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A dull throbbing pulsed in my temples.

They must pay for what they have done. Their blood will be spilled.

The throbbing intensified until a searing fire seemed to burn right through my skull. I tried to scream, but I had no voice. I could see nothing but a blinding gold light.

And then… silence. The murderous voice inside me quieted. The pain was still there, but it was a faint echo of the fire I’d felt.

My body was fatigued, as if I’d been sprinting through the forest all day. I felt hollow. Empty. Worn and weathered like a ragged cloak.

“Cerise?” called a distant voice.

I drew in a breath, recognizing the voice instantly.

Alaric.

Slowly, my eyes opened until I made out his face hovering over mine, his brows drawn together and his eyes full of fear.

I had never seen him look so terrified.

“What…” I tried to speak, but my mouth felt like it was full of gravel. I coughed, and Alaric pressed a waterskin to my lips.

“Slowly now,” he murmured.

I took a few hesitant sips, wincing when it burned down my throat. Another swallow, and my mind started to clear.

“What happened?” I asked, my voice hoarse as I handed him the waterskin.

Alaric sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. He looked as exhausted as I felt. Shadows lined his eyes, and a smear of blood stained his nose.

“You… you started to…” He broke off, then tried again. “Your tonic. You didn’t take it. And then⁠—”

My blood ran cold. “Oh gods. No.” I pressed a hand to my chest, expecting to find that strange gold glow again.

But I was fine. I smelled a bit odd, like something metallic and coppery, but there was no glow. No voice intruding on my thoughts.

“Geraldine gave you something,” Alaric went on. “And… then she escaped.”

My eyes widened, and I sat up, making my head throb. “Escaped? How?”

Alaric scooted backward, resting his arms on his knees and burying his face in his hands. “I let her go.”

I stared at him, my heart thrumming madly in my chest. “How could you do that? After everything she’s done⁠—”

“It was the only way to save you.” His voice was broken, full of anguish and despair. When he looked up at me, his eyes shone with tears. “I had to save you, Cerise.”

My lips parted as I stared at him, something pulsing in my chest from the fervor of his words.

Mine. He is mine.

“I—” My breath caught, and a lump lodged itself in my throat, rendering me speechless. Knots formed in my stomach as confusion and anxiety and a dozen other sensations fired through me all at once. I wanted to run, to bury my head, to shield myself from the onslaught of emotions raging through me.

But I couldn’t break away from those golden eyes. They held mine, somehow conveying the intensity of his grief and panic, of the impossible decision he had faced.

He had let Geraldine go… to save me.

Alaric had been so desperate to spare my life that he had risked letting go of a valuable prisoner. Someone who knew far too much about Wolven Mages and how to fight them.

Someone who deserved to be punished for her crimes.