Loken and I leaned against the fence surrounding my home cluster, on the day after the world was supposed to end. The gray-blue sky stretched above as muted orange split across the horizon. Clouds still blanketed the sky, so thick and solid like they never planned to recede.
Ra would grace the sky in just a moment, followed by Solaris. I said a quick prayer to welcome them back. It couldn’t hurt.
When Ra’s tip peeked above the horizon, I exhaled the breath I’d been holding. I glanced down at my comm. Instead of the countdown clock, it showed the time of day. A new day.
“You know all of this was my fault, right?” I finally voiced the thing that had nagged at me since yesterday. “If I’d just killed myself like Elder Kohler had suggested—”
Loken shifted his weight to wrap an arm around me. What remained of my home cluster fence creaked when he moved. The earth had swallowed up over half of it. The wood now jutted upward from cracks in the ground at irregular intervals. We’d have some rebuilding to do, and not just here. As far as I could see in the distance, jagged chasms marred the earth.
“If you’d killed yourself,” he said, “the Seers would have foreseen a new end to the world, caused by a different person entirely. It was inevitable that someday someone would be powerful enough to attract Mages from all over. We’re lucky it was you. You helped us stop it.”
“And when the next super-powerful person is born, then what?”
“We probably won’t know about him until the Seers foresee another end. Then we’ll deal with it when the time comes.”
I mulled over this as Ra emerged fully over the horizon. I sneaked a glance at Loken’s profile. His strong cheekbone and metal threads had a red cast in the morning light. He graced me with a smile. Glorious tingles raced through me.
“Have you heard from Krin?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I called her a couple times. She left me a message saying she knows I’m contacting her on your behalf. So she won’t answer.”
I frowned and stared down at my feet. “You think she’ll ever forgive me?”
“Maybe. She just misses Rey.”
Rey.
He’d left another hole in my heart, right next to the one for Pace. It was a wonder I had any heart left. I blinked back tears, and angled my face away so Loken couldn’t see them.
“What about you?” I asked. “You’re not going to break up with me again, are you?”
He grinned. “I didn’t realize we were dating.”
I shoved his shoulder, letting my face break into an honest smile. He caught my wrist and pulled me toward him. I let him fold me into his arms, feeling the pleasant chill of his skin through our shirts.
His gray eyes, silvery in the new sunlight, peered into mine. “I’m not going to break up with you, Asha. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
I leaned back against the broken fence, which creaked to accept my weight. “Will you go back to work at the Council?”
Loken stared toward the horizon for a long moment. His face went somber. “The Council has a perfect memory. They’re not going to forget the practitioners they lost in the Believers’ attack. I’m not going to forget either. If I go back, they’re going to demote me. But I haven’t decided one way or the other.” I opened my mouth to object, and he added, “Besides, someone has to keep an eye on Elder Kohler. I don’t think he’ll be a problem for us anymore though.”
“Now that I’m a powerless weakling, you mean?” I smiled so brightly my cheeks hurt.
My elemental ability hadn’t come back to me when Loken had killed that last Mage. And that was just fine. I missed the power thrumming through my veins, but I’d had enough pressure about saving the world—or destroying it—to last a lifetime. I was happy to leave the next crisis to the professionals.
“On the bright side, you don’t have to worry about any of the elders locking you in a basement.” He smirked. “But I might lock you up. Depends how much you annoy me.”
“I’m never annoying.” I leaned against his shoulder, loving the feel of his cool skin against my cheek.
I inclined my head in respect as Solaris made its daily appearance, turning the red world brighter. Although the wall of clouds blocked most of the light, the yellow sun’s warmth penetrated through. Squinting upward, for a moment, I thought white-blue lights winked in the air. I blinked, and they were gone before I could be sure.
“So what am I supposed to do with the rest of my life?” I asked.
Loken shrugged and wrapped his hand around mine. “We have time to figure it out.”