No more rolling meadows and sighing flutes; now was the tremolo torrent of the final act. Deep, carnal notes poured from his fingertips and throat. But he felt Liam beating beside him, the rich, brassy high notes to his darker foundation. He felt Rebeka all around him, the steady bass line that grounded him, kept the beat.

“Daniel.”

They came together, all three of them.

That sweet, stupid boy who never stopped striving for more. More knowledge, more power, thinking all those things could give him peace when, just like everyone else, he was at the mercy of the rest of the world. His sister, surrendering whatever had given her glimpses of their fate. One girl unafraid of what the future might bring. One man against the tide. One could never be enough.

But two, or three, or a hundred—now he was starting to like those odds.

“You can’t get rid of me, you know.” Liam’s voice was thick in his throat as he cut the ropes that kept Daniel suspended. Dropped him down into his arms. “I’ll follow you anywhere.”

Daniel’s limbs were so weary, he was so weak, but he was alive. Alive, and able to live on, to be held by this boy, to live the life his family couldn’t. He didn’t have to throw himself away, too.

Daniel pulled Liam into a kiss, and for just that moment, both universes held their breath, the moment stretching forever in time.

Liam laughed, exhausted, as his forehead came to rest against Daniel’s. Daniel smiled and wiped away a smear of soot from Liam’s cheek. “You were right,” he said. “We both deserve to live.”

Reluctantly, Liam pulled away from him and turned toward the rest of the world, where Kreutzer and Pitr were frantically conducting their ritual to imbue their soldiers with shadow. Creating more and more monsters, an unending wave of hatred to send out across the earth. Daniel tapped into that deep well of sorrow inside himself, the one he’d tried to seal up with vengeance and rage. He hadn’t mourned yet. He could do so now.

He met Rebeka’s gaze, and they nodded to each other. For their parents, their brother. For their memories to be a blessing. For their neighbors and classmates and millions more they’d never met. For every yellow star, every pink triangle, every nameless soul whose voice was deemed unnecessary by a harsh and careless world. They all deserved more than his anger. They deserved better than his tears, his futile stabs.

They deserved a real revenge.

“I have to close the rift,” Liam said. “For good.”

Daniel nodded, throat too dry to speak.

Then, so shyly and innocently it sent Daniel’s pulse racing, Liam asked, “Would you help me?”

“I’d tear down every world with you.”

PHILLIP