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A shriek pierced through the air, and my stomach bottomed out.

I knew who that sound belonged to.

Ata.

My head snapped in her direction as I unleashed another devastating wave of power. The creatures blocking my path to her instantly incinerated, their ashes scattering in the wind.

I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think as another of her screams vibrated through the air. My boots slid against the blood-slicked ground, nearly losing my footing as I raced toward her.

She came into view just as Dukovich bolted in front of her, blocking the strike of a mezzen’s razor-sharp claws. Daggered talons sunk into Dukovich’s chest, tearing through flesh before my magic could stop it. A wail poured from Ata’s lungs as his body collapsed into her arms. Blood poured from the open gashes, spurting from his lips as he coughed against the pain.

“Help him!” she cried up at me, tears cutting through the crimson dripping down her face.

My vision blurred at the sight, bile shooting up my throat as the memory crashed back into me with solid force.

I had been here before, holding Ardan in my arms as he choked on his own blood.

“Cin! Please!” Her scream cut through the memory as another swell of living dead poured into the ruins. I ran the final distance toward her as tears began to stream from my own eyes. My legs collapsed under me as I fell to her side and took in the severity of his wounds.

A sob tore from her lungs, “Please, please don’t let him die. Please.”

I didn’t know how to help her—how to help him. But I had to try.

My hands fell to his chest, slipping over the raw flesh and flowing blood as I swallowed back the pain of the memory that haunted my vision. My hands began to glow, sapphire magicpulsing under my palms as my tears fell onto his unconscious body.

All I could do was pray, demand, beg the gods not to take another person away from her.

Fresh skin began to slither from his chest, growing over the cuts as Dukovich’s eyes shot open.

He gasped for air, panting as I forced myself to focus.

My body trembled as I pushed whatever magic I held into Dukovich, and looked out over the corpses piling up across the marble floor. Pri was in the center of the room, her twin golden spears flashing as she spun through enemies with terrifying precision. Blood painted her arms, her hair, her face. Siggy, Nantia, and Essara fought beside her, their swords gliding through the air, magic crackling along the blades.

My heart slammed against my ribs as my eyes locked onto another figure in the fray—Andrues. He moved like a shadow, a deadly dance of steel and magic. Every creature that lunged for him cut down without hesitation, but there were too many. I saw him falter for half a second, talons scraping against his side, and a scream clawed up my throat before I could stop it, but it was Ata’s voice that exploded from beside me.

“Andrues!” His name ripped from her lungs as her eyes darted back to Dukovich, a choice colliding between the two men.

He turned at the sound of her voice, just long enough for a mezzen to lunge at him. I saw the claws coming before he did, and panic seized me.

Without thinking, I flung my hands forward, magic bursting from my palms like a raging inferno. The air warped with heat, and a stream of fire shot toward the creature, engulfing it in an instant, the stench of burning flesh filling my nostrils.

“Go,” I said, my words frantic as my eyes snapped to Ata. “I have Dukovich, help Andrues.”

She threw herself into a sprint, leaping over rubble toward him as an explosion shattered into the air.

The final stronghold of the House of High crumbled to dust as Landers descended from the sky, landing with a deafening thud in the midst of the brutal carnage.

Dragon wings unfurled at his back, his bare chest flexing under the blood saturating his skin. Crimson pooled at his feet, dripping from emerald scales as his sight locked onto me. Awe seeped into my rounded eyes.

He was magnificent.

We need to leave. The Silliands army is coming. Landers’s voice slid down the fastening as I finally shook the sight of him between two forms.The dragons are ready to carry us out, the Fallen Ones are headed to them. We need to get the others.

I nodded, as my eyes drifted beyond his shoulder and my heart stopped beating.

It happened slowly, silently, as if I had been frozen, watching the scene move on around me.

A streak of lethal, crackling magic, black as a starless night, hurtled toward Landers’s back. I could feel my jaw fall open, feel the scream that ricocheted from my lungs, but all I could hear was static.