Lucien sat on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. Valentin stood by the door, arms crossed, his face grim. Rose had the ancient book open on the desk, her lips moving as she scanned the pages. Alice was still by the window, paleand drained, leaning against Darius like he was the only thing keeping her upright.
Battered. Exhausted. Running on blood and stubbornness. This was our army against a demon who’d just kidnapped a dragon.
"Get dressed. Grab what you need. We meet back here in five."
Selena and I hurried back to our room. I threw on my shirt while she laced up her shoes.
"Selena—"
"Don't even ask." She pulled her hair into a ponytail with quick, practiced hands. "We're doing this together."
I clasped her shoulders. The thought of her walking back into that castle—back into the same room where Vex’s blade had cut her, where Balthazar had lifted her off the ground by her throat—made something inside me seize up so tight I couldn’t breathe. I’d just found her. After two years of being too stupid and too broken to see what was right in front of me, I’d finally found her. And now I was supposed to let her walk into a demon’s lair.
"I can't lose you."
She placed her palm against my chest, right over my heartbeat. "You won't."
I didn't have time to argue. I shoved the fear down into the same dark place where I kept every other thing I couldn’t afford to feel right now. She was coming. I couldn’t stop her. All I could do was make sure I was between her and whatever was waiting for us up that mountain.
We met the others in the hallway and rushed out of the hotel into the night. Streetlights cast weak pools of amber along the cobblestones, but beyond them, the mountains were nothing but black shapes against a blacker sky.
Somewhere up there, Vex was waiting. And he had Raven.
Best case—we trade the shard for Raven. Rose splits it before Vex can take the whole thing, and we all walk out alive. Worst case—Vex kills Raven before we get there, takes the shard, and picks us off one by one in a castle that was built for slaughter.
I didn’t let myself think about the space between those two outcomes. The space where Selena got hurt. Where I lost her in the dark of that castle and couldn’t get to her in time.
Darius took Rose's spell book. Rose, Valentin, Selena, and I shifted into bats. Darius picked up Alice and launched into the starlit sky. Lucien flew ahead of all of us, his wings cutting through the dark like something unhinged. As I flew towardSanguis Keep, the air shifted. The bitter mountain cold fell away, replaced by something unnaturally warm—heavy and sulfuric, like the mountain itself was exhaling. Coincidence? I didn't think so.
And beneath it, the ancient blood scent, still pulling at my veins, still making my fangs ache. But this time I was ready for it. I shoved the hunger aside and kept flying.
Within minutes we were at the Keep. Lucien didn't slow down. He flew straight at the castle, barely visible against the pitch-black sky, his wings driving him forward like a battering ram.
He hit something invisible ten feet from the gate.
The impact was like a thunderclap. Lucien flew backward and slammed onto his back, the ground cracking beneath him.
What the hell?
We landed beside him.
Whatever had just swatted Lucien like a fly was going to tear through the rest of us like paper.
Lucien shook his head and dragged himself to his feet. Before anyone could stop him, he rushed the gate again — and bounced off the same barrier like it was made of stone. He growled,slamming his fists against empty air, the impacts rippling outward in faint, sickly pulses of light.
What new magic had Vex conjured?
Once again, Valentin and Darius pulled Lucien back.
Our entire plan hinged on getting inside that castle. If we couldn’t breach this barrier, Raven was as good as dead—and so were we.
I moved my palms over the invisible wall. It was cool to the touch—smooth and unyielding, like pressing against a sheet of ice. No cracks. No weak spots. Whatever Vex had done, it was airtight.
I dropped my arms and turned. There had to be another way in.
Lucien's grief hit me in the gut. His eyes were wild, his chest heaving, every muscle in his body coiled to launch himself at that barrier again. I knew that look. I knew exactly what it felt like to have the person you loved ripped away while you stood there useless.
I glanced at Selena. Every instinct I had screamed at me to grab her and fly in the opposite direction. But I knew better than to try. I pulled her close and kept one eye on Lucien, who was still pacing the perimeter like he was looking for a crack that didn’t exist.
