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I can’t hurt him,she thought past the fury filling her chest, the impulse to destroy.I need his help.

Suddenly, a strand of shadow lashed out from Arden’s hand. Without warning, it struck her in the center of her forehead.

Instantly, pain fractured her senses.

For a moment, it felt like her head had been split open, and she nearly lost control of the shadows, nearly unleashing herself. Arden’s shadow moved across her mind. His power pricked against something inside her, leaving a trail of dark agony that sent splinters of pain behind her eyes.

Gritting her teeth, she stumbled forward but managed to remain upright.

“There it is,” the prince said.

Then his magic latched around something she hadn’t realized was there. Something that had taken root in her mind. The strange magic had claws that sunk deep, but the shadow wrapped around it andpulled.

Light burst behind her eyelids as something was ripped from her mind. It was like an arrowhead or a creature’s talon had been wedged beneath her skin, and the flesh had attempted to heal over it. But an infection had set in and was slowly poisoning her very being.

That infection was Magnus.

Her shadows roared as if they, too, felt her pain.

Arden balled his hand into a fist and pulled backward. The band of shadow tore from her forehead, and she staggered to a knee.

All at once, the pain stopped, but a roaring filled her ears.

Blood trickled from her nose, and her chest heaved as she took in deep, gasping breaths. Glancing up, she watched as Arden’s shadows wrapped around a cloud of twisting scarlet. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he moved his arms in a sweeping motion, the entrapped scarlet hovering between his palms. Slowly, he brought his hands together. As they did, the orb shrunk. The shadows became smaller and smaller, and the scarlet raged from within. As if it knew it was about to becrushed. Pressing his palms together, the shadows and scarlet were extinguished in a puff of air.

The shadows pooling around her feet hummed.

As though happy.

“Dark magic,” Arden said as he straightened, and his eyes connected with hers. “Some sorcerers can leave impressions on your mind. It’s not quite mind control, but it helps make you more malleable to their will. I think this one was being used to track you.”

She realized the urge to ravage everything in her path was just… gone. Her thoughts cleared, and her shadows had also calmed.

“Thank you,” she said, blinking in wonder as she stared at her hands where the shadows whirled.

Then the latter part of what Arden said clicked in her mind.

Magnus had been tracking her. That must have been how he’d found Elias’ castle so quickly and then located her at Hadeon’s estate.

She’d endangered her friends, and she’d had no idea.

“Those black veins in your neck will fade in time as long as you’re careful how much shadow magic you take into you,” he said. “Give it a few days, and it’ll go back to normal.”

She nodded absently.

A thought occurred to her, and she looked up from her shadows. “How did you know the thing in my mind was dark magic?”

All magic wielders could sense the power of another magic wielder, but it would take a level of experience to be able to identify dark magic had wedged into her mind.

A familiarity with dark magic.

Arden looked away from her then, studying the cavern walls. “Luck, I suppose. Perhaps my senses have grown sharp where dark magic is concerned after years of being in the Abyss.”

She dipped her chin ever the slightest, her eyes narrowing.

He was hiding something from her.

The prince gestured to the center of the cavern. “Let’s begin our training.”