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And the door I had kept closed, the secret I had hidden from August since the march, shattered.

The walls I had built crumbled under the weight of what I was holding. There was no room left inside me for secrets. No space for closed doors. The gold light burned through everything, every barrier, every shadow, every quiet place I had kept from him.

Ruth's vision poured through the bond.

August saw it all. The young Seer gripping my arm during the march. The words she had whispered: I saw you burning. Gold light pouring out until there was nothing left. My choice to keep it from him. My choice to carry it alone. The door I had closed because I knew that if he understood what was coming, he would try to stop me.

His horror crashed through the bond.

You knew.

His voice in my mind was cracking. Breaking.

I'm sorry, I sent back. I couldn't let you stop me. They need to come home.

I need YOU.

August's voice, I could hear him calling my name, but it came from far away. Like listening to someone shout from the surface while you sank deeper and deeper into still water. The words reached me, but I couldn't make them mean anything.

Lily.

His panic crashed through the bond. He was losing me. I was slipping away, the threads I was gathering pulling me under.

Lily, stop. You have to stop.

I couldn't. If I stopped now, I would lose them. Lorien. Ysella. The Oxford Weavers. Elowen. All of them would scatter back into the void, and there would be no one to find them. No one to bring them home.

I was the bridge.

And bridges did not get to choose which side they stayed on.

I love you. The words poured through the bond, too small, too late. I love you. I'm sorry. I would have stayed forever. I would have given you everything. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I love you.

It wasn't enough. It would never be enough. But it was all I had left to give.

The gold light consumed me.

I was dissolving, not into nothing, but into everything. Every thread I held was becoming part of me, and I was becoming part of them. We were weaving together, remaking together, and I couldn't tell anymore where they ended and I began.

It was terrifying.

It was beautiful.

It was the most peaceful thing I had ever known.

But I wasn't alone. Through the bond, August. Still there. Refusing to let go even as I slipped away.

August's voice came one last time, closer now and desperate. His hands on my face felt almost there, almost real. The fading echo of being touched by someone who loved you.

“Lily. Lily. Stay with me. Please. Please.”

I wanted to answer. Wanted to tell him that I was still here, still strong, still choosing him.

But the water was too deep now. The gold was too bright. And the threads were singing, a chorus of voices, a symphony of souls, all of them finally, finally finding their way home.

I closed my eyes.

And I let the light take me.