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I throw myself down, the slide abrupt and graceless, heat spiraling through my ribs as I hit the sand hard enough to bite the inside of my cheek. Blood floods my mouth, but the metallic tang only sharpens my focus.

The beast’s claws slice the air overhead, and the sheer force of its momentum scatters sand as it barrels past. I twist, rising to one knee. The wind digs its hooks into me, and I arch my fingers, ready to hone its fury into lethal edges.

But the temperature drops—a sudden, violent plunge that bites into my skin and fills the air with a stinging cold. Frost blooms across the ground, turning the sand brittle and white. The chimera halts mid-step, its massive body seizing as ice overtakes it, spreading upward in jagged, crystalline patterns. My breath fogs in the chilling air as the beast is frozen completely, its snarling maw suspended in grotesque stillness.

And then it shatters.

The frozen chimera explodes into shards of ice and bloody fragments across the frost-coated sand. I turn, finding Cynna nearby, her hand still outstretched. I meet her gaze for half a second, and the ice on her hand glitters like a promise.

The wind unravels as I release it.

“Are you all right?” Lyxander pulls me to my feet.

The sword in his grasp drips with black blood, and I dart a look over his shoulder at another crumpled chimera. One I hadn’t even noticed.

Beyond the beast’s corpse, crimson flashes between bodies, ducking behind stone and the mist that is rising in damp walls around us. I blink, but it’s gone.

“Yes,” I say, scanning his body to ensure he’s also unharmed.

I tug on his hand to get us moving once more, calling upon my theïkós to brush the mist aside, and more bright smears of crimson peek through the veil. They move toward us—too many to be mistaken for blood or a champion. Then, the flash of steel beneath crimson cloaks, the pattern unmistakable.

They’re soldiers. Eretrians.

A shout cuts through the air, and then the wall of mist beside us exhales. The guards charge through, weapons gleaming under the storm-dark sky as they rush toward us.

Lyxander pulls his hand from mine, pushing me away as he lifts his sword. “Find Nyssa. I’ll find you after.”

“Lyxander—”

“Go!” he barks, stepping forward to block the advancing guards. His markings flare as lightning arcs from his hands toward the tip of his sword.

I nod, swallowing the bitter taste in my mouth as I turn and sprint into the mist.

The chaos thickens around me, the scent of blood filling the air as I push forward blindly. The mist clings to my skin, but I clear a path with a brush of wind.

The acrid stench of burned flesh bites at my nose as I stagger forward, the mist parting to reveal the blackened remains of two monstrous forms. Nothing but scorched husks, their claws curling as if still clutching at life.

But my breath falters, catching painfully in my throat. A third chimera hunches over a torn body, its leathery hide glistening with blood. The wet sound of flesh being ripped fills the air, and all I can see is red—an overwhelming haze of grief and fury washing over me, drowning out all else.

I must make a noise, because the beast’s head snaps up, drenched in crimson, its unnaturally bright eyes locking onto me with predatory hunger.

With a roar that shatters my suffocating grief, it lunges.

I swing my arm up as its jaws snap inches from my face, and we collide in a brutal, twisting struggle. Sand sprays into the air as my dagger finds purchase in its throat, the blade sinking deep into sinewy flesh. Its furious growl turns into a gurgling howl as we roll, its claws slashing wildly. One powerful kick from its hind legs sends me flying, my body slamming into the ground.

I breathe through the pain, forcing myself to my feet. The chimera tries to rise, its hulking frame trembling, but it collapses before I strike, a final, rasping gurgle escaping its throat as blood pools beneath it. My heart thrashes in my chest as I stagger toward the body, bile rising in my throat as I sink to my knees beside it.

It isn’t her.

Relief crashes into me as I take in the lifeless face staring back at me.

“Thank the fucking gods.” I stand, moving to the chimera and ripping my dagger free from its throat. The blade glistens wet and dark in my hand.

“Nyssa!” I call, my voice cracking as despair and hope war within me as I push through another wall of mist.

I stumble to a halt.

So does my heart.