But Nor’s hands shoved Valen into the pod, settling him onto the cold, metal throne. “I forgive you—for Zahn, for everything,” she sobbed. “It was never any fault of yours. I see that now.”

Thank you, sister, he thought. But he knew she couldn’t hear him, so he hoped she saw it in his eyes.

From inside the pod, he could see the tubes and wires that were to connect him to Nexus. Over his head, a dome-like helmet hung near the ceiling of the pod. Soon it would lower, and it would connect to his brain, stealing his mind from him, just as Darai had explained earlier when he first captured Valen with his power.

How long before that power ran out? Darai said he’d been hoarding his complusion for years, saving it up for this very moment.

How much time did they have before the Exonian was no longer able to hold them?

Not enough time, Valen thought. For everything had already fallen into place, and the plan was nearly complete for the old man.

“A nice fit,” Aclisia said, grinning down at Valen as she stepped past Nor and began to work on the pod, fingertips flying across the network of glowing panels inside to begin the process. The pod hummed with life as straps snaked tight across his chest, closing over his wrists, his ankles.

Sweat beaded down Valen’s temples as he tried, with all of his might, to push against the dark power surging within.

“There will be pain,” Aclisia’s right head said somewhat apologetically as she tapped in a command.

“Oh, yes,” the other head said. “Though it’s best not to scream or fight it.”

Another thing Darai had lied about, then.

“He won’t fight,” Darai said. “He has no strength left in him.”

The helmet began to lower until it hovered just over Valen’s skull, and he felt the sharpness of needles above his hairline, ready to be injected into him, like nails driven deep into a board.

“Don’t do this,” Nor pleaded to Darai. “I’ll give you the crown. You can have it. Just let Valen go.”

Valen had a clear view of her now. She was beautiful, even with the tears streaming down her face. They made her gold eyes, the color of her lost crown, stand out all the more. She was the family he’d always dreamed of having, and he found himself wondering what could have been, had they lived a normal life, been given the chance to get to know each other without kingdoms and crowns, without compulsion.

Without Exonia.

It struck Valen then, what he’d done to the entirety of Mirabel. He wondered if they’d felt any pain, the very same he felt now, when he’d stolen their minds. He wondered if they had gone down fighting, as he was, or if they’d simply ceased to exist.