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“Hold her.”

The voices were swirling around him, and he vaguely felt Kato’s hand on his shoulder, followed by another surge of aether. The power was almost too much for him now—a flaming maelstrom of energy that skittered across every cell, threatening to burn him up from the inside out.

But Skye tuned out the noise, pushed away the pain. “Taly, please,” he said when her attention began to flit around the room. He grabbed her chin, forcing her eyes back to his.

That invisible string was pulling tighter and tighter. He was losing his grip, and she was starting to fade. “Please, Tink.” He couldn’t holdon. She was going to slip away no matter what he did. “Come back to me. Just stay alive.”

And then… Taly smiled. It was weak and edged with pain, but so, so beautiful.

“I’m glad I got to see you one last time, Em,” she said, and the words sliced right through him.

Skye began to shake his head as the first tear rolled down his cheek. She was telling him goodbye. Again.

He opened his mouth to speak, but her eyes had already broken away from his, taking in Ivain first, then Sarina, Aiden, even Kato. “All of you,” she whispered.

And then he blinked, and she was gone.

Silence settled over the room.

Nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

Skye had to force himself to breathe, in and then out. He didn’t bother asking how, or why, or when. With time mages,whenbecame a very important question to ask.

But he didn’t care about any of that. Those were questions he could answer later. All that mattered right now was that he had been right. The dreams were real.Talywas real. He wasn’t crazy.

And Shards, that felt good. So,sogood.

Slowly, Skye rose to his feet. “Now, do you believe me?” His voice shook, and his eyes weredamp—but he didn’t care. “She’s out there. She’s been out there this entire time.”

Ivain and Sarina still kneeled on either side of him.

“Was that…?” Sarina rose, turning to her brother.

“Give me a moment,” Ivain murmured, standing to his full height. “Just let me think.”

“How?” Sarina went on. “How could she possibly—”

“I don’t know,” Ivain murmured. “But did you see—”

“Yes.”

“And—”

“I know.”

“And what about—”

Enough of this,Skye thought.He was just wasting time now.

Skye turned for the door, only to find Kato blocking his way.

“Move,” Skye said, an edge of warning in his voice.

But Kato didn’t move. He didn’t even flinch. “Skylen,” he said carefully, like he was trying to pacify some sort of wild animal. “Let’s just take a moment. It’s late, and there’s very little that we can do tonight. I promised you allies, remember? I’m not going to be able to hold to my promise if you don’t at least give me until morning. That gives us plenty of time to talk. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to know just how your little human friend managed to ghost her way in here.”

Skye’s jaw clenched, taking in his brother’s wary stance, the way he held his hands out in front of his body. Placating, but also… defensive.