He can still taste her blood in his mouth.

Funny how he still hasn't cried. He mostly feels hollow, empty, cold. And occasionally the taste of blood comes back. He can't go back to Elysium now, not with what he's done to Valeska. She will carry scars forever, and he'd remember who placed them there. His dreams of standing among the Blessed, burned up with the gnashing of his teeth.

It's his birthday. A full year old. And he can't go home, because home is destroyed. And he wants to blame Valeska, even if he knows the truth.

Mom and Dad aren't even here to wish them Happy Birthday. And they would, he knows. They would have celebrated it. They would have made everyone celebrate it with them. Dimitri could have come back for it, and maybe they would have all had a group hunt.

Maybe....

He stares out at the waves. He's never seen the ocean before, and it's miserable knowing that this is the edge of the world. No one leaves Mythris unless they die or disappear. He breathes deep, staring out into the water, then drawing in a deep breath.

When he lets it out, it's with a scream of rage: the first sound he's made since telling Dimitri and Spider that Mom was dead.