Nova glanced over her shoulder. “Whatever you’re holding, bring it into the ring. Now. The energy is resisting.”
I didn’t hesitate.
I stepped forward, crossing the outer circle, and placed the vial in the center beside Krina. The moment it touched the stone, the shadows in her chest pulled taut as if the tether had recognized its anchor.
Krina gasped.
Her back arched. Her hands clutched the floor. The tether unraveled violently from her sternum, a jagged scream echoing not from her throat but from themagic.
“No,” she whispered. “No, no, I don’t want him—”
“Krina,” I said, kneeling beside her. “He has no claim. Not here. Not anymore.”
She looked at me, eyes wide, and then down at the tether now whipping in the air above her chest like a snake caught in firelight.
“I don’t know how to let go,” she whispered.
“Yes, you do,” I said. “You already left once. This is just the last step.”
Her breathing shook.
But then, slowly, she reached out.
Not to grab it.
Toreleaseit with hands wide open.
Nova’s and Ardetia’s voices rose in tandem, laced with force and clarity. The sparks surged up from the runes, surrounding the shadow like a cage of light.
Stella reached forward and wrapped her arms around Krina from behind, whispering, “Let go, love. You don’t need his magic in your bones anymore.”
Krina’s fingers hovered in the air and then closed into a fist.
The tether tore loose.
The scream that followed wasn’t hers.
It came from the vial.
The smoke inside roared, twisted, and then collapsed into itself, imploding with asnapthat shattered the glass into dust. The air sucked inward, and then silence dropped like a stone.
An image of his contorted face illuminated in the shadows as Krina slumped back into Stella’s arms, crying softly but not from pain.
From relief.
We were still as the room pulsed once.
I stepped closer and placed a hand on her back as her sister came over.
“It’s done.”
Her tears shook her shoulders, but her voice was clear.
“He’s gone?”
Keegan stepped forward, his boots slow on the stone. “We’ll be sure of it. But whatever he had on you… It broke.”
She looked up at me, eyes red-rimmed but open.
