She lifted a shoulder, nonchalant. “Well, if by won you mean did I reunite with my parents, and release everyone from the prison, and not get myself caught in the process, then yes. We won.” She gazed up at him, eyes shining, and Magnus was so thunderstruck he could barely catch his breath, or form words. He supposed there was only one word he really needed to speak.

“Thorne?”

Her eyes hardened. “Dead. And unlike you, that bastard is going to stay that way. Permanently.”

He rolled to his back, pulling her on top of him so they were chest to chest, pelvis to pelvis, her naked body draped across his. He turned his face to her neck. “Tell me everything,” he whispered, flush with awe and love, holding her tight against him. So she did.

She told him about Dieter, how he and his inside group of Dissenters had taken over command of the Peace Guard once it was confirmed Thorne was dead. She told him about the uprising in New Vienna, citizens turning against Enforcement, how quickly their reign had collapsed when the news media, freed from control and informed by Dieter, disseminated proof that Thorne’s regime had been the true force behind the isotope clouds and the war that followed the Flash, not the creatures that had been so wrongly labeled Aberrants.

She told him how Leander had arranged transport by Thorne’s own fleet of planes for all the Ikati who couldn’t Shift to Vapor to escape the city. How he and her mother were on their way to Wales, right now.

“And the sky is blue there now, just as blue as it is here. As blue as it will be everywhere soon. Dieter accessed Thorne’s mainframe computers; he discovered how the isotope clouds were manufactured and kept in rotation in the atmosphere. They’re going to shut the whole thing down. No more Phoenix Corporation. No more Thorne. No more hiding.”

The future was rushing at Magnus, even brighter and more beautiful than he’d ever imagined. He stroked Lumina’s hair off her face and gazed up at her, his heart a mad, teeming circus of joy and euphoria and most of all, love. So much love he went hot with it, a whole body fever burn of blazing rapture.

“Magnus? Are you all right? God, you’re burning up—”

He crushed his mouth to hers before she finished. His kiss was wild, devouring, and by the end of it, she was panting and laughing, her forehead pressed against his.

“I love you,” he said, delirious with it. “God I love you. I love you so fucking much it feels like I invented it. Like I’m the first man who ever loved a woman in the history of the universe. Like it was me loving you that caused the Big Bang, and brought everything else into existence.”

She sobered, a glint of humor in her eyes. “Yeah, I think you’re kind of okay, too.” She slid a hand between their bodies. Nimble fingers curled around the erection already growing between his legs. Her voice breathy, she leaned down to whisper in his ear. “But I’ve been told that demonstrations are more effective than conversations, so . . .”

The noise he made was part laugh, part groan, all pleasure. Then she kissed him, and showed him exactly how she felt about him, and it was more than “kind of okay.”

It was flat-out, full-bore, once-in-a-lifetime love.

And it was forever.

EPILOGUE

The sunset was the most spectacular one Lu had ever seen in her life. Which wasn’t saying much; it was only the third sunset she’d ever seen, after all.

“Why does the sky turn orange?” She watched in fascination as the blazing disc of the sun finally slipped below the black crags of the mountains on the far horizon. She’d never tire of seeing that sight, or the vivid sky left behind, painted an outrageous, jewel-tone array of sapphire, crimson, and gold.

With an air of authority, Beckett said, “Air molecules and airborne particles change the final color of the light beam you see as the sunlight travels through the atmosphere. The shorter blue and green components are removed, leaving the longer red and orange hues—”

“Magic,” interjected Honor, cutting Beckett off. When he pursed his lips, peeved, she rose on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek. “Magical molecules,” she amended, winding her arms around his shoulders. She grinned up at him, and Beckett’s peeved expression turned into one of dazed adoration.

Leaning back against Magnus’s chest, Lu smiled. Even more than seeing her sister so happy, she loved seeing a strong man brought to his knees with only a look from his woman.

You should be getting used to that by now, Magnus said silently, wrapping his arms around her and squeezing. Seeing as how you do the same thing to me every few minutes. He kissed the top of her head and she sighed, utterly content.

They stood together on the slope of the hill near the entrance to the caves. Birds sang in a stand of nearby trees. A cool, gentle wind stirred her hair around her face, swirled surrealist patterns in the long grass. Holding hands, her parents stood with them, silently staring into the distance with identical small smiles that looked to Lu both melancholy and mysterious, yet also glad.

All six of them were full of contradictory emotions, she knew. So much was behind them, yet so much still lay ahead. Lifetimes of adventures, still to be had.

Lifetimes spent in a new, strange, wonderful world.

“Did you see the news about that doctor from the hospital in New Vienna?” her mother asked quietly, looking out over the darkening valley. Sunset colors highlighting her long blonde hair in glinting gold, that scant, strange smile still on her lips, she turned her head to look at Honor and Lu.

Simultaneously, they asked, “No, what?”

Her mother’s smile deepened, becoming almost mischievous. “The medications the Phoenix Corporation made from us had some unexpected side effects in the people who took them.”

“What kind of side effects?” asked Beckett.

“Good ones.” Her father drew her mother against his side with his arm around her shoulder. She rested her head there, still looking at her daughters, still smiling. “Although hardly the result Thorne would have wanted, I’m sure.”

His laugh was low and wry, and Jenna angled her head to look up at him. “Funny how things have a way of working out in the end, isn’t it?” she whispered.

Nodding, Leander brushed the hair away from Jenna’s face, stroking a finger down her cheek. It was so strange to see them together, these two people she’d never even known existed a few weeks ago. Her parents. It was all still so hard to process.

Over the past few days since everyone had returned to the caves from the prison beneath St. Stephen’s, Lu had struggled with her emotions. One moment she was gleefully happy, the next, she was sitting stunned on a rock in some dark corner, trying to piece it all together. Magnus would always find her at those moments. He’d take her into his arms, hold her, let her cry or rant or whatever it was she needed, letting her draw on his strength until she found her footing again.

He was her anchor now. Her center. Without him, she’d be lost.

Those strong arms tightened even harder around her. I love you, too, angel.

If you’re going to keep eavesdropping on me, Lu thought, trying not to smile, I should warn you that I’ve been thinking about a few new positions we should try. I read the Kama Sutra once and I really liked this one thing called “The Perch.”

She sent him a mental picture, gratified when a low growl of desire rumbled through his chest. We’ve already done that, angel.