“Hey, Liana!” Quess shouted from behind me.

I turned from where I was inventorying supplies, lifting a hand to shield my eyes from the bright glare of the morning sun hitting Greenery 8’s roof. The young man was walking over with another crate in his hands, but had a smaller white box on top and a very pleased grin on his face. “Morale Officer and Official Cheermeister of the Diplomacy Corp reporting for duty, with the first bit of good news of the day!”

Excitement thrummed through me as he looked at the small box, and I hurriedly stepped away from the stack of boxes to go to him. “Okay, one: Morale Officer, yes, but you are not introducing yourself as the Cheermeister to the Patrian delegation, or anyone, ever.” Quess groaned in mock disappointment, but the smile on his face never wavered as we stopped in front of each other. “Two… is that the gift?”

“Sure is. Dinah says it contains every survey of the outside environment since the Tower’s creation and historical events of note, as well as an assortment of what she coined ‘cultural gems.’ Think they’ll like it?”

I grinned as I picked up the box and pulled open the lid, barely able to contain my pleasure when I saw the data crystal nestled in the center, glowing slightly. It had taken hours to persuade the council to give it up—one of the few things that they had argued with me about—and even though I had won, they might still try to convince me one more time that an air filtration system would be a better gift. They just couldn’t see the value in passing along elements of our history or culture instead of a piece of technology that served a purpose. But I knew the environmental studies would give the Patrians some idea as to how to help us eradicate the radiation seeping into the area around the Tower, hopefully making it habitable again.

Which was why I took the crystal out of the box and slid it into the pocket of my purple uniform. I didn’t want the council members changing their minds and taking it back, and was willing to steal it should they ask for its return.

It still felt weird looking down and seeing myself clad in purple. Years of wearing nothing but a Knight’s crimsons made the new color stick out like a sore thumb, but I was getting used to it. As the leader of the newly formed Diplomacy Corp, I had to, because purple was the color Leo and Lily—which was what my AI counterpart was calling herself now—had chosen for us. My contribution had been the patches; each uniform had a patch on one arm that depicted the Tower, and was woven together using the colors of every department. It had been important to me to include it, as a symbol to the citizens that the Diplomacy Corp worked only in the best interest of all the people, no matter what department they came from. We took anyone who couldn’t make it in the other departments and trained them to be explorers, ambassadors, scientists, historians, negotiators, investigators, councilors… The list was as long as my arm, because there was always some new niche role to fill.

The department’s role in the Tower varied, but centered around one idea: how can we help the people have a better, more fulfilling life in the Tower? It took me a while, but I finally figured out that we could start by ensuring equity between departments. Whenever a Cog’s transfer request was rejected from the Core and we suspected inter-departmental bias was a factor, they could come to us for an unbiased investigation into the issue. We would then submit our findings to Leo and Lily, so they could override or enforce the decision. Whenever a citizen felt that a Knight was ignoring their problem, they could come to us, and we would investigate that Knight, and said problem, on our own. Whenever an individual felt overwhelmed by their life inside the Tower, we would talk to them, and make them feel less alone.

But then the concept had grown. We had started hosting inter-departmental functions to help develop better relationships between Tower members, had advocated for non-uniformed clothes to be allowed back into the Tower so that the residents didn’t have to wear their department’s colors all the time, had negotiated territorial and labor disputes, held parties, and now had plans to start the very first inter-departmental sports competition.

But most importantly, we offered a place to anyone who didn’t have one.

And today, our mission was finally going to expand outside of the Tower, in the first cross-cultural exchange between nations.

“I’m sure the Patrians will like it,” I replied in answer to Quess’s question. “And to be honest, I think the council is genuinely in love with this exchange idea, but they’re too afraid to say it. They’re all new to this, remember? With the exception of Lacey and myself, they’ve only been council members for a year.”

Quess gave me a bemused look. “You’ve only been on the council for a few days longer than them, and you’ve changed positions to boot. I’m not sure you have a leg to stand on with that argument.”

I shrugged, but he wasn’t wrong—and sometimes I wished the other councilors would remember that I was every bit as inexperienced as they were at leading. But ever since they learned the new Scipio had half my personality in it, they seemed to constantly defer to my judgment, taking cues and advice from me alone. It was awkward, because I didn’t always think the decision I was making was the best one, so I wound up having to parrot the phrase, “I don’t know, what do you think?” when things got to be a little much.

It was half the reason I was so eager to leave; the members of the council needed to start forming opinions on their own, without my influence.

“Be that as it may, the exchange benefits all of us—the Tower and the Patrians. They’ll get a better look into our lifestyle and culture, and we will do the same with theirs. Hopefully this will lead to trade, a peace treaty, and maybe even a mutual defense pact against whatever is happening in the South. Not to mention the training and observation programs and survival courses! We’re going to gain a deeper understanding about each other’s culture, the inner workings of our governments and societies, insight into who we are and what our goals are…” I trailed off, trying to find more reasons to sell my program to him, but he laughed good-naturedly.

“You know I’m good with this,” he replied jovially. “We get to stay in a house. With doors that lead outside to the ground. Where we can pick a direction and keep walking forever!”

“Until you run into a lake or a mountain,” came a masculine voice from behind me, and I turned to behold my twin. The last year of living with the Patrians had changed him, but only for the better. He seemed calmer. Though “reserved” was a better word to describe it, I thought. It had come from living and acting as the Tower’s unofficial ambassador for the past year, and keeping the Patrians apprised of our situation until we got everything figured out. I knew it had been stressful for him—half the time, the council would tell him one thing, and then wind up changing it the next day, which drove him crazy—but he had made it work, and had grown into his own. It hadn’t been easy living without him for the last year, only getting to see him during one of his debriefing missions, but after the second Requiem Day, we hadn’t been sure what help we would need getting everything back online, and wanted to keep a line of communication open in case the power drain had caused one of the greeneries to fail. Starvation had been our primary concern, as the refrigeration had gone offline and spoiled most of our reserve crops and food, but we’d muddled through.

And then I had insisted we keep Alex in place, to begin working with the Patrians on a trade agreement.

Of course, that hadn’t gone very far, due to the changes we were making in the Tower. The Patrians had wanted our system of government stabilized before they would sign an agreement, which made sense, but it took us a while to accomplish. People were obviously upset after what happened during the last Requiem Day, and wanted a lot of answers. We had told the citizens a watered-down version of the truth: that Sage and Sadie had tried to gain control over Scipio to rule the Tower. We hadn’t revealed that Scipio as they had known him was dead. It was a big pill to swallow, and it would’ve been even worse if they had learned that an aspect of my personality had been combined with Scipio’s, so we held that back as well.

But that meant collecting evidence and having hearings with witnesses, some of which had to be fabricated, which took time. Then I stepped down and started the Diplomacy Corp, which meant we had to wait for a new Champion…

The amount of time coupled with the odds and ends of putting everything together had been tiresome, to say the least, but had gone a long way toward fixing the damage Sage had done to the Tower. Getting rid of the expulsion chambers and overhauling the ranking system were among the first of the things we accomplished. After that, we’d had to decide what our goals should be, moving forward—whether we should find a new homeland and evacuate the population, or continue living in the Tower. It had been shocking to the newly elected councilors that the world wasn’t as poorly off as they had been led to believe, but once they had accepted it, they were both scared of the prospect—and curious.

After all, the Tower had only been meant to protect us from the End, and carry us forward to a time when we could leave again. The pollution of the Tower was the only thing holding us back, since it meant the environment immediately outside was untenable, but the Patrians’ flying vessels were able to carry us over that… to a place where we could be free.

Thankfully, the Patrians seemed to be ruled by patient and understanding people, because they gave us time to sort that all out, and continued working with Alex.

“Uh, I have eyes with which I can see,” Quess said dryly, raising an eyebrow at my brother. “I think I’ll be all right.”

“You will be after the month-long wilderness survival training course the Patrians have been cooking up for you,” my brother replied, not even missing a beat. “So until then, no wandering too far away from the compound where we’ll be staying.”

Quess opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off when another crate dropped down on top of his own.

“From your wife,” Dylan said amicably from beside him, her crimson uniform looking pristine, the insignia of Champion resting on her lapel. After I’d resigned to form and lead the Diplomacy Corp, the Citadel had held another Tourney, and Dylan had won by a landslide. I had been relieved—not only because Dylan was more than qualified for the job, but because I’d found in her a capable ally on the council. “She told me that if you had air to talk, I was to pile on the work.”

Quess groaned theatrically, his arms straining under the weight. “Yeah, sounds like Doxy. Where is she, by the way?”

“Distracting the rest of the council for me,” I replied, motioning to Alex so we could help take the extra crate. “I didn’t want them getting in the way while we moved things out of here. They’re as nervous as you were on your wedding night.”

“Hey!” Quess said, flushing bright red with embarrassment. “You promised we’d never talk about that!”

I laughed, and Dylan clapped a hand on his shoulder, giving him a little shake. “I don’t know how to tell you this, Quess, but everyone knew.”

We all laughed at that, even Quess. It was hard not to tease him; his wedding had been three weeks ago, and rushed to boot, as they had decided to get married after Zoe and Eric’s ceremony six weeks before. It had all happened so quickly that I didn’t think even Quess and Maddox fully understood what they were doing until the day of wedding, and then the panic had set in. Maddox had handled it better than Quess, to say the least, and it was still too fresh in our minds to keep us from teasing.

I think it helped that he and Maddox had never been happier, and I was just grateful that they were alive to be that happy.

The sudden memory of them dying—Quess’s fearful voice as he was shut into that tube and Maddox’s empty and vacant eyes—caught me unexpectedly, and I had to stop and take a deep breath, trying to push the images away. Lionel had said that the memories should fade, but they hadn’t. Not really. I often had nightmares about them, waking up in a cold sweat and crying, forgetting for a second that they weren’t dead and feeling that crushing despair all over again.

“Liana?” Quess asked, and I started, surprised to see him there. It took me a second to remember where I had been, but when I did, my cheeks heated with embarrassment.

“I’m sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “I got lost in my thoughts. What were we talking about?”

Quess flashed me a sympathetic smile. All of my friends knew that I was having trouble recovering from the trauma of the simulation, but after a year of conversation, there wasn’t much more for them to say or do but smile and nod. Not to mention, talking about how their deaths had made me feel wasn’t exactly the easiest thing for them. Everyone tried their best, but I could tell it bothered them to think about, and they had eventually stopped bringing it up.

“We were talking about what happens after we spend six months with the Patrians,” he informed me, setting down the crate he was carrying on top of the others I had been inventorying earlier. “I know there’s something to all of these classes you and the Patrians have put together for us. Not to mention the joint military training operation we’re going to do with their soldiers. Dylan won’t tell me anything, but I know you’ve got something up your sleeve.”

I pursed my lips to fight back a smile, and looked over at Dylan, silently asking for her approval. After all, this involved the Knights as well, as several from my former department would be joining our group. She raised a blond eyebrow, a small smirk playing on her own lips.

“Up to you,” she said with a shrug. “Although, I’d say you should only tell them if they aren’t going back into the Tower. The Patrians may be arriving any minute, but you’re not slated to leave for another hour, and you know how gossip has a way of getting around.”

She had a point, and one that I wasn’t about to argue with. Because it was important that we keep the citizens of the Tower unaware of our real mission until we knew whether or not it was going to work. It had been hard enough to break the news of Patrus to them. Many had been frightened by the idea that we weren’t alone, though they had adapted.

Hopefully, by the time we got back, they would be ready to adapt some more.

I looked at Quess and smiled. “Do you need to go back into the Tower for anything?”

“Nope,” he replied with a grin. “Which means you can tell me.”

My smile grew even wider. “I got the council’s permission to start scouting out potential locations for a colony,” I said. “The Patrians will be helping—as in, they’ve agreed to transport us and leave a few of their survival experts with us as guides. But beyond that, we’ll be alone, camping under the stars, looking for a place that could become our new home.”

Quess blinked in surprise and rocked back on his heels, considering the idea for a long moment. I had to admit, it had taken a long time to convince the council to look into the idea. It had been one of the few things we had clashed on. Many of them were hesitant to make any bigger decisions until after we had dismantled all of the laws that Sage had enacted over the years, but I didn’t think that was the wisest choice. The individual worlds that had survived the End were growing and beginning to collide, and if we didn’t get ahead of that, we would be at a serious disadvantage. We needed to carve out territory to create a wider defense, in case anyone who wanted to do us harm came knocking. The Tower was fortified, but anyone who came across us and got the idea to break in and take something from us could try it—and if they had enough support and firepower, the Tower would fall.

We needed to have a backup location ready and operational, in case the unthinkable happened.

Not to mention, it would take time for the land around the Tower to become fertile again. The toxins the Tower was pushing into the river had leached into the water table, making the landscape around us a desert. The Patrians were willing to help us clear it up using their own technology, but wanted us to dump our waste farther upriver from now on, to ensure that a unique area that served as one of their natural borders remained intact. If we wanted to take advantage of that technology, we needed to demonstrate to them that we were responsible and willing to take the steps necessary to better our world, and that meant first cleaning up the land around our Tower.

Besides, humans weren’t meant to live within four walls for all eternity. We were meant to be explorers and pioneers. But Sage was right about one thing: the people in the Tower had forgotten that at some point, and were all the lesser for it. It was my hope that the Diplomacy Corp would help revive that ancient drive in them all. I knew that not everyone would want to go, but the colony wasn’t supposed to be an evacuation, but rather an option for those who wanted to live outside the four walls of the Tower. Maybe in the generations to come, more and more of us would leave the Tower for the colony, until everyone was there—but that remained to be seen.

“That sounds… pretty freaking amazing,” Quess finally declared, raking his hand through his hair. “I assume you’ve got a list of all the studies you plan to do, as well as an idea of where to look. We know the south is out, but what about the east or west… or even north!”

I laughed. His comments barely scratched the surface of what the council and I had thought up when I finally convinced them to just look at sites. We were only investigating to the west and east of the Tower, as we didn’t want to squish the Patrians and Matrians between the Tower and the colony. The site needed a well or lake that provided enough water for everyone, and the land needed to be fertile, for farming. We needed an area of at least fifty square miles to start, but we were to make sure that we were at least two hundred miles from the nearest human settlements, so as not to start a war or appear to be invading anyone else. The list of requirements went on and on, but I wasn’t bothered by them. Where anyone else might have seen restrictions, all I saw were possibilities.

“You’ll have to wait and see,” was all I said in reply. There was really no need for me to be cryptic, but I enjoyed yanking Quess’s chain, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

“What?” he exclaimed, rising to the bait—just as I knew he would. “C’mon, Liana, you can’t leave me hanging like this.”

“I absolutely can,” I replied with a wink. I started to add more, but paused when I saw Grey, Eric, and Zoe stepping through the door from the Tower, each of them carrying gear and supplies. I narrowed my eyes in irritation at the sight of my best friend hauling several bags on her shoulder. “And on that note, I need to go yell at a pregnant lady. Excuse me.”

Quess, Alex, and Dylan let me go without too much hassle, knowing I took my responsibilities as godmother very seriously, and I sped over to where my three friends were walking toward us. “You better put those bags down right now,” I ordered in a no-nonsense voice as soon as I was close enough.

“Pshaw,” Zoe said with a laugh. “I’m only three weeks pregnant. I can still carry things!”

“No, you cannot,” I said with a harrumph, drawing close enough to grab one of the bags she was carrying and throw it over my shoulder. I went for the others, but she quickly stepped out of reach, a teasing smile playing on her lips. “That’s my little godchild in there, and you are keeping him or her safe no matter what!” I said indignantly, after several failed attempts to catch her and take the bags. “That means no jumping, no eating fish, and definitely no carrying heavy bags of crap. It’s bad enough that you’re coming with us instead of staying here where the doctors can keep an eye on you, so I’m not tolerating any argument on this. The bags. Please.”

Zoe snorted and rolled her eyes, but stopped moving to hand the remaining bags over. “Liana, you’re worse than my mother, mother-in-law, and Eric combined! I’m fine. The baby is fine. And the Patrians have been having babies for centuries, so I’m sure they can handle all of my medical needs. But you better be damned sure I’m not missing out on this. It’s too historic for me not to go.”

I sighed heavily, as if giving in to her argument, but inside I was secretly pleased. When Zoe had told me she was pregnant, I was concerned that she wouldn’t be able to join us. Which sucked, not only because she was my best friend, but also because she was the lead Cog on the mission, and was going with us to work with the Patrian engineers on how to optimize their recycling systems, and to study their filtration devices. She’d been training for three months to go on this mission, and when she’d discovered she was pregnant, I’d been certain I was going to have to replace her.

But Zoe, being Zoe, had refused to allow it, much to my pleasure and relief. It didn’t mean I was taking her with us when we went to look for the colony, though. She’d be three months pregnant at that point, and we’d be roughing it, so she and Eric would be heading back with the others who chose to return to the Tower.

Not that I’d told her that yet. But I was certain Eric would back me up on that decision. He wasn’t happy about her going in the first place, so I was betting he’d be on board when I did eventually bring it up.

“I’m not sorry for being overprotective,” I told her, shouldering the bags and turning back to the others. “But I am sorry if it’s driving you crazy.”

She smiled at me, her eyes glistening with humor and love. “It is, but in the best possible way. Still… Grey, tell your woman to back off, or I’ll make her the epicenter of every one of my hormonally driven outbursts.”

Grey gave her an arch look. “If you think I have any control over what Liana Castell does, you have severely overestimated my power in this relationship.”

I gaped at him, appalled that he would insinuate that I was in charge of our relationship, but it quickly faded to good humor when I saw the teasing glint in his eyes. “Hey, you said you liked your women independent,” I replied tartly. “This is the price you pay.”

“Oh, get a room.” Zoe snorted, before grabbing Eric’s hand and marching past us. My cheeks flushed, but I knew her jab was well meant, and I appreciated her and Eric leaving. I’d been so busy the last month that I’d barely gotten to spend any time with Grey beyond climbing into bed next to him and passing out. The amount of planning and coordination that had gone into this had been massive, and the responsibilities had only grown the closer we had gotten to our departure date. As it was, I hadn’t returned to our quarters last night until almost four, and then had taken a shower and put on fresh clothes instead of trying to get any rest.

All the time apart was putting a definite strain on our relationship—when it had only just started to become comfortable again. When Leo left, we’d both had a hard time coping with it. I had lost someone I loved, and he had lost someone who understood him better than he understood himself. More than that, Leo’s personality had rubbed off on Grey in more ways than I could count—in his mannerisms and speech, right down to the gestures he made when he spoke. He was still Grey, but there was an undercurrent of Leo that was there, stamped all over him.

Which also made it hard. It was hard looking at him and not seeing Leo in everything that he did. Sometimes when he smiled, or looked surprised, my heart would break from the loss, and I would start to cry uncontrollably. It was like Leo had died, and even though I knew he hadn’t, he might as well have. I couldn’t be with him—not just because he was essentially with my AI clone, but because he had to stay in the Core forever. If I saw him again, I’d never be able to touch him, or kiss him, or have him hold me.

And since I had experienced those things when he had been in Grey’s body, Grey being there only served to remind me of what I had lost, which had made it so much harder. Not just for me, but for him as well. He had come to rely on Leo’s presence in so many innumerable ways, so being without him made Grey feel lost, and confused about his place in everything, making him insecure and uncertain. And my outbursts over another man didn’t help.

So we’d taken some time apart. He’d take any diplomacy work that came up that would keep him away for weeks at a time, and I buried myself in my work, trying to distract myself. I wasn’t sure how Grey fared during that time, but I hadn’t done well. I’d missed him almost instantly, and known that by pushing him away, I had probably lost him, too.

But I didn’t know what to do about it, and fell into a deep depression.

Surprisingly enough, it had been Lacey who had helped me through it. The head of the Cogs had sensed my bleak turn, and interceded. It took a while for her to convince me to open up, but she got it out of me, bit by bit, until I was crying on her shoulder.

Saving her life had clearly made her more empathetic toward me, because she’d held me through it all, and listened without reservation or judgment. I talked to her about everything, from Grey to the nightmares I still had about the things I had seen in the simulation, and she’d heard me. She helped me, if I was perfectly honest about it. I had finally earned her respect, and all it took was saving her life and the Tower.

After a while, I felt good enough to have a conversation with Leo. He had kept a respectful distance from me, and let me know he was there if I ever needed to talk, and I eventually took him up on it. It had been hard, and I was sure the conversation would be burned into my memory forever.

“Hey,” Leo said softly from behind me, and I froze for half a second, my eyes already beginning to feel the pinprick of tears before I blinked them back. This conversation was going to be hard enough without me getting all weepy. I turned away from one of the bookcases I had been staring at to see Leo standing there, leaning against Lionel Scipio’s desk, his hands shoved into his pockets.

I had chosen the location. It seemed fitting to say goodbye in the same place we had met, even if it was metaphorical. “Hey,” I replied, trying to keep the flood of emotions that filled me from reaching my voice. Seeing him felt like coming home, and all I wanted to do was throw myself into his arms and beg him to figure out a way that we could be together.

But I couldn’t do that. Leo’s coding was tied to Lily’s, and there was no differentiating where he ended and she began.

The corner of Leo’s lip twitched, and for several seconds, both of us were silent. I wasn’t sure whether he was waiting for me to speak, or was just as uncertain as I was on what to say next, but it grew awkward. I opened my mouth to fill the space, when he suddenly blurted out, “I miss you.”

My mouth hung open for several seconds, and then I slowly drew it closed and swallowed down my heart, the flood of emotions with which those three simple words filled me threatening to break down my control. I looked away for a few seconds, needing something else to focus on, and took in a shaky breath. “I miss you, too.”

I darted a quick glance up to him, and saw him looking at me with remorse. “I would’ve copied myself to Grey,” he told me, his eyes pleading for understanding. “But the nets can’t do that.”

I nodded my head. “I know,” I replied, my voice coming out high and tight. “I do.” I hesitated, and then asked the one question I had been wondering about since the simulation. “Did you… Did you know what was happening in the datasphere?”

Leo hesitated, and then nodded. “Yes,” he replied simply, and a wave of hurt and recrimination crashed down on me. Why hadn’t he warned me what was coming? Why couldn’t he have told me that I was about to lose him? I opened my mouth, intent on asking him just that, when he added, “And I am so sorry that I didn’t tell you. Honestly, I thought we’d have more time after the fight was over, but the protocols took over, and…”

I held up my hand to stop him. I didn’t need to hear any more, and besides, it didn’t matter. What was done, was done, and I wasn’t here to cast blame. I was here to try to get better.

“It’s okay,” I said. “We did the best we could under some pretty unusual circumstances. I know that this isn’t how you wanted things to be either. And I’m pretty sure you would’ve liked to talk to me sooner.”

He shook his head slowly. “No, not at all. It hasn’t been easy on any of us.”

I nodded in agreement, and then sighed, searching for a way to try to make this conversation more positive. So far, all it was doing was making me want to cry, and I was here to move past that. “Maybe not, but it’s been good for the Tower. You and Lily, I mean. You guys have done an amazing job altering the laws in the Tower and selling it to the citizens. The speech you gave about the ranking system and dismantling it was—”

“Thank you,” he said, ducking his head. His hologram didn’t show his cheeks blushing, but I could tell that he was embarrassed by my praise. I couldn’t understand why. He’d made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that rank was no longer to be a reflection of the service anyone performed to the Tower, but rather an indication of their happiness, as it was always meant to be. Eventually, we’d get around to dismantling them completely and destroying the indicators, but people were still too reliant on them to eradicate the system completely. Until then, rank discrimination was not going to be tolerated. “It’s really you who has done something amazing. The Diplomacy Corp is a rousing success. The people you’ve collected are showing an uptick of their rank within a few months of joining, and the amount of work everyone has put in to foster inter-departmental relations has been—”

“Thank you,” I said. It was my turn to be embarrassed. I hadn’t been fishing for a compliment, and honestly, hearing them from him only hurt, only reminded me how much time we hadn’t gotten to spend together. I licked my lips and looked around the room for a second, trying to find the right words to convey everything I had felt since we had last seen each other. How I regretted that I hadn’t gotten to kiss him goodbye, and how I missed his arms around me, making me feel safe. How I longed for his voice in our meetings, or how I still dreamed about him from time to time.

“Liana, if I had the power to go back in time and spare you this pain, I would do it in a nanosecond,” Leo said, jerking my attention back to him. “I’m sorry I even put you in that position. I knew there was a chance that I would have to replace Scipio, but I still pursued you.”

I felt a dull throb of anger. “Don’t say that,” I said, shaking my head. “I loved what we had together, once I finally got around to accepting it, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Except for maybe the ending, of course, but as you pointed out, there’s nothing we can do about that. I’m here to talk about what comes next. How we can move forward and… let go.”

Leo stared at me for a second, his eyes deep and unfathomable. “Of course,” he replied with a nod, a small quirk of his lips turning into a smile. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’m going to go with the delegation to Patrus when we finally get it all arranged,” I informed him at last. “And I might extend my trip there for a while. I think it will be good to get some space from everything. You and Lily need time to… to come to terms with everything too, and having me around as a constant reminder isn’t helping.”

“Liana, you don’t have to go,” Leo said, straightening up. “You’re the head of your department. Your duty is here.”

I smiled and shook my head. “Then I’ll resign. Leo, this isn’t going to work until we both have time and, more importantly, space from each other. I can’t get that as a councilor. I see you and Lily every week, for crying out loud! I’ve tried to get past it, but it hurts, and I can’t help it. It doesn’t matter that she’s me. I still kind of hate her.”

Leo stared at me for a second, and then smiled ruefully. “She says the same thing about you.”

I stared at him for a second, and then rolled my eyes, a soft chuckle escaping me. Of course she did. “So then you get it. This is what needs to happen, not just for us personally, but so your program and hers can really come together, if that makes any sense.”

Leo ran a hand through his hair and then sighed. “I guess… maybe you’re right. Maybe it is better this way, but, dammit, Liana, I don’t want you to go. It’s dangerous out there!”

I smiled, but it was bittersweet. I could hear the love pouring out of him, making his concern for me more intense than for the average citizen, and while I ached to go to him, I remained where I was. “You see what I mean? You’re still too emotionally invested in me, Leo. You have to learn how to treat me like any other citizen of the Tower, and I have to accept that you’ll never be mine. Time. Space. We need it.”

Leo’s jaw tightened for a second, and I could sense he still wanted to fight, but a second later, he sighed, his shoulders slumping. “You’re right. I know you’re right, I just… I hate it. I hate this, and I hate—”

“No more hate,” I instructed him, taking a step closer. “It’s exhausting and accomplishes nothing. Just… give me your permission to go, when it comes up in the council meeting.”

Leo closed his mouth slowly. “Of course,” he said sadly. “Anything you want. I just think you should know that no matter what happens, there will always be a part of me that loves you. It will never go away, no matter how much time and space we take.”

This time I couldn’t hold the tears back, and my vision grew blurry around the edges. I wasn’t crying—more like seeping—but still. His words both stung, and filled me with a warmth I had no way of stopping. “I know,” I said honestly. “And you should know that I’ll always feel the same way. But this is for the best.”

He smiled sadly, but accepted it with a nod. “Yes. Good luck on your adventures, Liana. Please… be safe.”

“You too,” I replied, feeling like there was a deeper context to our words that no one but the two of us could understand, one filled with love, remorse, understanding, and underneath it all—a sad farewell. I turned to leave, and managed to make it all the way outside before I had to stop and cry. But it was a good cry, even if it didn’t feel like it at the time.

After that, I threw myself back into my work with full force, trying to make sure the Patrus agreement didn’t fall apart. It helped, and even though I hadn’t left yet, I began to start hurting less, and finally began letting myself heal.

Grey and I had kept our distance until about seven months ago, when we bumped into each other at Quess’s first attempt at an inter-departmental function. Barely anybody from the other departments had come, but the Diplomacy Corp had made our own fun, anyway. The night had started off awkward, but somehow, Grey and I had managed to fall into a rhythm like the one we’d had before all this craziness had started, and it was both familiar and new all at the same time. We spent half the night talking about the future, discussing other problems that were cropping up in the wake of all the changes, and then the other half talking about us.

It was nice. It was grown-up. It was mature.

And it had taken many more conversations, coupled with several outings, before we finally agreed to give it another try.

Now he and I stood staring at each other for a second, and then he tossed down the items he was carrying with a loud thump and held his arms out to me. I went to him immediately, letting him envelop me, and took a deep breath, inhaling his spicy scent.

“How you holding up?” he asked, resting his chin on the top of my head.

“Good,” I replied. “Tired, but good. Thank you for being so understanding.”

“Yeah, well, I plan for you to make it up to me by sleeping in with me for the first week we’re in Patrus,” he replied, smoothing a hand over my hair and shoulders. “You’ve been running yourself ragged trying to get this whole thing together, and while I know it’s very important to you that this exchange succeeds, it’s important to me that you’re taking care of yourself. And since you’re incapable of doing even that, it’s up to me to make sure you do.”

I chuckled, and pulled my head away from his chest to look at him, something in his voice making me suspicious. “What are you up to?”

“Me?” he asked in mock innocence. “Oh, nothing…”

My eyes narrowed, but I was already smiling, knowing that whatever Grey had up his sleeve, it would be magical. He was good at creating little moments for us to enjoy together.

“Grey,” I said after several seconds, when my glare had failed to get him to talk more. “What did you do?”

“He called me up in the middle of the night and got me to ask the Patrians for a small place for the two of you to spend a week alone,” my twin supplied, and I turned in Grey’s arms to see that Alex had walked over from the pile of gear on the roof to join us. For what, I wasn’t sure, but I was too interested in the answer to ask right that second.

“A small place to spend a week alone?” I asked, turning back to Grey.

He was glaring at Alex like he would happily toss my brother off the Tower, but he replied to my question anyway. “Like I said, you’ve been running yourself ragged. Since I know you won’t take the time off for yourself, I arranged it for you. Besides, you and I have been putting off some relationship conversations, and I’ve been patient, but that patience is coming to an end.”

Oh boy.

It was no secret Grey wanted to marry me. He’d already asked me once, but it had been at Zoe and Eric’s wedding, and I had been so sure he’d just been caught up in the moment that I’d laughed it off and called him crazy. That hadn’t gone over well, but we’d talked the misunderstanding out, and been all the better for it.

Except he hadn’t asked me to marry him again.

Now I felt certain that he was going to use this week he had planned to do it, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to get there. “It sounds amazing,” I told him, going up to my tiptoes to plant a light kiss on his lips before turning back to my brother. “Did you need something?”

“No, but I wanted to give you a heads-up that Thomas and Melissa are five minutes out. Quess already netted Doxy so the council members can be here for the official meeting, so… just get ready for all the pomp and circumstance, I guess.”

I grinned. It was the one part of our roles that he hated, but I had loved putting together. We had created our first cross-cultural welcoming ceremony, and I was eager to see what the Patrians thought about what I had come up with. I hoped that the ceremony and speech would make them feel welcome and comfortable, if it was possible for an event to do such a thing, but that remained to be seen. “Thanks,” I told him. “I’ll be right over.”

He flashed me a thumbs-up as he moved to return to the others, and I turned back to Grey, a warm glow forming in my chest. “You’re going to ask me to marry you again, aren’t you?” I asked, suddenly too impatient to wait for our time alone together to confirm it.

He opened his mouth to reply, and then closed it again with a soft click of his teeth. “I’m not saying,” he taunted, but I knew I was right. He was planning to ask me again.

And this time, I’d get it right and say yes.

I placed my head back on his shoulder and closed my eyes, letting myself imagine what the next six months would hold. I was excited and nervous, but the future of the Tower had never looked so bright, and I was just grateful that I had people I loved around me, helping me, supporting my dream for the Tower’s future. This moment had been everything I had been fighting for, and now that it was here, I couldn’t be happier.

Because now, we could finally start a new chapter. One that began with: After the Tower.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for accompanying Liana through to the end of her journey, and I hope you enjoyed the grand finale.

Leaving behind the Tower and its residents is emotional and bittersweet, but I’m happy about where I’ve left the characters.

I’m also very excited about my next dystopian story!: , releasing June 11th 2018.

I’ve included the first two chapters of at the back of this ebook, as a special bonus sneak peek, so keep turning the pages to read them!

And here's a preview of the awesome cover: 

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