I silenced my phone screen without a word and managed a thin smile in Rhett's direction.

"Fine. I'll go."

Where I actually went was my own business.

He let out a slow breath, then leaned in and pressed a brief kiss to my forehead. "I knew you'd understand. Don't worry, I'll bring you back soon."

I wiped the spot with the back of my hand once he looked away.

That night, Rhett stayed by Anna's side without once changing out of his clothes. I sat on the couch all night, chasing sleep that never came, my mind dragging me back through things I'd rather have forgotten.

Rhett had grown up on a scholarship funded by Dad. His grades were exceptional, good enough that Dad had arranged for him to study abroad alongside me.

Back then, he once crossed half the foreign city just to bring me a slice of cake. When I couldn't stomach the food there, he showed up outside the campus gates every evening with a covered lunchbox, waiting.

Now, he couldn't stand the thought of someone like Anna being swallowed up by a place like this.

But Rhett seemed to have forgotten. Seven years ago, he had sworn, at Dad's bedside, that he would always protect me. He promised that the Vale name would never fall as long as he was standing.

The apocalypse hadn't come yet that year. His vows had sounded like they were meant to last forever. Now those same words just felt like a cruel joke.

He used to be such a good man. I couldn't make sense of what had changed.

But I understood one thing clearly enough. Whatever came next, I didn't need him to be part of it.

By the time the ceiling lights had cycled back to their morning setting, Rhett was already in the kitchen, which was rare. He was cooking a pot of chicken noodle soup for Anna.

I walked past without looking at him, went into the bedroom, and pulled my suitcase out from under the bed.

Anna had made it through the night. The small noises stirred her awake, and our eyes met across the room.

Then something seemed to snap in her. She scrambled off the bed and threw herself at my feet, knocking her forehead against the floor over and over.

"Please don't hit me. I'll behave, I promise. I'm good, I'm good, please don't hit me."

I stared at her, caught completely off guard. Footsteps came crashing down the hall.

"Nora! What did you do?"

Rhett burst through the door and scooped Anna into his arms. The look he turned on me was red-eyed and raw.

He never lost his composure. Three years ago, when the world ended, and we lost our daughter, Ophelia Calloway, on the road out of the city, he hadn't even flinched. And yet here he was, undone by a woman he had barely known.

Anna trembled against his chest, tears sliding down her face. "Please, please don't send me back to Level Three. I can sing for you. I'll sing anything you want."

Rhett pulled her closer and spoke to her in a voice I barely recognized, soft and certain. "You're safe. I'm right here."

Then he looked at me, and his tone changed completely. "Anna went through things down there that no one should have to survive. Stop trying to frighten her."

I exhaled slowly. A deep, bone-tired kind of exhaustion settled over me.

"Rhett, I used to think you were the blind one. Turns out it was me all along."

I was blind enough to give him my entire youth.

Something flickered behind his eyes. He opened his mouth, but I was already walking out.

It was strange. When something broke a person badly enough, there was nothing left to fight with.

I went to the study and opened the pocket watch on the shelf. Inside was a photograph of the three of us, back when there had been three of us. The faces smiling up at me stung in a way I wasn't prepared for.

The day we fled underground, Ophelia lost her footing at the edge of a fissure in the earth. There was nothing left to bury. I cried until I had nothing left, and Rhett arrived long after.

The memory pressed down on my chest like a physical weight.

The door opened. Rhett leaned against the frame, watching me turn the pocket watch over in my hands. His expression was hard to read.

"It was an accident," he said. "If she were still here, she wouldn't want to see you like this."

He then set a bowl down on the desk. "Eat something. Your stomach's always been sensitive."

I closed the watch. "You can take Anna's leftovers back."

His jaw tightened. "Nora, I'm only asking you to spend a few months in the slums. That's all. Are you really going to make this into something it isn't? Anna managed three years down there, and she's half your size. What's your excuse?"

I looked at him. "Then why don't you go?"

He didn't catch it at first. When it landed, the color drained from his face.

"Because someone has to keep this household together. If I leave, what's left? And let me be clear. If I hear you've given Anna a hard time, don't expect me to bring you back."

The door slammed behind him. I stood by the bookshelf and laughed quietly to myself. Three years in the apocalypse, and he still hadn't figured out where he actually stood.

"Rhett, did you forget? Without me, you never would have had a place on Level Two to begin with."

Before the apocalypse, I had been a core researcher at the institute. I gave up my spot on Level One for Rhett, choosing to follow him to Level Two instead.

Never mind that the Vale family had funded the underground city's construction. Without me, Rhett wouldn't have had the standing to set foot even in Level Three.

But in the end, talent was the only currency that still mattered down here.

On the second night before I was due to leave, I stayed up past midnight sorting through my files. I was nearly ready to give in to sleep when sounds drifted through the wall and killed it entirely.

My fingers went still. I set down what I was holding and made myself walk out of the study.

What was coming from the bedroom left little to the imagination. I didn't open the door. I didn't need to.

Then Rhett's voice, low and rough, came through the wall clearly enough. "Anna, will you give me a child?"

My hand froze on the doorframe.

After our daughter died, the underground city had issued us a single reproductive permit, part of the program to sustain the population.

Rhett had turned it down himself. He said our daughter, Ophelia, was the only child he ever wanted. He said he would never have another.

Apparently, that wasn't quite the truth. He hadn't wanted another child with me. He had been saving that permit for Anna.

He was even taking away my right to become a mother again.

I walked back to the study in a daze and sat down. Whatever had remained of my feelings for Rhett dissolved quietly and completely, and I didn't try to hold onto any of it.

When morning came, Anna appeared in the doorway with a sheepish expression. "Nora, I hope we didn't keep you up last night."

"Get out."

Her eyes went red immediately. "I didn't mean to make noise, I swear. I could sing something for you if you want. I'm really good at…"

I didn't say another word. I just walked her out by the shoulders. She stumbled a little as I pushed her through the door, and a photograph slipped out of her pocket and fell to the floor.

I picked it up. It was a signed photo, and something about the face tugged at my memory. Before the apocalypse, Anna had been a singer.

She brightened immediately. "Do you want me to sign one for you too? Rhett used to come to all my shows back then."

I frowned and turned the photo over. On the back was a picture of Anna and Rhett together. A date was printed in the corner.

March 21, 2060.

The world tilted. That was the day the apocalypse hit, the day we fled, and the day Ophelia fell into the fissure and never came back up.

So they had known each other all along. Rhett hadn't been held up at work that day. He had been with Anna, and Ophelia had spent her last moments waiting for him to come.

In the end, the fissure closed over her. There was a brief red mist, and then silence.

I pressed a hand to my chest. The pain was bad enough that breathing took effort.

The door swung open. Rhett stepped in without looking at me. "Anna, time for your medication."

I raised my head and stared at him. He glanced at me briefly, unimpressed. "What are you looking at? What is it this time?"

I stood slowly. When I spoke, my voice came out very quiet. "What were you doing the day our daughter died?"

He set down the glass of water. "I…"

I crossed the room and slapped him. Then I held the photograph up in front of his face. "You told me you were working. So tell me what this is."

His eyes locked onto the photo and didn't move. "Nora, just let me explain. I only—"

Anna burst into tears from across the room. "Please, please don't fight. I can't stand it. I'm scared. I'm so scared…"

She cried until she hyperventilated and went limp. Rhett stopped mid-sentence and caught her before she hit the floor.

I was shaking. "Rhett, if you walk out that door, you will regret it."

He glanced back at me, his voice measured and flat. "You're too upset to talk right now. Calm down first, and then we'll sort this out."

He walked out anyway.

Anna was cradled against his arm, her head tipped back. As he carried her through the door, she turned and looked straight at me.

The helpless, frightened expression was gone. Her eyes were completely clear.

She mouthed the words to me. "Sorry, Nora. I have to stay on Level Two."

After they were gone, the room was so quiet I could hear my own tears hitting the floor. So Rhett hadn't changed overnight after all. It had been happening slowly, quietly, long before I was willing to admit it.

Something almost like relief moved through me, and I laughed at myself for it. It had taken my heart breaking completely before I could finally see straight. When I was done, I wiped my face and picked up my phone.

"Yes, is this the Level Two security office? I'd like to report someone. There's an unregistered Level Three resident being harbored at this address."