Page 30

“I was eighteen,” Logan says, and while his voice is measured, there’s a tension in his jaw that makes it clear this isn’t his favorite story. “I’d just gone to my room after dinner. Forty-three seconds later, I heard the crash. Eight seconds later, I was downstairs, watching an assassin standing over my parents’ dead bodies. Five seconds after that, I traveled back for the first time. I appeared in my room the moment the crash happened, and I ran downstairs to find the same thing. I went back again and again, but no matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t get back far enough to save them.”

I slide my hand across the cushion, lacing my fingers through Logan’s. His grip tightens, fire whispering through his skin and into mine, and I press into his arm and stay there.

Connor nods, slow and heavy. Ruby’s turquoise eyes are suddenly too bright, and nobody asks another question, because there’s no follow-up to I watched my parents die, and burning through time over and over again wasn’t enough to save them. You just sit with it. That’s all you can do.

The fire crackles. Logan’s thumb traces a slow line across my knuckles.

Ruby keeps staring at him as if she has no idea what to make of him. Which is more than fair, given that I’ve known him for months, and I’m still not sure what to make of him.

“I can show you,” he says to her after a moment. “I can take you back a few minutes, just like I did for Connor.”

14

JADE

Every muscle in Ruby’s body goes rigid.

“No,” she says, fast and hard, with an edge that slices through the room. “Thank you, but no. I believe you. Connor’s word is enough.”

Logan nods once and doesn’t push.

Connor shifts his chair closer to Ruby’s. His hand finds her knee, and while she doesn’t look at him, her breathing slows, and her fingers uncurl from her thighs one by one.

“So,” she says, tucking her legs back underneath her in the armchair and looking back to me. “What’s your celestial weapon?”

I blink. “My what?”

“Your celestial weapon.” She says it like it’s obvious, like she just asked me what kind of coffee I drink. “I have the Lunar Crescent. I assume you have a celestial weapon as well?”

I definitely don’t remember her mentioning a celestial weapon, which means I definitely zoned out during that part of her story. My focus hit a wall I wasn’t prepared for, and that wall was called blood bond. Even though I hadn’t been concerned when Logan first told me about it, hearing how it made Ruby think she was falling in love with someone other than her fated mate made it hit home how strong the blood bond could be.

“I’m sorry.” I press my fingers into my bracelet and twist. “It’s been a long day. Like, an insanely long day. I think my brain stopped absorbing new information about three major revelations ago. Can you tell me again?”

“Of course.” Ruby’s expression softens. “Every star touched champion has a weapon that was forged by their goddess specifically for them. Mine’s the Lunar Crescent. It’s a bow and arrows that Luna created over a thousand years ago. I had to complete three trials in Luna’s realm to earn it. Amber has the Solar Scepter. Sunneva hid it at a place called the Cradle of the First Dawn, and Amber had to pass tests in dangerous Himalayan temples to claim it. Sapphire has the Star Disc—a throwing weapon that returns to her hand and trails stardust. She had to enter the Cosmic Tides—a dimension that tries to manipulate you into sacrificing your soul to its depths—and fight an ancient sea monster to find it.”

A bow. A scepter. A throwing disc. Three goddess-forged weapons, one for each champion, each earned through divine trials.

Then, there’s me.

“I don’t have one,” I say, the words feeling heavier than they should. “Tempest star touched me, dropped me off at the Hydra trial, and disappeared. She didn’t mention trials, or quests, or goddess-forged weapons.” I reach for my belt and pull out the only blade I own. “All I have is this.”

I set the dagger Kieran chose for me on the coffee table so they can get a clear view of it.

It’s as plain as always, with its steel blade and leather-wrapped grip. Still, it’s a good dagger. It fits my hand like it was made for me.

But it’s not a celestial weapon, and I’m pretty sure we all know it.

Connor picks it up, turns it over once, and sets it back down. “It’s well-made,” he says in a tone that’s clearly trying to be diplomatic. “But it’s not divine.”

“No,” Ruby agrees, her eyes on the blade. “It’s not.”

My electricity buzzes under my skin, and I pick the dagger back up and sheathe it.

“How am I supposed to find my celestial weapon?” I ask. “Do I wait for Tempest to show up and hand me a quest? Because she hasn’t exactly been responsive since the plane.”

Ruby and Connor exchange one of their looks—the fated mate telepathy I’m starting to recognize as a regular feature of their communication.

“I don’t know,” Ruby says, and I appreciate that she doesn’t try to make the answer prettier than it is. “But it’s late, and we’re not going to figure it out tonight. You and Logan have been traveling all day, and the four of us are going to need clear heads to work through all of this. Also, you’re both staying here tonight. Obviously.”