sama and I will speak the final words, and all of this will be over.
That what I want, but I can’t move. I keep imagining Leigh trapped somewhere I can’t reach—locked behind the rift, crying out for me, banging against an invisible barrier, unable to come through. Sama looks at me, pain in her eyes. She knows Leigh’s inside Mictlan now. When she found out, I had to beg her to still help me. She agreed only because I promised her it was what Leigh wanted, but she still doesn’t want to do it.
My gut twists. If we close this rift, she’ll blame me for Leigh’s and Wilder’s deaths. And she should. I should have told Leigh to cross Aradia over even though she insisted she didn’t have to. I should have stopped her from going into Mictlan. But I didn’t because I was afraid she’d hate me, afraid she’d send me away and rip away the only real home I’ve ever had. I’ve been running all my life. I don’t want to run anymore. If I’m the one who shuts this door, I’ll regret it.
Felicity will be queen, and nothing will ever be the same.
But if I don’t close this rift when Janus orders me to, what will she do? Will she force me? Will she use Sama against me, just as Zeus did? Maybe I should have run when I had the chance.No. Staying was the right choice. Without me and Sama, this rift will never close, and I can’t live with that either. But we can’t give up on Leigh yet.
We need to buy her a little more time.
With a hesitant look, Janus checks her watch as the other Council members stand beside her, bleary-eyed in the early hour. She appears to be doing what she thinks she needs to do, even if it doesn’t seem like what she truly wants.
Beside her, Felicity smiles. They have already started mobilizing succession plans, and Leigh isn’t even dead yet. In fact, Felicity might be the only person on this beach who isn’t reeling.
“Ravi, it’s time,” Janus says in a small voice.
I know I need to give Sama the signal, but my limbs refuse to respond. Janus doesn’t want this; none of us do. So why are we doing it?
“Just five more minutes,” I beg the president.
“Ravi, we discussed this. It’s what Leigh wanted,” Janus insists.
Fuck this. I’m done listening to her and everyone else’s orders.
“The daemons that came through last night paralyzed several Blades. Just imagine the casualties if more daemons like that, or even worse ones, were to come through. You’d be putting an entire city of innocent lives at risk. This is serious. Please, I know it’s difficult, but Leigh might already be dead.”
“Five minutes!”
Felicity frowns. “Madam President, he’s defying your orders?—”
“There,” Jaxson shouts. “Is that another daemon?”
I freeze at the fear in his voice. He’s pointing at something. The Blades reach for their weapons.
“Hold fire,” Soter yells. “I think…”
A hush settles over the group, then a gasp. I follow Jaxson’s gaze. Two heads break the water’s surface, and I drop to my knees.
It can’t be. Leigh gasps, and Wilder waves their hands in the air before swimming to shore. Both are alive, battered but whole, and finally home.
Janus holds a hand over her heart. “Thank the lucky stars.”
Felicity stomps her foot and turns toward the castle.
Desi splashes into the lake first. She runs straight to Wilder with her arms open and seizes him. “You stupid idiot—I thought you’d died.”
