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Khaos

“Y ou are not your father,” Khendril says, throwing sticks on the campfire. Above us, the sky is filled with stars, and I can smell the salt tang of the ocean close by. “You can be anything and anyone you want to be. You get to choose.”

I know it’s a dream because Khendril is dead, but it’s a good dream. Better than fucking reality, that’s for sure. But it’s probably something he would have said if he was alive. He hated our father.

And he was right—I got to choose. And see how well that turned out.

I blink open my eyes to absolute darkness.

Everything hurts.

Fury had not given in easily. But then he knew from experience what was to come.

He’d fought tooth and claw against my father’s control. But Khronus had won in the end. He always wins.

Now we’re deep underground where no natural light penetrates, and each waking breath is heavy with despair. We’ve been here before. But this time it’s different. This time I know we’ll never leave this place.

I’d never meant to fall in love. It was the last thing I expected. Love gives people the power to break you. It doesn’t matter whether they mean to or not; you end up broken all the same.

But some things you can’t control. And I’ll never be sorry.

Fury whines.

She’s free.

I whisper the words through his mind, and he quiets, resting his head on his paws.

I close my eyes again, and a restless sleep takes us. The cell fades away, and the crisp, clean scent of fresh snow and pine trees fills my nostrils.

The scent of freedom.

And Amber.

The End