Page 2

“I want you to feel how much I love you. I’ll always be with you, Prisca. It’s you and me.”

My hand snapped to the hourglass. Behind me, Telean was screaming.

“No, Nelayra, don’t! It willkillyou!”

I stopped time with a mere thought. I could feel Zathrian attempting to neutralize me, and I ignored him. He’d used all of his power to neutralize me once.

And one day, he would pay and pay and pay…

It was rage that drove me now, thundering through my body. Through my soul.

I’d frozen time, but it wasn’t enough.

No, if time restarted now, Lorian would still be gone.

Telean’s voice seemed to echo through my mind.

“The world must be balanced.”

I didn’t care about the world.

The warnings I’d received pounded over and over in my ears.

Ysara, sympathy flickering through her eyes. “Enjoy your time with your fae prince. But know this—you cannot keep him.”

The queen’s seer, her voice matter-of-fact.“The Bloodthirsty Prince will die.”

The gods might have demanded his death. They’d gotten what they wanted. But I would bring him back.

I didn’t care that it was impossible. That, at the very least, it was forbidden. That if I succeeded, the gods might just smite me for my audacity.

Throwing back my head, I screamed, pulling every drop of power to me. I had so little left, and yet I took it from every part of my soul. And when there was nothing left, I took more.

Agony raged through me. And for the barest moment, Lorian’s presence was next to me once more.

“Let go,”he whispered. And there was so much love in those two words that it suddenly felt as if my chest were being crushed.

I didn’t let go. I dug deeper. I pulled harder.

I pictured Lorian’s soul reentering his body. Pictured the tiny, shattered pieces of him reforming.

The hourglass heated, as if even the ancient artifact were screaming at me to stop. Pain burst through my head, dropping me to my knees. Gritting my teeth, I held on. He didn’t get to leave me. He didn’t—

Blood poured from my nose, leaked from my ears. It wasn’t working.

Still, I held on.

“In every life, wildcat. No matter what happens, you hold on to that. It’s you and me in every life.”

I bared my teeth and shoved everything I had into defying the laws of nature and the gods.

In every life, Lorian.

1

Prisca

Pieces of Lorian hung in the air, the glacial statue of his body like a shattered vase frozen at the moment of impact.