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Barely full grown and toxic as the family that raised me, my life was exchanged for the forgiveness of a debt. Belittling servitude. Excessive training. Endless battling. For years, I fought the king’s wars, anownedlegend, until I finally won my freedom by threatening to use my particular talents to destroy the king’s favorite knights—Remy andallhis brethren.

Then I embraced the confusion that was freedom. I wandered, confronting every challenge, seeking meaning in everything that crossed my path. I spent time on the seas serving Admiral Brooketon. I traveled to the mountains and was welcomed by the great rangers. Then I sought the marshlands to search for clues to the persistent mysteries of our society, the source of the most-sought gems. There, after a seemingly random meeting with a visiting dignitary, my life changed forever. I remember him, a massive lavender monster of the Clumberton variety, who stared at me as though I weren’t a stranger but a friend he hadn’t yet met.

He marched up to me, without even an introduction, and said, “Will you tell me about your dreams?”

The dreams… I can’t think of them because they will lead right back to the only reason I would ever revisit the worthless past.

Dreams… ofher.

Of a castle with gleaming lavender roofs and purple flowers on vines climbing the courtyard walls.

A place that would become my cherished home, not all at once but in stages.

Achancemeeting.

An invitation.

Acceptance.

A journey.

Two bachelors of questionable temperament living on a grand property.

An arrival, one of the rarest species in our land, who held the answers to so many mysteries, though he never shared most.

Another arrival,therarest species in our realm, who desperately needed our care and protection. He had both from the first moment we found him, clinging to life beneath briars that had trapped him.

We spent decades growing into the monsters we wished to be. Learning about ourselves and embracing harmony over discord, healing our wounds with light, oxygen, conversation, and a very special pool, but more than that, with each other.

But something was lacking… something that called to me every time I closed my eyes and surrendered the days.

The final piece of our family puzzle, we found at last.

Knowing I wouldn’t stay—but not why I would ultimately leave—I cherished every moment until they ran out… mustnotthink of her. Not why I left, not why I’m in this place, hunted and battling forever.

A home is born the moment possibility is embraced. I had a home, a family, and a profound love.

I regret nothing…nothing. I embracenothing.

There it is, the answer to this test. Nothing. Indifference. The absolute and unflinching rejection of possibility.

That’s the way to protect her.

Indifference—the perfectly awful cure for love.

When they find me again, I don’t fight them. I let them stop my heart with a searing blade, hoping against hope that they still it for good. If I could manage to cease living, I would no longer be a threat to all that matters.

“Nico, no… no surrender. I love you.” Her agony-riddled voice jerks me back and I know I’ve failed. I haven’t protected her at all. We’ve both been stabbed through our hearts.

“Don’t think of me, Bianca. Release me. Forget me.”

“No. Love me. Fight with me. Come back to me.”

“That’s not within my power,” I growl while the blade still punctures my heart, puncturesherfragile heart.

“Why not?”

I can’t answer. Enemies—dozens—nearing. More blades that will tear her body apart.