“Jax?” he asked.

The young man turned his deep violet eyes to Robb, and they looked like home.

He was here.

He began to walk toward them. The gigantic rings swooped around so fast, Robb knew he couldn’t make it through them. He tried to shout—to warn him to leave because this place was about to explode, to go to Eros, to get the heart and run as fast as he could out of the kingdom—when Jax stepped into the circle of rings. He raised his hand as one swooped down toward him—

And stopped.

The ring just—just stopped. Hovering an inch above Jax’s raised hand, it quivered, shaking off the ivy that had somehow still clung to it.

Koren Vey appeared beside Robb, her hand outstretched toward the rings. It shook as she tried to keep the rings from moving. Her face pinched with concentration. “You should not be here.”

“I can’t be anywhere else, nan c’zar,” Jax replied, and turned his gaze to Robb. “Come on, ma’alor. Out you go. Ana,” he added, and she hurriedly retrieved Elara, pulling an arm over her shoulder. Elara gave a pathetic groan as she dragged her out of the astrolabe and toward the skysailer.

“I thought we were dead,” Ana said in relief. “I thought you were dead.”

“Dead?” Jax gave her a smile, although it didn’t reach his eyes. “You know I’m too pretty to die.”

The astrolabe gave another groan, and the crystal flashed. A wave of energy swept across the ground, bringing up dust and dirt in a wave. Robb staggered as it passed him, his heart fluttering in his chest.

The life support on Jax’s chest sparked, and he winced.

Koren Vey shook her head. “I cannot hold it much longer. All of you, go as far away as you can.”

Ana ducked underneath the rings with Elara, hurrying toward Siege and Talle and the skysailer, but Robb stayed rooted to the ground. Something felt off, like that moment on the dreadnought when Jax kissed him.

His partner inclined his head. “You don’t have much time, ma’alor.” The rings groaned; Koren Vey’s hand shook. “Please.”

“Not without you,” he replied, and his voice broke. “I can’t without you.”

Jax sighed. “Of course you won’t, ma’alor.”

Then the Solani prince leaned forward and kissed him on the mouth.

There were no flashes of the future. The stars did not reach down and show Jax Robb’s fate—not of the Great Dark or the heart or the shrine. Robb knew this because he felt Jax in the kiss for the first time, no magic or stardust or curses. It was simply a kiss between two people who loved each other very much, and thought they had all the time in the world to say it, and now knew they never would, and it broke his heart.

“Al gat ha astri ke’eto, ma’alor,” Jax whispered, and then he grabbed Robb by the jacket, pulled him out of the rings, and stepped inside.