When we finally broke apart, he rested his forehead against mine. We sat there breathing each other in, letting our lungs and hearts catch up. I held him tight, my fingers in his hair. His arms coiled around me tight.

“What year—” His voice broke. He cleared his throat. “What year do I get you back?”

I grimaced, fearing the number was going to be too far from the one here. “Our lives reconnect in the autumn of 2018⁠—”

“2018?” he shouted and pulled back. His eyes were wide. “Tell me you did not say two thousand⁠—”

“I did,” I whispered. I was afraid to ask what year it was now, the look on his face told me it was a long, long way from the future. But I had to know. “What year is it now?”

He squeezed his eyes shut and a few tears slid over his cheeks. “1219.”

“Twelve.” My stomach rolled. I wrapped my arms around myself. “Eight hundred years . . . We’re eight hundred years apart?”

He tipped his head back and stared at the sky, his tears a constant trail through the dirt and blood on his face. “How am I supposed to survive eight hundred years without you?”

My chest tightened. I then remembered my conversation with Saber about her own soulmate, one I now knew she would meet shortly after this very night. One she’d been with for eight centuries. She’d told me the two of them made a pact, a promise to do whatever they had to to survive . . . a promise that led them into other people’s beds. But they survived. I was trying not to think about that conversation too much, knowing what I knew now.

“What are you thinking about?” He whispered.

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. “Auryn.”

“Do you remember her? Me? Anything?”

“No. Not from this life here. And trust me, I have questions about that fact too. Questions I will be asking you when I get home.” I wiped the tears from my face and stared at the sand hill I’d seen Auryn run over. “But I know Auryn . . . from my time⁠—”

“You do? She’s . . . she’s . . . alive?”

“Yes.” I took his hands in mine, tangling our fingers together. “Though I admit, I did not know her real name until moments before I arrived here. And now I know why you told me her real name, so I would know who she was when I saw her. The new appearance you gave her tonight?”

“A necessary evil, I have to keep her safe. She has to hide from Sweyn⁠—”

“I know.” I held his hands against my chest. “I know. But that face you gave her . . . that’s the one I met her with.”

His eyes watered. “That can’t have been a coincidence.”

“Knowing you? I would agree.” I smiled and wanted to cry when he smiled back at me. “Oh, Everest, she has your eyes⁠—”