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There was a strange humming coming from the tree as her shadows stretched out toward it, unbidden.

Somehow, thanks to the bargain, her magic was unlocking the gateway.

The shadows slid along the ground like snakes. As they inched toward the willow tree, the sound grew louder until sherealized it wasn’t a humming but whispers. It wasn’t in any language she’d heard before. The words were deep and guttural, and it wasn’t one voice but many.

“Was it worth it?” she said, looking up to Hadeon. “You went to all this trouble to find the shadow fae, and you’ve left with more enemies than you started.”

Slowly, Hadeon raised his hand toward her, his gaze never leaving Arden. “I may hate my mother, and my brothers may despise my existence, but the Twilight Court is still my home. And I won’t let the shadow fae destroy it in a quest for vengeance.”

Hadeon loosed a plume of wind from his hand, which struck Arabella in the chest.

She gasped, nearly dropping Jessamine as she flew backward—toward the tree.

And the open gateway.

Somehow, her shadows had connected with the tempest at the base of the tree trunk, and a slice in the universe had opened.

She watched in horror as Arden and the soldiers unleashed their shadows upon Hadeon. The fae with wings…

Like a dragon, she thought.

Before their shadows could touch Hadeon, a torrent of magic billowed out from him, forming a swirling storm that exploded in the clearing.

She released a whisper of shadows as she flew through the gaping wound in the air.

And the gateway swallowed her and Jessamine whole.

Chapter Twenty-Five

ARABELLA

Arabella’s palms slapped cool stone as she rolled to a stop.

Glancing up, she was surprised to find herself in a dungeon cell. There were three walls of stone, while the fourth wall was a gate of iron bars. There were no windows, but there were a few lanterns with magic-infused light in the hallway beyond the cell.

Jessamine groaned where she’d landed beside Arabella.

Then Hadeon appeared through the gateway at the center of the dungeon cell, his face the manifestation of fury itself. Not bothering to look at them, he spun back toward the slash in the air and raised his arm toward it.

A sudden realization struck her.

“No!” she shouted.

But it was too late.

He never intended to let the shadow fae leave the Abyss. Not when he planned to close the gateway from the outside.

Even as she lashed out with her shadows, enveloping him in vines of night—letting the thorns sink into his arms, body, and wings—it was too late.

The slash in the air disappeared a moment before her shadows threw him to the ground, encircling him so he could no longer raise his arms. She let them enfold his legs, strangling him like a snake with its prey.

“Release me,” he said, a deep weariness filling his tone, his eyes fixed on the back wall.

“Be careful, Prince,” she hissed as she rose.Daringhim to try. “You no longer have a bargain to leverage over me.”

His eyes locked with hers, and he nodded to where Jessamine lay unconscious as he said, “You forget we aren’t alone, Enchantress. There are still those you want to protect.”

Anger and fear swelled in her chest in tandem. “Controlling me by threatening those I love makes you no better than Magnus.”