I wished I could agree with him. “Do you really believe we have a chance? It’s such a short amount of time.”

He smiled softly. “I believe in you.”

There was no adequate reply—nothing gracious or witty enough—to accept or deflect such a soul-warming statement. And heartbreaking. Even if we saved the Fallen Isles, I wouldn’t be there to experience it with him. Not in the same way as I was now.

“It’s all right if you don’t believe in yourself yet.” Aaru sat up in bed, the blankets sliding down his side. “It’s harder to believe in yourself than it is to believe in others. But you have a lot of people putting faith in you. Ilina and Hristo would die for you. Gerel and Chenda both think you’re worthy of following. Even your sister looks up to you in a way she didn’t before.”

“She’s just doing what Mother told her.”

“No.” Aaru shook his head. “She respects you. I think she finally understands you now.”

I swallowed hard. “I wish it hadn’t taken the end of the world for my sister to decide to put up with me.”

A small, quiet laugh came from him, and his fingertips drummed against his knee. “You should have seen the way my sisters fought. They loved one another, of course, but some nights they would beat on the tables in quiet code—yelling—until Mother came in and gave them a look. Once, I saw them blinking quiet code at each other. Hard, angry blinking so they didn’t get in trouble for yelling. I almost—”

His smile fell into a broken sob.

I pushed up and crossed the floor to sit beside him.

“It feels like waves.” His voice was low, rough. “One moment, I feel peaceful. Happy. And then I remember something small, like the way my sisters argued, or how Father helped me pin curtains over the basement windows so I could sleep during the day. And then I’m caught. It sucks me in and it hurts to breathe. I miss them.”

I leaned my cheek on his shoulder and slipped his hands in with mine. His were warm and trembling. “‘Love survives death.’”

“The Book of Love?” he asked.

I nodded. “It means that nothing—not even death—can hinder love. Your souls are tied together, so that even in death, your family can feel the way you love them. It means you can feel their love, too. Can’t you feel it?”

Aaru stilled. Closed his eyes. Breathed. His head tilted the way it did when he was listening for something almost impossible to hear.

One heartbeat. Two. Three.

“Yes,” he whispered. “I feel it.”

“Good.” I wiped the tear trails off his cheeks; stubble scraped my fingers, sending a shiver through me. “You’re not alone,” I reminded him, pushing down the guilt of my own inevitable abandonment. I told myself he had other people who cared about him, too. “Not if you don’t want to be.”

He twisted and rested his forehead against mine. “I don’t want to be.”