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The presence of the goddess loomed at the edge of her consciousness, like a predator testing a perimeter. Seeking weakness, looking for a way in.

She could sense the desire, thehunger.

She could see Aimee’s tear-streaked face, the terror in her eyes, the desperation.

She saw Aiden, her friend.

Say no,the Queen had warned her. But what was that worth now, next to her betrayal?

“Please,” Aimee sobbed as her legs gave out, folding between the unmoving figures that held her in place. “Please, please… I can’t do this again. I can’t.”

Say no.

But Taly had already taken away too much from them. Her cousins. Her family. Maybe they’d forgiven her, but she never would.

In her heart of hearts, she knew—she was the reason they didn’t have a father. His life had been traded so hers could go on.

It was always going to happen this way. No matter what, she could never seem to shake the invisible crimson that clung to her skin.

Say no.

Taly’s voice when it came out was broken, barely audible.

“Yes.”

And like an axe coming down, she felt a cleaving in her mind as the bond was severed. Like an exchanging of hands, the goddess of Time came rushing in.

Chapter 82

There was no strike, no blow—just a brutal rending that started in his chest and spread outward.

Skye staggered, clawing at his ribs as though he could keep the halves from splitting.

He gasped, but the air wouldn’t come.

It was impossible to breathe through the raw, jaggedagonythat tore clean through him.

His vision fractured. The world lurched sideways as his knees buckled, and that place where she had lived—he felt it go.

Everything in him howled with the jagged, hollow scream of being unmade.

Skye opened his mouth to echo it—

“What the shit?”

Skye came to slowly to find Kato leaning over him. He must’ve blacked out. It was the only explanation he could come up with for how he ended up sprawled on Ivain’s study floor.

“Hey, c’mon now. I know the damsel has been spirited off yet again, but this is no time to lose your shit.”

If only it were that simple. Skye felt gutted—split wide open, jagged edges scraping in the wind. His body couldn’t make sense of it, couldn’t even begin to grasp what had been lost.

“Skye.” Ivain’s face was a mask of concern. “Say something.”

But Skye’s mouth gaped, trying to form the words, trying to remember how.

The bond… It was…

“She’s gone,” he gasped. “The bond—it’s… gone.”