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Luca reaches for me. ‘You won’t die, right?’

‘My hearts will cease to beat when yours does. Until then, no.’

He still looks concerned, but he nods. ‘Okay.’

I give myself a moment, and then I say, ‘Rathyn was the first Vyastil in a very long time to successfully create a VySytheh bond. I had already been researching a way to bring them back. They were a myth—an ancient story that was written on the cave walls. Rathyn was my proof. When he confessed to me, I…lied to him.’

Luca blinks at me. ‘I don’t understand.’

This is where more of my shame comes in. I must admit things I hadn’t wanted to admit to myself. ‘If Rathyn knew he was the first—that he was the only Vyastil with a VySytheh bond, he might have rejected it. He may have severed the bond before biting Everest. I knew he was going to be the start of something big…a revolution. If we could find enough Vyastil with the bond to convince the rest of our people that we had been deceived by the royal family and the council…’

Luca swallows heavily and nods for me to go on.

‘I let him believe that Kori was my VySytheh. That I could hear his thoughts, feel his heartbeat as if it were my own. It gave him the courage to keep Everest.’

Luca’s hands hesitate, then he asks, ‘Was he? Was Kori your⁠—’

‘No.’ I take Luca’s hands by the wrists and kiss his palms. ‘I never heard his mind. We were not bonded in the way you and I are. You are my one and only.’

Luca leans into me and takes me in a soft, possessive kiss. ‘Mine,’ he signs when he pulls back.

‘Always yours.’ I sign back. ‘When I met you, the bond was…unexpected. I couldn’t afford to be a Vyastil who had a bond because I needed to embrace my role as a breeder. I couldn’t afford to lose the trust of the council. But I could not stop fate.’

Luca’s face does something complicated. ‘Regret?’

‘No.’

‘I ruined it.’

I shake my head. ‘It was meant to be. I will buy more time. I will find other Vyastil with the bond.’

‘Lucie,’ he signs quickly.

I shake my head. ‘No. They must be able to hear each other’s thoughts.’

‘Lucie can hear. He told me. He doesn’t know what it means, and Dhoryn won’t acknowledge it.’

I feel suddenly like I’ve been punched in the sternum. Not once has Dhoryn mentioned that to me. It hurts to know I raised him, shaped him, and he did not trust me with that information. Even after I explained to him what I needed.

But I cannot fault him for that. I was the one who failed him.

I let myself breathe through the ache in my chest, then I nod. ‘I will speak to him. I must find more Vyastil willing to fight. I have spoken to Sabik, and he is trying to recruit the Tarek army to aid us.’

‘What is the plan?’

I’m afraid to tell him. If the council gets their hands on Luca and tortures him, I know he will die before revealing these secrets. And it will be a very painful death. But the look in his eyes is determined, and he has earned this trust.

‘We plan to overthrow the royal family and dissolve the monarchy and the council. We will put new leaders in their place. We will reeducate our people. We will bring back Vyastil nature.’

‘And the humans?’

I don’t know. That is the one piece of the puzzle I don’t understand yet. It’s not as easy as shutting down the portals now. I know that the clinics must become truly voluntary. I know that humans deserve real choices, as do we.

And there are Vyastil who are truly happier on Earth. And perhaps there are also humans truly happier here on Erethar. We still have the problem of the human rebellion to deal with, and humans who will always hate the Vyastil for our presence there.

But right now, I don’t have a plan. Right now, the only thing that matters is saving my people from a fate we never deserved.

‘I don’t know what will happen in the future. I will be with you,’ I tell him. ‘And I will trust that we will find leaders who can help.’