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From the depths of him, he begged, “Don’t leave me behind again!”

For a heartbeat, her eyes softened, and the fierce glow dimmed. The time-frozen wall trembled, just barely.

From the other side of it, he saw her lips move, just a whisper.

“Skye…”

Something shifted.

Like a stone dropped in still water, the wall of time wavered, distorted, and then soundlessly collapsed.

The barrier fell. The pain relented.

Skye took a deep breath. And with deliberate steps, he began to climb.

She was a statue of power, standing tall at the top of the stairs. There was somethingotherabout her now—something dangerous that warned him he was approaching not just awoman, but a goddess’s vessel. And gods were not to be trifled with.

The battle below faded, lost behind the pulse of light and the rising wind as he crested the final step.

And stood before her in the light of the Aion Gate.

She looked up at him, radiant and aloof.

“Taly,” he said again, softer this time, a plea and a vow all in one.

Gold veined through her irises, divine essence gleaming in the fractures. She really was a queen standing on the edge of eternity, staring at him with an otherworldly detachment.

She could turn him to dust in a moment, but he didn’t care.

“You shouldn’t have come,” she said, her voice distant, as if she were speaking from a dream.

“Where you go, I go.” He’d remind her as many times as it took.

She was home. Even now, twisted into something terrifying and unfamiliar, she was still Taly. Still the girl he’d cross worlds to find. And no matter how far she fell, no matter how much of herself was lost, his place always had been, and always would be, by her side.

Maybe now, with the power of the Time Shard at her fingertips, she would finally understand. She could see clearly what he already knew: no matter how many times she sent him away, he would always find his way back.

Slowly, she extended a hand.

He didn’t hesitate. He took it, and the full weight of her power slammed into him, reverberating through every nerve, every muscle, every fiber.

“I had to send him away.” Taly’s lip trembled, the glow in her eyes shining like the light of the divine. “Aiden. It was the only way to get rid of Aneirin. They’d become… intertwined.”

“Bill,” Skye corrected, touching her cheek. “Don’t you dare give that bastard the satisfaction.”

Her mouth almost twitched. “I have to go after him. I have to save Aiden.”

The Gate gave another pulse, the edges flickering—the swirling energy beginning to collapse inward.

Skye found her eyes. “So, where are we going?”

She shook her head sadly. “Someplace horrible.”

He gripped her hand tighter, steeling his courage. “Can’t wait.”

Then they stepped forward, hand in hand. Light and color swirled around them as they passed into the weightlessness between worlds.

Skye felt that same familiar sensation of falling. Only she was with him this time. The last thing he saw was her eyes—cracked with gold, bright with resolve—as this world faded.