“Stop.” I hold both of my hands up. “You guys have eternity to flirtagonize and pretend you don’t still want to bone, but there’s a really good chance that literal Armageddon is coming in a few days, and I need your help. So can you focus for a second?”

Chastened, Jude sits down in one of the chairs while I work my memory magic on Gunnar, and when I’m done, he states primly, “I know I promised to help you, August, but there are certain things I cannot talk about in front of him. The League of the Dark Star operates outside the Syndicate’s directives, and that makes them our enemies.”

“Enemies,” Gunnar repeats, rolling his eyes like there’s a camera on him. “That’s always how it is with you, isn’t it? Either I do everything you say, or I’m the enemy. You’re so obsessed with ‘directives’ invented thousands of years ago that you can’t even imagine there’s a way to exist without them and not be evil. You’re such a Virgo, Jude!”

“Excuse me—”

“Knock it off!” I interrupt them both—again. “Back to your corners, okay? Believe it or not, I didn’t bring you here to play couples therapy.”

“I’m sorry.” Slumping back, Gunnar crosses his arms over his chest and glares. “I shouldn’t have let him get to me like that.”

He’s being deliberately provocative, but I don’t even care; two more minutes of this and I’ll set them both on fire with my brain. Quickly, I state, “There’s a chance that the Ascension can be stopped after all.” When I have their attention, both of them staring, I feel a tremor of possibility. “I don’t know how likely it is, but I’m going to take it, and if it doesn’t work … well, you need to know I’m not letting this thing out into the world.”

“Auggie.” Gunnar reaches for his chest, seeming to forget he isn’t wearing his necklace anymore. “If you’re talking about … ending your own life, there’s no point in trying—the Corrupter won’t let you. When he manifests in a new body, he links his survival imperative to the vessel’s subconscious. By the time you started dreaming about his past lives, it was already too late. Even if you tried, you wouldn’t be able to go through with it.”