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Sigrid interjected, “That’s impossible. We have another two weeks before the portals open for us.”

“It’s not impossible,” I said, staring down at Bryn, studying the way her eyes looked up at me through her lashes.

She nodded at me, squeezing my hand, telling me it was okay to share my secret with my friends.

She was making the decision for us, to expose my power. Already acting like a queen.

“I can open them,” I said confidently, my eyes never leaving Bryn’s.

“Of course you fucking can,” Adrian cussed. “Heavens, Leo, any other fun facts for us?”

I shook my head, wanting to be back at the cottage with Bryn, her body moving underneath mine, instead of caught up in this colossal mess.

Staring at me, Bryn’s eyes lit up, and I knew she was thinking of the cottage, too.

I sighed, finally pulling my eyes away from her to the sun drifting lower across the sky.

There was no going back now. The portals were compromised. We needed to act, and quickly.

“Everyone, make your preparations. We meet with The Nine . . . tonight.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

BRYN

Leo walked along a bridge of aquamarine stars, cradling me in his arms.

While it felt like we were taking a casual stroll through a park, we were moving at the speed of light, the colors of the rainbow flying past us in space.

I was surprised to find I could breathe, thanks to the wind tunnel spiraling around us like a horizontal cyclone, containing the Earths’ oxygen for travelers.

Switching between keeping my eyes open and closing them, I was relieved when we finally reached Six’s portal entrance, and Leo set me down, holding me steady until the ground stopped moving from dizziness.

Taking my hand, Leo guided me through the dark of night, up the slick rock, and away from Gray Waterfall to the dirt path beyond, stopping before we started down the path toward the base, an orb of starlight rising from his palm, hovering above us, intimate like candlelight.

With my encouragement, Leo had exposed the full extent of his powers for the well-being of all the worlds, allowing everyone to gather so they would be prepared for an attack at any time, not just under the light of a full moon. But instead of preparing for his reckoning with the council, he’d brought me back here, to Gray. Knowing me well enough that I didn’t need to ask him to check on the people I loved now that I knew the truth about his infinite access to the portals.

But now that I was on Six’s soil, I found myself not quite ready to face what was waiting for me here. I wasn’t ready to hear another person I loved had gotten hurt. Or worse.

Instead, I enjoyed the way Leo’s hand felt in mine and studied his face. His hazel eyes patient as they stared back at me, slightly clouded with ink.

This close to him, the urge to touch him was crippling. I wanted to reach out and grip his dark hair, pulling slightly at the roots, and to finish what we’d started back at his cottage, allowing him the chance to explore my body once more.

I desperately wanted to ignore the literal weight of the universe on our shoulders for just a while longer, and be selfish with the man before me.

And most of all, I wanted to tell Leo I’d made my decision.

Would this be a one-way trip for me? Or would I be returning to One with him?

I smiled, more to myself than to him.

Of course I would be returning with him. I’d fallen for him, and I couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment it had happened.

It might’ve been at first sight, when I’d been injured in his arms, like Sarah’s love story the first time she’d seen Connor. Or was it when he’d held me through my night terror, making me feel safer than I’d ever felt before?

And what I felt for Leo only made up half of my decision. The other half was fueled by the need to know who I was before the Bryn I was now. I owed it to myself to learn about my past. To maybe even meet the family I’d unknowingly left behind, and find a way to blend my lives of then and now together.

I would fight the war against the Deks to protect mankind for One, and for Six, and for all the other Earths. For people everywhere. And I would do it with Leo.