When the light faded, Magnus was gone.
Not dead. Not destroyed. Just... gone. Vanished. As if he'd never existed.
Sera stared at the empty space where he'd stood.
Then at her daughter.
Lumi was swaying. Pale. Her eyes had returned to their normal gold — dimmed, tired, but alive.
"Lumi?"
"I sent him away," Lumi whispered. "Far away. Where he can't hurt anyone."
"How?"
"The failsafe. It taught me." Lumi smiled — small, exhausted, triumphant. "Blood is a gift, Mama. Not a weapon. Gifts can be shared. And they can be... taken back."
She collapsed.
Sera caught her.
Held her.
And wept.
Dax found them like that.
Mother and daughter, tangled together in the dirt, both covered in blood and light and tears.
He knelt beside them.
"Sera."
"She saved me."
"I know."
"She's four years
