Chapter 68 Baz
BAZ COULDN’T BELIEVE HE WAS here again, watching helplessly as Emory was about to leave to horizons he could not follow her to. And he hated it. He wanted to keep her here, to beg her to stay. Last time, he hadn’t. Last time, he’d let her go because that was what was needed.
His resolve wasn’t so sturdy now.
Because this time, he knew there was no coming back for her.
But watching Romie and Emory break down in each other’s arms as they said goodbye, seeing Luce hug herself as she tried desperately not to fall apart, Baz knew he had to remain strong.
He saw it on Emory’s face, how fraying her own resolve was.
He had to be strong for her, for everyone else around him, for the worlds themselves.
But his strength was dwindling. Kai was holding him steady—as he always had, in more ways than one—but Baz’s magic was taking a toll on him. He wasn’t made to contain such chaos, to hold back the weight of a universe tearing at the seams. If he faltered even slightly, they would all perish.
He swallowed back his tears as Emory turned to him.
They both knew there was no time for a proper goodbye.
Both knew that if they were to embrace, to share words, both of their resolves might break.
And yet Emory did so anyway. She pulled him in for a hug, and Baz couldn’t help but press his lips against the side of her head, inhaling the scent of her one last time.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Emory whispered, so low he barely heard her.
Whether she meant saying goodbye or healing magic or stepping through the void, Baz didn’t know. It didn’t matter. What she sought from him was reassurance, and this much, he could give her.
“If I’ve learned anything from you, Emory Ainsleif, it’s that you can do anything you set your mind to. There has never been a darkness you couldn’t face or a door you couldn’t walk through or impossible odds you couldn’t overcome.”
Her arms tightened around him, her body spasming in a silent sob. “I’ll miss you so much.”
“Maybe this isn’t the end,” Baz whispered, needing this glimmer of hope to hold him steady, to give him the strength to let her go.
Emory smiled at him sadly, not believing his words, perhaps, but clinging to them anyway. She wiped at her eyes, looking at Kai. “Take care of him. Of all of them.”
“You have my word,” Kai said.
Emory drew back to stand next to Sidraeus. They looked at each other, a silent exchange passing between them. When Emory met Baz’s gaze again, the stormy seas of her eyes were quiet and sure.
“You can let go now,” she said.
With a breath, Baz did—and watched as that chaos wove infinity circles around Emory and Sidraeus, a vortex of death that only they could contain.
Wait, Baz wanted to say. Stay. But he knew that this time, it was impossible.
He may have broken fate, but this was still the only ending left.