“I left you all the names and dates, enough to keep Fleur busy for a few months,” she says. “You’ll be fine without me for a while.” Her lips purse, as if she’s holding something back. I know better than to ask her why. Kai’s guarded with her sight, careful not to overshare. If she doesn’t want to elaborate, she has her reasons. And I’ve decided we’re all probably better off not knowing our futures. Which makes me wonder if this is why she’s chosen to leave.

I take her gently by the elbow, pulling her up short. “Look. Before you go, there’s something I need to—”

“I already know,” she says, her sigh heavy, her smile a little melancholy.

“Right.” I rest my hands on my hips, squinting against the low sun as I stare out at the park, trying to figure out what to say. It’s hard to look Inevitability in the eyes and ask it for a second chance.

“I’ve already forgiven you,” she says. “And you’ve already forgiven me. You know that.”

“Still, I should have told you about Névé. We both should have. Lyon and I had no right to keep that from you.” Maybe Kai has forgiven me, but I still haven’t forgiven myself for that.

“Maybe.” She shrugs. “Maybe Lyon should have told me when I woke up. But then what? Would I have gone to Mexico to help you or to kill you? Or maybe you should have told me in the tunnels when you figured out who Ruby was. If you had, what would I have done?” She arches an eyebrow. “I think now maybe I understand why he didn’t always tell us everything.”

She pushes her sunglasses higher on her nose, looking past me at the long stretches of grass as if she’s trying to figure out how to explain. “I can’t stay, Jack. Lyon was right to cover the eye. To separate it from the staff. You and Fleur are better off not knowing the future. You deserve to live in the moment and make your own choices without that burden.”

“Does this have anything to do with the agreement you made with Lyon to protect me?” I’d seen that, too. And it had hurt to watch, knowing she made that promise to him out of guilt over what she had done to me in Cuernavaca, when all the while, Lyon had never told her what I’d done to Névé. “This is your home, too, Kai. You don’t have to leave to protect me or to spare my feelings.”