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She just hoped that she would still be around when that time came. Because if Aven succeeded in killing her, Xira would be a casualty, as well.

Quietly, she said, “Now that we’re back in the same time stream, even if all this works out in the end, eventually there will come a day when—”

“I know, Alex,” he interrupted, just as quietly. “But I have lived a long life, and when your mortal years are done, I’ll be ready to take my final journey beyond the stars.”

Alex marvelled at his ability to make death sound so poetic.

“Speaking of stars,” she said, not quite up to continuing their increasingly morbid conversation, “they’re starting to come out. Which means…”

“You need to get back to the palace,” Xira finished for her. “And you need to go home.”

She nodded and slowly stood to her feet.

Moving closer to him, she rested her hands on his muzzle and whispered, “I miss you already.”

“We’ll be together again soon,” he told her softly. “Forever and always.”

Pressing a kiss to his smooth, black scales, she repeated mentally,Forever and always, Xira. Both here and there.

And with those words, she stepped back and summoned a doorway, meeting his brilliant cerulean eyes one final time before leaving the Sky Kingdom and its ruler behind.

While Alex knew she needed to bathe and dress for the feast, when she stepped through the doorway directly to her room, she didn’t stay for long, having something else she needed to do first.

Hurrying into the common room, she took in how quiet it was and made the presumption that her friends must be sequestered in their rooms, undergoing their preparations for the evening. Or that was her hope as she approached the door on the far wall and rapped her knuckles against it, opening it after a call came for her to enter.

“Alex?” Bear asked as she stepped into his room. “You okay?”

She glanced around the space, finding it almost identical to her private suite, and empty save for her friend who was straightening his outfit, a cleaned version of what he’d been wearing for their daily challenges.

“That’s what I came here to ask you,” she said, moving to his bed and patting the blanket beside her. She offered a self-deprecating grin and added, “I’ve been meaning to talk with you all week. ‘Better late than never’ seems a bit pathetic right now.”

Bear chuckled softly as he sat with her. “Yeah, it’s appalling that it’s taken you this long to come for a D-and-M, given how much free time you’ve had.”

She smiled at his sarcasm, her mouth stretching wider when he elbowed her gently in the ribs to bring his point home. But then she sobered.

“I have something to tell you, and I’m not sure how you’re going to take it.”

Bear’s expression turned wary.

Alex went on, “It’s just… You seem to be doing well. Better. At least on the outside.”

His eyes shadowed and he looked away. “It’s not easy. But I’m trying, for Dad’s sake. And I haven’t been without help.”

“Declan?”

Bear nodded. “He’s been—he understands. What it’s like, I mean. Having lost his own dad only a few years ago.” Histhroat bobbed. “He’s really been there for me through all this. But it hasn’t just been him. Jordan and Dix, Kaiden and you. Everyone.”

Alex shook her head. “I haven’t done anything.”

“You’ve done everything, Alex,” Bear corrected her firmly. “You and the others, you’re the reason I have the strength to keep fighting.”

‘… no matter what, he needs to keep fighting.’

Alex swallowed as William’s words came to her. Then swallowed again as she considered how to share their exchange from within the Gate of Lost Souls.

Reaching for Bear’s hand and holding on tight, she took a deep breath and repeated, this time in a whisper, “I have something to tell you.” And then she kept whispering, explaining how she had ventured into the Gate in the hope of seeing Niyx, only to end up seeing William as well. How she carried the words he wished his son to hear, his final offering passed on through Alex.

“He’s so proud of you, Bear, and he loves you very, very much,” Alex choked out to finish.