I drop the knife that set her free. The knife that destroyed the walls of the Sphere and defeated the Constable once and for all. Somewhere, on the other side of the world, there’s chaos. Dwellers seeing things as they truly are for the first time—the truth. They’re running, fighting, but most importantly being set free.

My body shakes as I stand to my feet. I came here with every intention of convincing Orion to run and to stop longing for death. To long for me instead. I had hoped that I would be enough, something for her to cling to when there was nothing else to grasp—what she was for me. But she carried far too large of a burden that nothing but death could lift from her shoulders.

I had made love to her, and if I could love her any more than I already do, in that moment where our bodies, our souls, became one I fell in love with her all over again and in a way that I could never describe. Something that miraculous can’t be put into words. But in that moment, I knew that I had to set her free. I love Orion Draper more than I love myself and being selfish and refusing her what she wanted most was no longer an option.

As I watch her body be carried off by the waves and consumed by the sea, I fall to my knees.

“You’re free now. No more hurt. No more pain. No one can betray you where you will go.”

Orion Draper was the most unselfish person I have ever met. She could have fought so she could live, but she wanted everyone else to be free. She wanted to fix it so badly that she was willing to lay down her own life.

“Orion, you were wrong after all,” I whisper into the breeze. “Our love was enough. It fixed everything.”