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Elian closed her eyes against the tears welling up in them. “I know,” she whispered as she turned into his chest. “Thank you.”

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“That’s what,” Elian interrupted. “Figuring all that out. Letting myself remember everything I’ve been pushing aside for later.” Glen stepped into the shower, placing a tentative hand on her waist. “Well, I’m here, okay?” he murmured. “You’re not alone with it.”

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She took a deep breath and tried again. “I need 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 touch. Safe touch. So I can charge up.” “Charge up for what?” he asked as he pulled his shirt over his head. “You’re supposed to be taking it easy—”

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“Will you come in?” she asked instead of answering his question. Glen sighed. “So you can watch my skin melt off?” “No,” Elian giggled. “I just…I want—”

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So no, she wasn’t okay. Not right now. But she would be.

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She trusted he knew the answer—no, she wasn’t okay. Of course she wasn’t okay. But she was safe—truly safe, for the first time in so long. She was home. She was with the love of her life and the best friends she’d ever had.

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“How are you feeling?” Glen asked. “That was a lot.” “I’m sorry—” “Don’t be. I just want to…I don’t know. I want to be sure you’re really okay.”

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She groaned, pressing her face against the shower wall. It was no surprise that Ezra had tried to disarm her with the news, but she’d hoped he would do it discreetly. Not announce it with the same amount of spectacle as a balloon release or a fireworks display.

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“Do you think everybody else heard?” Elian asked after she’d finished scrubbing herself clean. Glen snorted. “Yeah, I think so. Neo doesn’t have much of a poker face.”

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They didn’t linger long—with Cyra gone, the exhaustion Elian had been holding at bay was descending with a vengeance. She let Glen take her hand and guide her through their portal home. Let him peel the bloody clothes off of her and herd her into the shower.

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Cyra nodded, heading for Sine’s outstretched arms when he saw them. “Thanks for holding me, tall man,” he yawned back at Glen. Glen cleared his throat and looked away. “You’re welcome.” “See you tomorrow, princess.” “See you then, Cyra.”

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“I’ll come see you tomorrow, okay?” she told him, brushing her fingers through his curls. “The king and queen will take care of you tonight.” “And my mommy won’t come take me back?” he asked, words slurred with sleepiness. “She won’t. I promise.”

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“Please,” Glen added one last time. “Fine,” Elian said, eyes on Cyra’s sleepy face—the cheek squished against Glen’s shoulder. He felt safe. Safer with a stranger he had never met than with his own mother.

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“Elian,” Sia interrupted, “exertion is 𝘣𝘢𝘥 for you right after a resurrection. And you did a 𝘭𝘰𝘵 of it tonight—even picking him up really shouldn’t have happened. Let your mom take him home. Let your dad feed him. You can see him tomorrow when you’ve both had a chance to sleep.”

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“I can take him home for tonight,” Elian’s mother said once Tansie was gone and Cyra had been grudgingly passed off to a bewildered and uncomfortable Glen. “Glen is right—you need to rest. You won’t be able to do that if you’re fussing over him.” “But I—”

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Tansie did slam into Glen this time, clawing for Elian like a caged animal. “I will 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 you, Elian Phoebe Kellas!” “Haven’t you heard?” Elian drawled. “That doesn’t exactly pan out.”

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“Athena,” her mother said, resignation in her voice as the goddess answered her call, “arrest Tansie, please.” “𝘞𝘏𝘈𝘛?!” Tansie screamed. “For what?! I was deemed innocent already!” “Collusion? Child endangerment? Pick one,” Elian snapped. “Due to your arrest, the crown will take custody of Cyra.”

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No one had saved Ezra—he was a direct result of what happened when everyone stood back and stood by. Not even Elian’s own mother was blameless in what had happened to him. 𝘌𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯 would not follow in those footsteps.

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Cyra whimpered and Elian shushed him lovingly. “I don’t want to go,” he said shakily. “Not without my dad.” “You don’t have to go anywhere you don’t want to,” Elian told him, eyes on her mother’s. “You send him back with her and we’ll be doing this all again in twenty years.”

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Tansie took a step forward and nearly ran straight into Glen, recoiling at the proximity. “Your 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬 doesn’t give you the right to take 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘯. It’s not my fault you can’t have pure blooded children with your 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥—you can’t just 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭 mine!”

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“No,” she whispered back, one hand coming up to cup the back of Cyra’s head. “What did you say?” Tansie demanded, her voice hoarse and near silent. “You heard me,” Elian said, louder this time. “I’m not giving him back.”

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Elian would have. She had every intention of giving him back. But when she felt Cyra’s grip tighten around her neck—when he pushed his face further into her shoulder to hide—a part of her that had never seen the light of day awakened.

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“Get your filthy hands off my son,” came a familiar snarl as Tansie burst through a portal, stomping in Elian’s direction with tears streaming down her cheeks. “𝘎𝘐𝘝𝘌 𝘏𝘐𝘔 𝘛𝘖 𝘔𝘌!”

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“You don’t need to hold him long,” Glen said, gentle but insistent. “His weight isn’t good for—” “I’m fine,” Elian interrupted. “If I get tired I’ll put him down.” “Kitten, I just—”

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“Why is he here?” she whispered. “I think Ezra was the default parent, actually,” Elian mumbled. “If Ezra was going into hiding he probably wanted to go too. Or maybe Tansie sent him, I don’t know.”

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Ezra’s body was gone by the time Elian carried Cyra over to where everyone else was. Clearly, they had picked up on what was happening. Her mother looked devastated.

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Cyra closed his eyes and tilted his head, oblivious to the tears Elian shed that Glen wiped away for her. When he opened them again, he looked relieved. “I do remember!” “Good,” Elian breathed. “Hold onto that. Never let it go.”

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“Oh, he did, though,” Elian lied as Cyra began to cry, stroking his cheeks soothingly. “You were just sleeping. He kissed your head and told you he loved you and gave you the 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 squeeze. I bet if you close your eyes and really think about it, you’ll remember.”

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“He’s gone on a journey,” Glen said, to Elian’s surprise. “A long one.” Tears welled in Cyra’s eyes. “He didn’t tell me goodbye.”

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“You absolutely did help, but don’t worry about that,” Elian assured the boy. “Right now, we need to get you somewhere safe.” “Where’s my dad?” Elian bit her lip, turning to Glen for help—though she had no idea what he could have said either.

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Cyra’s eyes were on something behind and above Elian by the time he was within reach. Glen, no doubt—Elian had felt him right behind her as she’d searched.

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“Come here,” she coaxed when she’d gotten as much off as she was going to. “It’s going to be okay.” Cyra sniffed. “I’m sorry I didn’t help you when you were in timeout.”

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Elian’s breath caught in her throat. Slowly, she wiped her hands off on her dirty jeans—tried to get rid of as much blood as she could. She didn’t want to touch Cyra with his father’s blood all over her hands. But she wouldn’t leave him here, alone and scared.

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“Hey,” she crooned when she finally found him. “Cyra, is that you?” “Princess,” he whispered, and surprisingly, Elian didn’t flinch. “I can’t find my dad.”

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As the realization struck her, Elian pushed her way out of Glen’s arms and pivoted, scanning the surrounding area until she heard them again. She ignored all the calls of her name as she took off in the direction it had come from. Didn’t look back even once.

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A sniffle. A whimper.

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There was a noise. Something other than Elian’s mother and aunt murmuring to one another about what to do with Ezra. Other than Glen’s increasingly insistent requests for Elian to let him take her home to rest. Other than the singing of Ezra’s soul in her aunt’s hand.

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She wasn’t sure that it was. But she supposed it would have to be. It was over. Ezra was dead.

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Elian only stopped when she was forced to. When someone grabbed her hand as she raised it to stab Ezra again, easing the dagger from it. “Kitten,” Glen murmured as Elian became aware of how hard she was crying, “that’s enough.”

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“𝘌𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯,” he managed once. “𝘚𝘛𝘖𝘗!” She couldn’t. She was moving almost on autopilot now. Resurrect, kill. Resurrect, kill. No peace. He couldn’t know peace.

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𝘈𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥

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She pushed the soul back in the moment it started to resurface, Ezra gurgling back to life once more, his hands attempting to raise to fend Elian off before she could stab him again. And again.

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Elian shoved Ezra’s soul back into his body and he gasped back to life, eyes enormous, lungs struggling. Elian stabbed him in the chest, her vision tunneling, her own chest heaving until he died again.

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This wasn’t enough. They weren’t even. But they would be.

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Elian spun on her heel, pure instinct urging her to snatch Ezra’s soul from the air between his body and Sia’s waiting hand. She barely registered what she was doing. She couldn’t hear anything. Couldn’t see anything but him. The blood on his body.

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She would never be able to forget him. He would always haunt certain aspects of her life. She would never really be free.

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A waste. He’d wasted so much of her life. So many of her years. Had fought tooth and nail to make her into what he thought she should be, and punished her harder than anyone else for refusing.

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She gritted her teeth and held her breath until she heard Ezra hit the ground, watching memories play across the backs of her eyelids.

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