The final binding around Alex shattered completely, the chains dissolving into mist and memory. His consciousness stirred, weak but free.
"Alex!" I reached for him with my other hand, trying to pull him toward the dimensional barrier while still holding Marcus's thread. "You need to get out. Now!"
"No..." His voice was barely a whisper. "Not leaving…without you."
Marcus's threads were wrapped around my wrist, binding us together as surely as any spell. The more futures I showed him, the tighter they held. And with Alex refusing to escape on his own, I was trapped between saving my cousin and freeing myself.
Talin! Elias's desperate cry echoed through me.
I looked at Marcus, still on his knees, tears streaming down his face as I forced him to witness every path he'd destroyed. I don't know if I can kill him.
He would kill you without hesitation.
I know. The cavern continued collapsing around us, the void creeping closer. But I'm not him.
I tried to drag Alex closer with threads of my own power, but he was dead weight, his djinn magic completely depleted. Every second I held onto Marcus's thread, it cut deeper into my wrists. Every second I stayed, the dimension collapsed faster.
"Let me go," Alex whispered. "Save yourself."
"Never." I pulled harder, but my strength was failing. The void rushed closer, hungry and absolute.
"Tell Kenya I'm sorry."
I got in his face then. "I'm not telling her anything! You hear me? Because neither of you are going to die!"
Marcus laughed through his tears. "Such noble sentiment. Such pointless sacrifice." He looked up at me, his brown eyes ancient and broken and utterly mad. "You can't save your cousin. You're going to die here with him."
"There has to be another way?—"
"There isn't." Marcus's smile was cruel even through his tears. "You can sever my thread and escape, leaving your precious Alex to die. Or you can stay and die together. Choose, little Threadwalker."
Talin, get out of there! Elias's panic flooded our bond.
I can't leave Alex?—
YES, YOU CAN.
But I couldn't. I wouldn't. Not after everything we'd sacrificed to find him. Not after everything I'd gone through.
No.
I shook my head.
No. I couldn't fail. I couldn't fail this. I love you, I told him.
Against my better judgment, I looked into Marcus's possible futures one more time. Followed his thread forward through time, searching for any path where he'd let us go.
Wait.
There!
One thin, fragile possibility. So unlikely it barely existed. A future where Marcus released his vengeance, where he used his power to heal instead of harm, where he found redemption through helping those he'd hurt.
I showed it to him.
Marcus went completely still. His power quieted. For one moment—one perfect, crystalline moment—I saw the male he could've been. The uncle who loved his family. The djinn who chose wisdom over wrath.
Then his eyes hardened again. "Pretty lies." His thread tightened around my wrist, cutting deep enough to draw blood even in that realm of consciousness. "But you're still trapped here with me. And the others are growing weaker. You're running out of time."
