Veronica's trembling started in her hands.
They were still pressed against his chest, her heavy tits smooshed against his abs, her red hair wet and matted to her back. As if he had just spoken, as if the words had just landed, she realized — he was abandoning them.
Not sending them ahead.
Not giving them a mission.
Abandoning them into a new world where time would eat them alive.
"What are you saying?" Veronica's voice broke.
She leaned back, her hands sliding from his chest to his shoulders, her eyes wide with something she hadn't shown since she was a child: raw, unmasked fear.
"Husband, darling, no." Her voice cracked. "Why us?"
Avriana's body went rigid in his grip.
The oracle who had known this was coming, who had watched this future unfold in her mind's eye, who had come to the pool knowing she would be chosen — she was still unprepared.
Because she had doubled the sensation.
