The sky burned coral and gold as Earth fell away beneath him.

Aethan drew the vial from his coat pocket with the same care he'd once used to check her IV line. Its icy-blue surface caught the last of the sunset and threw his face back at him. The one he'd carved into stillness over ten years.

"For you, Cela." He pressed the needle to his wrist. HISS.

Silver climbed his veins. His grip tightened on the vial. The chip at the base of the plunger pressed against the pad of his thumb and warmed. He pulled once, controlled. Then harder. Skin came up with it before it let go wet and sudden, leaving the thumb pad white and blistered.

He pocketed the vial without looking again.