“Aleks? Are you okay?”
He waved off my concern, rebalancing the sword in his hand and turning to follow me. He never met my eyes. Images of our last conversation in my bedroom flared in my mind. He’d been so close to leaving. So ready to sacrifice whatever he had to in order to keep me safe.
But he was still here. Still fighting at my side. There was another war still clearly being waged within him—one that seemed to be growing louder. More violent. It was a war I couldn’t focus on, though, because a breath later, Phantom came to an abrupt halt at the end of the hallway and let out a sharpbark. He was urging my attention forward, toward whatever he’d seen around the corner.
I rounded that corner and immediately spotted Bastian. He was surrounded, as was Thalia. Both of them bound in chains, kneeling, with no less than a dozen Order members on either side of them.
And Severin Thane stood at the center of them all, holding a knife to my brother’s throat.
THIRTY-THREE
Nova
Severin gave a mocking little bow as he caught sight of me. “Your Majesty.How nice of you to join us.”
The knife in his hand looked like the same one he’d used to impale Orin, glowing with the same strange light that had been haunting my nightmares ever since our last encounter.
I composed myself and started toward them with measured steps, my hand on Grimnor, Phantom at my side.
Aleks followed farther behind us. He seemed determined to stay close to me, but the proximity of the soul shards—even though they were still locked inside the secure chamber—was making this more and more difficult for him. More and more dangerous. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, the way the wrong-looking magic writhed more wildly than ever beneath his skin.
It made my stomach twist with a painful combination of fear and fury.
But it wasn’t as painful as the sight of the blade currently resting against my brother’s skin, or the chains binding him and Thalia, or the sheer number of enemies surrounding them.
They all stood just to the side of the heavy metal doors sealing the chamber shut. We’d secured the shards within that chamber because very few could work the magic necessary to open it, aside from my brother and me, but now, I found myself wondering if it was safe enough—ifanywherecould be safe enough to keep these Order bastards from finding their way in.
I forced myself to keep my eyes on Severin and ignore everything else.
He tilted his head, studying me as I approached. “It’s good to see you again, Nova.”
“You made a mistake, coming here,” I replied in a low, dangerous voice.
“On the contrary; I only wish we could have been here sooner.”
I took another step forward. “You don’t belong here. This is my territory, and you’re going to find out very soon that you are not welcome in it.”
“Is it reallyyours, though? If tonight’s activities are any indication, your subjects don’t seem particularly loyal to you.”
“No.” I lifted my hand, pulling forth a swarm of darkness, forming it into a blade that mirrored the legendary sword in my other hand. “But the shadows still are.”
Phantom growled in agreement, tendrils of dark energy rising around him and bolstering the ones swirling around me.
“Set them upon us, then.” Severin’s smile sharpened, his cool grey eyes glistening with a dangerous challenge. “And let’s see what happens.” He signaled with a barely perceptible nod.
One of his followers pressed a sword to the back of Thalia’s neck.
She closed her eyes, her mouth setting into a hard line. Angrily resigned to her fate.
But I wasn’t accepting any such fate.
My voice remained low, cold as the shadows twisted around me. “What do you want, Severin?”
“Ah,there’sthe hospitality Rivenholt is known for, finally.”
I didn’t dignify this sarcastic comment with a reply.
“You’ve all been playing a very dangerous game, haven’t you?” He looked down at my brother, then back to me. “Did you honestly think we were going to let you keep trying to restore the full extent of Vaeloran power without us intervening?”
