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Soraya nuzzled in at her side, howling her own lament as the two of them stayed in a grieving vigil beside him while the sun swept across the sky.

Eventually the physical and emotional backlash of everything Alex had been through that weekend caught up with her, from her fight against Trell, to her abduction and torture, to the battle at Graevale, to the devastation of losing not only William and Lady Mystique, but also Niyx, someone so precious to her that she didn’t know how she would survive without him. Overwhelmed, and also with the energy boost from thehaesondelhaving left her system, exhaustion crashed over Alex as she cried herself into a restless sleep.

When she awoke later with her body snuggled into Soraya’s heat, it was with a much clearer head. She was able to move past the paralysing force of her grief and into a state of numbness that allowed her to recognise that it would soon be dark, and even with her Myrox-lined armour and Soraya’s thick coat protecting her, she couldn’t remain out in the cold. It was time to start moving, time to find out what had happened at Graevale after they’d left, time to make sure Caspar Lennox and Soraya had delivered her friends to safety, time to discover what horrible nightmare she would have to face next.

But before she was ready to do any of that, Alex first needed to see to Niyx.

Kneeling on the icy summit of Mount Paedris, Alex dug with her bare hands until her fingers blistered, and then kept digging as the packed snow eventually gave way to rocky ground. She was numb to the pain, physically and emotionally, focused only on the single task of laying her friend to rest in a place that was special to the both of them.

If she’d thought it would be safe, she would have returned him to their spot on the Golden Cliffs overlooking Meya, the place where she’d Claimed him. But he never would have forgiven her for risking her life like that, so Mount Paedris would have to do. He liked it here, she knew, with the view looking out over the academy, looking out over Medora. Unlike in life, in death he would be free, the entire world at his feet.

With another sob tearing from her throat, Alex continued digging, quashing the emotion and allowing the numbness to take hold again as Soraya joined her, adding her wolfy claws to help scrape away at the rocky dirt.

Alex’s nails became ragged edges. Frostbite started licking at her fingers and her skin cracked open with oozing, bloodied wounds. But she didn’t stop. She kept digging with a single-minded purpose.

When the grave was deep enough, she hardened her heart to gently—so very gently—lower Niyx down into it.

Heedless of her damaged hands, she placed the remainder of thelaendraflowers on his chest, covering the evidence of his unhealed wound. Looking like this, she could almost imagine he was sleeping.

In a voice so broken that Soraya gave a soft whimper at hearing it, Alex looked down at him and whispered, “I’ll never forget you, Niyx Raedon. I c-can’t—” She sucked in a quick breath and pushed through her sorrow. “I can’t imagine life without you, but I swear by your stars that I’ll do everything I can to make sure the sacrifices you made for me weren’t in vain. What you did—What you gave—I promise to make it count.”

And with her oath, Alex gazed upon Niyx’s beautiful face one last time before she began to cover him, knowing that in doing so, the world had just lost a spark of light that could never be replaced.

Alex sat by Niyx’s grave until the sun began setting properly in the sky, unable to bring herself to move just yet. But when Soraya, who had been nothing but patient and comforting for hours, started to become restless, Alex knew it was time to leave.

She had no idea where to go or what to do, her numbness having spread to every part of her being.

Incapable of making a decision, she trusted her wolf to know more than she did, and she reached out to wrap her fingers in Soraya’s ruff while whispering, “Please take me wherever I need to go.”

With an explosion of light and dark, the Shadow Wolf swept her away from Mount Paedris—away from Niyx—only to deliver her straight into the middle of the Tryllin palace’s war room.

Their new surroundings would have come as a shock if Alex had been able to feel anything through her heartache. But as it was, she could barely manage the smallest flicker of surprise as she took in those present in the room, all yelling at each other.

The human council was there, the king and queen, as well as Advisor Jaxon, all at the head of the oval table. Also in place were Commander Nisha, Jeera, Drock and Tyson—the four of them having seen better days, their skin and armour smeared with almost as much blood and grime as Alex.

There were others in the room—the three Shadow Walker elders; Kaysia of the Dayriders; Tork and Glyn of the Flips; and Mareek and Tibbs of the Jarnocks. They looked as awful as everyone else, something Alex took in with detached eyes.

The yelling ceased when her presence became noticed, and everyone turned to stare at her, watching as she swayed on the spot with Soraya protectively pressed against her side in silent, strong support.

It was Jeera who moved first, leaping out of her seat and hurrying over, ignoring Jaxon’s disgruntled murmur of, “What isshedoing here?”

“Alex,” Jeera said, the relief evident in her voice. “We thought you were dead.”

Part of her was. Part of her was buried in a shallow grave on the summit of Mount Paedris.

“You’re covered in blood—are you hurt?”

She wasn’t hurt.

She was destroyed.

“I’m fine,” Alex lied softly, her throat raw from crying. “What’s going on in here?”

It was clear Jeera didn’t believe her, perhaps because she could hear the pain in Alex’s voice, or perhaps because her intuition was able to work around Alex’s free will. Either way, the young Warden was clued in enough to read that Alex didn’t want to talk about it—couldn’ttalk about it—and she put a gentle, guiding hand on her shoulder.

“It wasn’t just Graevale that Aven attacked today,” Jeera said quietly as she led Alex towards the table. “He also launched consecutive strikes on Maroo and Nialas.”

Again, Alex couldn’t feel the shock of such news past the numbness consuming her very being.