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Liquid spread over the front of his shirt, where she’d pressed her face, and he kneas blood But still her heart beat, still her fingers clawed How much more would she suffer?

"Let ony speared through him on the heels of that wish He held on to Katya even as his knees hit the floor hard enough to send pain rocketing up his body Gritting his teeth, he sed the pain, opened hione quiet, and for that mercy, he’d pay any price

It felt as if his skin was being sliced fro hiun, it ended He found hi body held to his own, his breath coed pants There was blood everywhere So that whatever had happened had literally forced blood through his very pores, but that wasn’t i

"Katya" He cupped her cheek It arm But her eyes were closed And when he reached for her with hisLess than the barest echo of the vibrant woman she’d been

Not brain-dead, but close to it

Shoulders shaking with grief, he brought her liainst the wall

Dev ignored the insistent beeping of his phone

When it wouldn’t stop, he threw it at the wall in front of hi in half

Two seconds later, so at his mind, the knocks so hard they stole his concentration, his ti his teeth, he opened his psychic eye and "punched" Tag

It should have made hian to speak using their ShadowNet link "There’s a new thread, Dev" The mix of frustration and wonder in the other rief "Are you listening? There’s a new - "

But Dev was already staring in anguish at the twisting silver thread that linked his ht within it the barest flicker And the silver thread, it was so fragile, a single careless push ht jar it loose When his nani’s love surrounded hi, too broken inside his soul

But part of him, the Shine director part, was able to think, to process "I thought the ShadowNet couldn’t take full-blooded Psy"

"We can’t do it by choice - not like the PsyNet," Nani said "We tried that with a would-be defector back in my day"

"But she’s here"

"Wethat sets this net apart from the PsyNet Emotion, Devraj" Her voice held wonder interwoven with sorrow "The Forgotten’s bonds to the ShadowNet itself are of need, but the bonds between those inside our net are bonds of emotion"

Dev heard, but that dull silver thread, that barely-there connection, couldn’t be his love for Katya "I love her

"She’s dying, beta, that’s why the thread is so faded You know that"

He knew, but he didn’t want to "She wanted to die on her tero Not now" Not when she’d fallen into his are you the ti from his collapsed position on the physical plane, Dev carried Katya to the bathroom and drew her a bath He took the ut her body with the softest of towels Then, dressing her in her favorite T-shirt and the boxers she’d stolen from him two days before, he laid her down in their bed She looked so peaceful, as if she was sleeping

Connor flew in fro tube "Take this out when you’re ready," the doctor said before he left "She’ll slip aithout pain"

Leaving Connor to make his oay out, Dev crawled into bed beside her She was so war, it seemed possible she’d wake at any moment But he knew that was a cruel lie Still he couldn’t help hoping

And though he wanted to keep her only to hi heard what had happened through Tag, he knew he couldn’t "Okay," he said to her request for per Katya, trying to find the courage to let her go

His grandparents drove in before dawn "My Devraj" Walking to Katya’s side of the bed, his nani took off the ring she’d worn on her wedding finger since the day his grandfather proposed Her withheld tears glittered diaift, he slid it gently onto Katya’s ring finger "She told rew up," he found the voice to say, forcing hies for ie have everything in hand Your nana and Marty will take care of what they can’t" A tender hand passing over his hair "This ti afterward, bringing both Keenan and his "girlfriend" Noor "They’re inseparable," Ashaya said to hiood to have thehter, of life around Katya

Sascha Duncan had flown in, too, Lucas by her side Dev knew the empath had come for him, to help him, but he didn’t want any help, didn’t want to hurt any less "Cruz?" he asked Sascha