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“And who is this?” She turns her attention to the young boy, truly noticing him for the very first time. When a wave of recognition washes over her, she slaps a hand to her mouth. “My God!” Her eyes, wide and frantic, dart between her father and me. “He’s just a child!” she cries, desperation threading through her voice when she zeroes in on the blade Arthur still holds to his throat. “This has to stop, you must—”

“I intend to,” Arthur responds, his tone eerily calm. “As soon as your friend Natasha here hands over the Star, everything will be set right once more.”

Elodie’s gaze snaps back to me. “So do it already!” she shouts, not fully grasping the implications of her request. “To think I ended things with Nash, who was willing to leave his fiancée for me, all because I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving Gray Wolf—because I was foolish enough to believe I had some kind of misguided loyalty to you.” She levels a trembling finger at Arthur, the realization of her misplaced trust painfully dawning. “When all along, you—”

Arthur, losing patience, presses the edge of his blade into the delicate skin of young Braxton’s neck.

“Stop!” Elodie’s scream shatters the air, mirroring young Braxton’s cry of distress.

Knowing I can’t delay any longer, I twist the golden bracelet around my wrist, sending a silent plea to the adult Braxton who gave it to me.

Wherever he is on his journey, whatever fate awaits this younger version of him now softly whimpering before me, I silently implore that he hears this plea.

But already my desire and my will were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed, by the Love which moves the sun and other stars.

This divine love—the fabric that bonds every being, the intricate web of interconnectedness surrounding us all—is the true ruler of eternity.

Not Arthur Blackstone, regardless of his beliefs.

Reaching into my pocket, I retrieve the Star and extend it toward Arthur. “Now, leave the boy alone,” I command.

With a dismissive shove, Arthur roughly pushes the child aside, causing the young boy to stumble, fall, landing harshly on his face.

Elodie is by his side in a flash, helping him to stand. It’s only then that I see the damage Arthur has done.

Young Braxton’s nose is bleeding, but Arthur is oblivious to everything but the gleaming gem in my palm.

“I always knew you’d come through,” Arthur says, the golden ring he always wears, that once belonged to Edward the Black Prince, glinting beneath the moon’s glow.

“What will become of Gray Wolf?” I ask. “All those people who depend on you, who’ve remained loyal to you?”

Arthur merely shakes his head, offering an indifferent shrug. In his mind, they’re already relics of the past. His aspirations for himself and the new world he dreams of do not include them.

As he steps closer, our gazes momentarily lock. His eyes, once mysterious obsidian fragments I believed concealed untold depths, now reveal an unmistakable shallowness. And while I have no way of knowing what he finds in mine, I hope he understands just how gravely he’s underestimated me. Underestimated us all.

“The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is the illusion of knowledge,” I whisper. It’s a quote from Stephen Hawking, but Arthur is too focused on the promise of this gleaming gem to heed the warning.

With Killian and Elodie looking on, Arthur plucks the Star from my palm.

Killian inhales a sharp breath.

Elodie gasps.

As I hold my breath, hoping with everything I have that Braxton was able to make the switch.

54

Braxton

Antikythera Island

1901

Standing on the launchpad, the weight of the mission bears down on me. The fate of the world and the integrity of time itself rest heavily on my shoulders.

All around me, the intricate machinery hums with a fierce intensity, mirroring the tension coiled tightly in my gut.

My mind races as I recall every detail, every piece of information I’ve gathered about Antikythera Island, Greece, in the year 1901.