She closed the gap between them just as two things happened simultaneously: the sun crested over the horizon, filling the world with its golden light, and the last ruby fell, pirouetting out of its socket in a slow, graceful arc, the sunlight winking off its hard surface.

Jaya pressed her lips to Grey’s gently, but then his hand was behind her head, pressing her to him with an urgency that left her breathless.

Grey

Pulling back from her, Grey looked down at the ground. The ruby glittered in the snow between them like a minuscule, evil seed. “It fell,” he said. “The last ruby, on my eighteenth birthday.”

“It means nothing,” Jaya said firmly. “Nothing. Look, you’re still here.” She gestured around them and smiled. “And it’s a new day, Grey. It’s a new day.”

He shook his head in wonder. “I’m still here. But… how?”

“I don’t know,” Jaya said. “But, Grey… I don’t really care. You know what really scares me? The thought of never being able to see you again.”

There was no lie in her bright brown eyes. Grey smiled slowly at her, his heart thrumming and leaping. “Really?”

“Really.”

He gazed out at the frozen town below them. After a long moment, he said, “That’s… that’s how I feel too.” Looking at her, he added, “Besides, I have a theory.”

“What’s that?”

“Hold that thought. There’s something I have to do first,” Grey said, pulling out his phone. He dialed a number and waited while Jaya stood by him. “Father?”

“Grey? You… you’re still—”

“Alive?” Grey smirked. “The last time I checked, yes. There’s something I need to tell you.”

“And what might that be?”

He looked at Jaya, and she gazed steadily back at him. “I’m not… I’m not damaged or a burden or any of those other things you’ve told me all my life. I’m not different, and I don’t need to keep my distance from people.” He took a breath. “And I wasn’t responsible for Mother’s death. How could you even have thought that about an infant? How could you have stolen all these years from me? I should’ve been forming friendships. I should’ve been laughing, engaged with the world. And instead… instead I locked myself away in a metaphorical tower. I thought I was a beast.” Jaya squeezed his hand, and he found the strength to continue. “I want you to know that I’m done believing your bullshit. I’m done feeling like I’m not worthy of love.”

“Grey, you’re being utterly ridiculous. This melodrama—”

“I’m not finished. I’m renouncing my title, effective immediately. I’m emancipating myself from the family. From this moment on, I am no longer an Emerson. I’m changing my last name to Mother’s.”

Jaya stared at him, shocked.