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I reached for the bond, probing gently at the warm light that tethered me to Helion, but the moment I pressed against it, I met resistance.

I should have been relieved, yet my gaze lingered on the balcony, wondering if he was up there alone in the dark.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Beginning of The End

Lyra

We sat on overturned barrels for hours, trading stories beneath the red moon as the sea whispered against the hull. Rythos’ arm never strayed from my shoulders, keeping me tucked against his side, his thumb tracing absent circles over my skin as though he needed the constant reminder that I was finally within his reach again.

They told me everything, yet it didn't escape my notice that none of them spoke of Rythos’ worsening curse.

A bittersweet warmth settled inside me as Solas and Aldric argued over which of them would have ended up dead first if Rythos hadn't intervened when the Sirens tried to lure them overboard.

They were all smiles and light-hearted insults, speaking with the ease of men who had somehow become friends.

I glanced at Rythos.

He was watching them with a quiet contentment I had never seen soften his features before, as though he had made peace with something he'd spent an eternity at war with.

Belonging, perhaps.

My chest ached at the thought.

I wanted to stay there beneath the red moon, tucked against Rythos while my brother laughed with Solas and the ocean rocking us soothingly.

I wanted to pretend this was all that existed.

But reality tugged restlessly beneath my ribs.

There were things they didn't know. Things I wished I didn't.

“The Hells are burning to ash,” I said quietly, yet it somehow cut through the laughter and every gaze settled on me.

I swallowed, remembering the endless ash falling from that colourless sky. The heat. The scorched earth. Astaroth's words. That it was all Maraveth’s fault. My fault.

“The Fire Fates twisted their meaning.” My fingers curled against my thighs. “They're not trying to conquer the other realms.” I looked between them. “They're trying to escape.”

The air between us seemed to change, thickening with the tension we were all ignoring.

Rythos tensed behind me, unease oozing through the bond that mixed with my own.

“There was ash falling from the sky the day we left Lumireth,” Aldric murmured to himself, posture straightening as if father was seconds away from scolding him for losing his composure before. “And Stonebriar was swarming with monsters.”

I picked at my nails idly, dropping my gaze to the wooden planks below my feet, waiting for Aldric to place the pieces of the puzzle together so I wouldn’t have to say it.

“The weather in Lumireth was cooling, which you said was abnormal.”

Boots struck the ground in a loud crack that made me startle.

Rythos rubbed soothing circles on my arm and tucked me closer to his side while I glared at Helion, who was standing from the crouched position he landed in when he jumped from the platform between the masts.

I knew he had been up there, but why was he hiding?

“Finally, something interesting to talk about.” He grinned, not even trying to hide the fact that he had been eavesdropping on us the entire time.

He grabbed another barrel and dragged it across the deck with a loud, irritating sound until it was in the small space between me and Solas.