OPERATION WINTERSPINE (Strings Between Us Book 2)

EPILOGUE: FRAGMENTS OF US

EPILOGUE: FRAGMENTS OF US

Xythe's POV

She said my name—that name.

Not "Xythe." Not "Alcantara." Not "Tactician.

But Nate.

The world didn't spin—it lurched. I couldn't breathe.

The sound was soft. Too soft to shatter anything. And yet it did. It shattered me.

My fingers froze mid-spin, dagger slipping through them. It hit the floor with a clatter sharp enough to signal danger. But this wasn't danger. This was worse.

She looked at me like nothing had broken between us. Like I hadn't abandoned her in the ruins of everything we built. Like I hadn't chosen the Court over her.

My name. On her lips. Nate. Like a lullaby. Like forgiveness.

God. What happened to her?

I couldn't move. Just stared. Scanning her expression. Hunting for irony. For cruelty. For a trap.

There was none. Only softness. Only her.

And something inside me cracked—splintering through armor I'd spent years perfecting.

All eyes turned. Even Lyle froze.

I couldn't speak. Couldn't move.

It was like something reached inside my chest and ripped out the boy I buried years ago—the boy who waited for her texts, laughed at her clumsiness, memorized her laugh in fragments, flinched at every whisper of "Nate."
And now she said it in front of everyone.

"...What did you just call me?" My voice cracked, a raw fracture through the tactical restraint I usually wore.

"Nate," she said again, brows furrowed. "Isn't that how I always call you?"

Her smile wasn't a weapon. Not a shield. Just gentle. Familiar.

My vision blurred—not from pain, but from something wrong. Something that didn't line up. That version of her? The one who said my name like it was a nickname, not a scar?

She shouldn't exist. Not after almost being kidnapped when we were thirteen. Not when I almost died in her arms. Not after what I did.

"...Not anymore," I managed. The words burned as they left my throat. "Not since sixteen months ago. Not since we broke up."

Her breath hitched. She blinked. Confused. Lost. "...We broke up?" Her voice was small. Cracked porcelain.

I couldn't look away. I wanted to shake her. Protect her. Fall to my knees and scream at the universe for this cruel joke. Who did this to her?

The Ardent Court held still—but the tremor was spreading.

Tofer's jaw clenched. Seb's fingers twitched toward his cuff triggers. Keryn looked like someone had tilted the axis of the world sideways. Even Alexie—who could spin a lie out of thin air—was silent.

And then—Saichel. His breath hitched. His face slack. Eyes wide. He stared at Ari like she was a ghost in daylight.

"...You..." His voice broke. "You called me Sachie."

Riyee tilted her head, confusion plain. "Of course I did. You always liked it when I called you that."

No one breathed. That name hadn't been spoken in years. We buried those names—the soft, the sweet, the ones that reminded us we were kids before we became weapons. We buried them in ashes. In blood. In silence.

Sachie. Rai-Rai. Tree. Topie. Sebbie. Ken-Ken. Lexie. Only Nate had survived.
But it died too when I broke up with her.
And now she said them all like nothing happened.

Saichel stumbled back. Like he was drowning. "Stop it," he whispered. "Ari—don't do that. Don't look at us like nothing broke."

Even Thres shifted. Low voice, hesitant: "You called me Tree."

Her eyes lit up like recognition was cracking through static.

"I did?" she whispered. "I used to call you that? Before...?"

Keryn stepped gently toward her, voice shaking. Alexie looked like she might cry. Seb muttered a curse. Lyle's jaw was taut, eyes closed, trying to absorb it all.

And still she stared at us, heartbreakingly open. "You guys are acting weird."

Keryn's eyes widened. "This isn't funny, Xythe. What the hell is happening?!"

I couldn't answer. I didn't know. But deep down, I felt it. Someone reached into her mind, rearranged the furniture, tore pages from her timeline, and stitched them together in a way that hurt us the most.

I wanted to find them. I wanted to end them.

But first, I had to survive standing in front of the girl I once loved—who now looked at me like I'd never left. Like time never passed. Like pain never existed.

And worst of all? Some part of me wanted to stay there.

Frozen. In that moment.
Where her eyes knew me.
Where her voice called me Nate.
And where the cost of remembering hadn't come crashing down yet.

"Nate," she whispered again, smiling. Like forgiveness. Like love. Like sixteen months hadn't passed.

And I broke all over again.

[END OF BOOK TWO: OPERATION WINTERSPINE]

Next Mission: Operation Aurora Fall Ignites. Reconstruct what the Halcyon Pact broke. Wake the Frost Monarch with the truth buried in ice."