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“Help her.” Kahn commanded, needing a miracle.

But Freya didn’t have any to give. She slowly shook her head. “If I could, I would heal her. I would heal everyone. But there’s nothing I…” She stopped with a surprised yelp, finally seeing the second Kahn sitting next to Livinia.

He gave her an arrogant wave.

“Yuan.” Kahn explained distractedly. “Freya, there must be something we can try to make her better. Something I can do to fix this.”

“If there was anything that could make these people better, don’t you think I’d already be doing it?” Freya had always been talkative, and now the frustrated words rushed out of her. “I have been pouring over books. Using all the medicines I know. I’ve even descended into quack treatment someone heard from someone’s neighbor’s cousin. I have tried everything, Kahn. Everything there is to try. And none of it works.”

“No.” He said, refusing to admit that his sister was being stolen away by some fucking invisible microbe. “No. There has to be…”

Freya cut him off, her voice firm and kind. “Take Livvy home. That is my advice. I will treat her here, if you want. But it’s loud and uncomfortable, and it will do her no good. If she were my sister, I would let her…” She broke off. “I would let her rest in her own bed.”

Die in her own bed.

That’s what Freya had almost said. That he should take Livvy home to die in her own bed. The terror was like a knife twisting in his gut.

Kahn stood in the middle of the chaos and felt… lost. For the first time in his whole life, he had no idea what to do.

“Freya!” Saxon, of the Air House came striding over. He was already one of the largest Phases, but he’d added to his impressive height with a neon-colored mohawk. “Come with me.” He grabbed her arm.

“What?” She resisted his pull. “Stop! Where do you want me to go? I can’t just…”

“To the Air Kingdom!” He interrupted. “My brother is sick. You’re going to heal him.”

“Release her.” Kahn ordered, jerking out of his cocoon of shock. “Now.”

Saxon sent him a dangerous look.

Kahn was happy to return it. He’d never liked the Air Phases, and he was aching to hit something. Hard.

“No one can be healed from this.” Freya wrenched out of Saxon’s hold. He didn’t exactly let her go, but he also didn’t fight her. “I was just telling Kahn the same thing. This disease has no cure. The best we can do is make people comfortable.”

“Even if she could, why would she help Hekktor?” Yuan asked casually. His appearance shifted again. Now he looked like that dead Hollywood actor, who was somehow always being spotted alive and well by the tabloids. “The Air Phases are the ones who started this plague. You should be the first to die in it.”

“What?” Kahn demanded, his head whipping towards Yuan.

“Parald, their useless king, released the plague.” Yuan reiterated. “Let the Air Phases suffer alongside all the young beauties they killed.”

He grazed a hand over Livinia’s hair. It came too close to the black streak at her temple for Kahn’s comfort. The colored markers were sensitive. Intimate. Strangers didn’t touch them. But Yuan’s hand quickly shifted away, so Kahn didn’t need to beat him to death. He had more important people to slaughter.

Air Phases.

He suddenly had a target for his anguish. Someone he could blame. Someone he could hurt. Red-hot fury filled Kahn, burning away all the fear and confusion. He didn’t know what to do with terror, but wrath made sense.

His dark eyes fixed on Saxon, as his pain became hate. “You did this to my sisters?” He asked quietly.

“I didn’t do shit to your sisters. No one can prove Parald did either.” Saxon retorted, but he still edged backwards a step. He was big and trained for war, but very few people could withstand an attack by a Light Phase intent on murdering them.

“There’s no fighting in my hospital.” Freya warned.

Kahn was beyond hearing her. He started for Saxon, ready to rip him apart with his bare hands.

…And that’s when the electricity failed. Power surged, making the lights flare and then dim several times in quick succession. The chandeliers flickered, highlighting the stricken faces like a strobe light.

Freya cried out in alarm.

Saxon scrambled backwards.