Rain hammered the city.

The kind of storm that made the world feel smaller.

More intimate.

More dangerous.

Ra stood by her window watching lightning split the horizon.

Something felt wrong.

Not bad.

Not exactly.

Just... different.

Like reality was holding its breath.

Across the city, Sovereign felt it too.

The shift.

The change.

The approaching collision he'd spent centuries trying to manage.

Because secrets have expiration dates.

And his was approaching rapidly.

Too rapidly.

Soon she'd know.

Everything.

The prophecy.

The lies.

The history.

His role in all of it.

And that terrified him more than any enemy ever had.

Not because she would hate him.

Because she might.

Not because she'd leave.

Because she might.

No.

The fear came from something simpler.

What if she looked at him differently afterward?

What if the friendship vanished?

What if the trust disappeared?

What if the thing growing between them died before it had a chance to live?

For a man who feared almost nothing...

The possibility was unbearable.

Meanwhile, Ra paced her apartment.

Restless.

Irritated.

Unable to identify why.

Her instincts kept whispering.

Something is coming.

Something important.

Something that changes everything.

She hated when her instincts were right.

Because they usually were.

Lightning flashed again.

Thunder followed.

And somewhere in the darkness between one heartbeat and the next...

The future shifted.

Neither of them knew it yet.

But the waiting was almost over.

The truth was almost here.

And when it arrived?

Neither Sovereign nor Ra would ever be the same again.