Chapter 40: Into the Unknown.

The twin moons hung low over the desert valley, casting an ethereal glow across the cracked earth and scrubby vegetation. She looked up at the familiar celestial dance, a cool breeze caressing her sweat-dampened hair. So much had gone down—so many truths lay bare since Alexi Zykov had ruthlessly unmasked the dark shadows of Liam's past allegiances to Archonic's monstrous order. Her gaze went to where the figure stood—silhouetted against the larger of the two bodies. Liam stood there alone, hands shoved deep into his pockets, face fixed as though to drink in a vast, star-speckled cosmos stretching toward the galactic core. Somehow, though, he projected an aura of stillness and resolve, an anchor point within the swirling tides of calamity. Summoning her courage, Chloe began picking her way across the broken ground toward him. So much was unsaid now between them in light of those horrific revelations. How was she supposed to even begin to process that the man she loved was, until very