Pain pulsed up my arm. Sharp. Burning. Like fire ants crawling beneath my skin, biting deeper with every heartbeat.
I gritted my teeth and held on.
We needed this harpy. I knew it deep in my bones, in a way I couldn’t explain. She was the key to something—maybe the battle, maybe more. I wasn’t letting her go.
I drew on every ounce of magic I possessed and pushed.
My arm shook. The pain turned to agony—white-hot, blinding—and I heard myself cry out. But I didn’t let go.
Reverse. You have no power here. Time’s up.
The medallion on my bracelet blazed against my skin.
Footsteps pounded toward us. Leaves crashed and branches snapped. Voices shouted my name.
I stayed focused on the harpy.
Don’t pull away. Don’t stop. Do the impossible.
The collar shuddered. Black smoke rose from the metal, thick and oily, reeking of something ancient and rotted. It twisted in the air, gathering, forming?—
A hand.
Skeletal fingers made of shadow and malice.
It lunged at me before I could react, wrapping around my throat with a grip like ice. My breath seized. My vision flickered. Black dots swarmed at the edges, multiplying, swallowing the light.
The queen’s magic. Fighting back. Refusing to let go of what belonged to her.
“Alice, no!”
Darius. His voice—raw with terror—cut through the darkness. But he was too far. Too late.
My body convulsed. The world tilted. I felt myself falling.
Strong arms caught me before I hit the ground.
I looked up into silver eyes wild with fear. Darius’ face swam above me, his mouth moving, but the words were distant. Muffled. Like I was underwater.
I reached up with a trembling hand and touched his cheek.
“Don’t kill the harpy,” I whispered. Each word cost me everything I had left. “We need her.”
His arms tightened around me. He was saying something—pleading, maybe, or cursing—but I couldn’t hold on long enough to hear it.
I stopped fighting. And the void took me.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Darius
I cradled Alice against me, her head lolling against my shoulder. She was so pale. So deathly still. Her chest rose and fell in shallow breaths—barely there, barely enough.
"Alice. Alice, stay with me."
She didn't respond. Didn't stir. Her skin was cold beneath my fingertips.
What had she done? What the hell had she done?
