Voice devoid of emotion, she recited the rest as if reading from a book. “My dad died on impact, but my mother survived. Micah approached the car. He wore rings like yours. One of them produced a beam of light, and Aveline appeared in the center of it.” There at the end, sorrow ignored her emotion-embargo and slipped free. “Before that, he yanked my mom out of the vehicle and stabbed her in the...the...throat. After it, Aveline ordered him to behead her.”

Bane jerked. What had Aveline said to him before? Oh, yes. A little over twenty years ago, I sent Micah to Terra in secret, with orders to slay every royal he came across, as well as search for you and Cayden.

“I’m so sorry, dove.” Another failure to lay at my feet. He kept messing up with her, kept hurting her, and it had to stop. She deserved so much better.

He rocked her back and forth, back and forth, offering comfort, but seeking it, too.

Sniffle, sniffle. “I’m sorry. Bane, I doubt I can save Meredith. I’m mist here and there. I tried to possess Micah’s body, so I could make him kill himself, but he expelled me like that.” She snapped her fingers.

Thoughts whirled. “With practice, I bet you can control his actions and change the past.”

“Yes, but how does that help you? I’m not sure how I travel to my own past. How am I supposed to travel to yours?”

Easy. “We are linked. We speak telepathically, and see through each other’s eyes. Therefore, it stands to reason you can see my memories, too.” But the same question remained—did he let go of the past or move forward? Would he crave his wife again if she were here in the flesh? “If you were to travel back to the day Aveline murdered Meredith, possess Aveline and save Meredith, the queen won’t send Micah to Terra. Your parents won’t crash.”

Her lips curled, but the smile got upstaged by another sob. “I’ll never go into foster care, never meet Vale or Carrie. I won’t be me.”

“But you suffered in foster care, did you not?”

“I did. And I can’t justify what some of the parents and siblings did to me and to Vale. But I wouldn’t be the person I am today without those trials. I wouldn’t be as strong—and don’t you dare tell me I’m weak.”

“Trust me, dove, I’ve already learned my lesson.”

She huffed, but continued. “As much as I needed Vale, she needed me. If changing the past means screwing her over, I won’t do it. Not now, not ever.”