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“According to my gifts,” Kollaborator said, “three hours and forty-six minutes narrow.”

Laughter and voices drifted through the closed door, bringing a surge of terror. Kaos spun and hurried inside, halting abruptly at finding Raviel sitting calmly on the couch, eyes and smile locked on Jaxi who spoke animatedly about the painting she’d created.

Raviel’s eyes twinkled as he asked, “Do all your paintings tell you things?”

Jaxi nodded a lot with a happy grin. “Always. It starts with these feelings inside—like secret thoughts or ideas trying to push their way out. It makes me need to paint or create. Sometimes those feelings want to live in clay or metal, charcoal or paint. Once I find the right medium, I create until the feeling can speak to me.”

She reached behind her, grabbing a small plate. “Would you like a cookie? I made some earlier.”

Her smile faltered as she noticed Kaos and his brothers standing near the door.

“Oh! There he is. With company.”

Raviel rose smoothly, his dark cloak shifting like liquid shadow. His long hair, streaked with silver, fell loose, framing a face that held calm authority as he moved toward them.

He pulled four cards from the folds of his cloak and handed them to Kross.

Kaos watched them catch the dim light, then shifted his gaze to Raviel, waiting for words, any words, as the weight of what those cards meant pressed down on him.

Raviel’s gaze met Kross’s momentarily then he turned and gave a smile to Jaxi, then walked to the door, opened it—andleft. Not a single.Fuckingword.

Kaos hurried to Jaxi and pulled her into a tight embrace, his mind racing for the right questions to ask her. Every heartbeat pounded with a silent terror he couldn’t voice while his brothers whispered quietly, reinforcing the threat looming.

Jaxi’s fingers traced slow circles along his back, sending a shiver through him—sharp and fierce—only deepening the doom he felt coming.

She whispered, “I’m so happy you’re real. And here.”

Kaos wrapped his wings protectively around them both, pulling her closer. His lips met hers in a deep kiss, desperate to tether her tighter to him.

He pulled back slightly, his breaths quaking. “You must know that five mortal minutes with you has given me an eternal heaven.”

Her fear sliced him as she peered into his gaze. “Are you saying… we only get five minutes together?”

He captured her face in his clawed fingers then caught the shift in tone behind him—quiet, sharp whispers threading between Kross and the others.

He took her hand and walked her over to his brothers. “She needs to know,” he said, eyes on the cards.

“Let’s sit a moment,” Kade suggested, moving to the couch.

Kaos pulled his wings into his skin and sat with her, holding her close to him.

“So, when you were with Kaos in his true form,” Kade began, “it forged a permanent bond between both of you—human and divine. And that kind of union breaks a law etched into the foundation of existence. It’s forbidden because it overrides the controls built to keep divine power separate from human will. And that bond sent out a signal—loud enough for the ones who enforce those laws to hear it. And once they hear it, they come to correct it.”

Jaxi looked between them, fear and confusion tightening her face. “Who comes?”

“A being called Nominous,” Kollaborator said carefully. “His sole purpose is to undo such unions.”

“Undo?” Her voice dropped, like the word tasted wrong in her mouth. “What does that mean?”

Kaos felt her fearful gaze hit him. He looked at her for many seconds and took her hand in his. “It means we would be removed from existence.”

He felt her heart stall as she swallowed, holding his stare. She then looked at his brothers, searching. “Is there a way for me to fix it?” she asked, voice small. Her eyes drifted to the painting. “I only made it so I wouldn’t forget him. I didn’t know it would show me his name. I-I didn’t know it would… cause this.”

She stared at the painting, like it might answer. “Maybe it was the way I started,” she mumbled. “I didn’t sketch first, I just… let it happen. Maybe that’s not how you’re supposed to paint something sacred.” She looked in her lap. “I used the same brush I had dipped in metallics. I didn’t clean it first,” she whispered, voice thin. “Sometimes that changes things.”

She suddenly looked up at Kade. “Do you think it will help… that I love him?”

The air left his lungs instantly as her words gutted him. They struck deeper than the threat, deeper than law. Now, his every breath would forever hold that confession.