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With his hand in her hair, Alex pulled her mouth down to his, kissing her one last time.

Rune kissed back, that small spark flickering inside her. A spark that would never get the chance to grow into a steady flame.

She kissed him until his chest fell and didn’t rise again beneath her palm. Until his last breath died on her lips.

When she pulled away, his golden eyes were calm as a glassy sea. Reflecting the stormy sky overhead.

Alex was gone.

A sob surged from her depths. She wanted to stay weeping over him. To lie down beside him until death came for her, too.

It was the promise she’d made him that stopped her. She couldn’t break it.

The world spun like she’d stepped into the eye of a hurricane. The air smelled of blood and smoke, magic and gunshots. As Rune recalled the pages of her grandmother’s spell books, the shouting soldiers and cracking pistols seemed to go quiet and still.

She’d skimmed through so many spells over the years, most of which she couldn’t cast because she didn’t have the blood required.

Now she did.

She needed to make the most of it.

Save yourself,Alex’s voice echoed in her mind.

As his body grew cold beneath her hand, Rune let his words guide her. She recalled the last spell book she’d opened, remembering a spell too powerful for a witch like her to cast.

Earth Sunderer.

The seven golden marks flared to life inside her mind.

With Alex still in her arms, she lifted her hand from his blood and started to draw on the stone slabs around them. It shouldn’t have been possible to remember them so clearly, but she did. She traced each mark into the ground, her hand guided by something nameless. Ancient. That familiar roar crashed in her ears. Brine bloomed on her tongue. That powerful wave was swelling, only this time, Rune was swelling with it. Her fingers moved as if possessed, the magic itself guiding her.

The moment she finished one mark, she started on the next.

Is this what being a witch is supposed to feel like?

Good. Easy.Right.

With an immense amount of fresh blood, nothing held her back. That ocean inside Rune wasn’t happeningtoher; itwasher. She and the magic were one.

When she finished the last line of the final mark, encasing both her and Alex in a circle of glowing white symbols, her bloody fingers lifted from the earth. As they did, that thunderous wave crashed, shuddering through her, bursting out of her as the ground shook and an earsplitting roar tore the world in two.

SIXTY-TWOGIDEON

GIDEON WATCHED HIS BROTHERcollapse. Watched Rune catch him and sink to the ground beneath his weight. Watched Alex cradle Rune’s face in his hands, and Rune lean down to kiss him.

And that’s when Gideon’s steps faltered.

Because Alex didn’t want Gideon at his side. He wantedherthere.

When he heard Rune’s heart-shattering sob, he knew his brother was gone.

His throat constricted.No …

Alex was dead. Killed by a bullet meant for Gideon.

All the color seemed to drain from the world.

I didn’t get to say goodbye.