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I don’t know how Thanouq and Zayne have survived for so long against so many. But maybe the enemy is trying to take them alive. I can’t let that happen. I need to do something. Then the first of the men is on me. I swing and parry, but another joins him, and another. I’m being forced back by the sheer strength of them.

Zayne needs me.

I need my magic, but I don’t know how.

I feel it stir inside me. But there’s no time to try and clear my mind and make up a spell even if I was confident I could. Instead, I use one my mother left me.

“Spirits of the air, hear my call, twirl and twist, rise and fall.”

The soldier closest to me swipes his sword toward mine, trying to disarm me just as the wind rises all around us, whirling, knocking the soldier off balance. He slips and staggers against me and I feel the agonizing pain as his blade slices into my side. The magic rages, roars. It wants to be free. It’s not ready to die. But I can’t—or won’t—let it out.

Maybe it’s supposed to end this way.

As I crash to my knees, I hear Khaos screaming my name. But it’s too late and the darkness takes me.

Chapter 32

Meet badass Amber!

Fuck, I’m not dead.

The darkness wraps around me, thick and endless. Maybe I’m dying, but I’m notactuallydead yet. At least there’s no pain. If I remember rightly, I just got stabbed with a great big sword. I’m guessing there should be pain. The absence is a little...worrying.

And there’s no sound. Nothing. I’d bang my ears if I had any ears to bang.

I can’t help but consider that maybe all this means I am dead after all, and my “soul” has left my body and I’m floating somewhere in...I have zero clue. I’ve never believed in theafterlife, but then, I’m also aware that I don’t know everything so...

And then—light.

Not a soft glow, not a flickering candle, but a blazing silver radiance that sears through the void—clearly, I’ve still got eyes. Yay. The light drags me forward, whether I want to go or not. But really, there’s nothing else to do up here, so I’m not complaining. My body—yes, I now have a body as well as eyes—feels weightless, floating through the nothingness, untethered from pain, from breath, maybe from life itself.

The world around me is vast and endless, an ocean of shimmering silver mist. Above me, the sky is alive, filled with swirling constellations that pulse and shift, as if the stars themselves are watching me. Beneath me, the mist swirls like water and shadows intertwine, solid yet shifting, with each breath.

I am nowhere and everywhere all at once. And I’m obviously feeling super philosophical.

And there’s something else. I am not alone.

The alicorn emerges from the mist, moving like moonlight, graceful, untouchable. Her silvery mane is long and ripples like liquid light, her coat glows like starlight. She tosses her head once and then is gone, leaving a woman standing in her place. Tall, beautiful, glowing. I raise my head, and her searing gaze locks on mine, fixing me in place. In her dark eyes, I see whole galaxies of stars, swirling, infinite, impossibly deep.

And I have a pretty good idea of who she is—I’ve seen her statue, and it’s an excellent likeness.

Selene.

Goddess. Immortal. And apparently a relative of mine, if you go back far enough. She regards me for a long moment, and when she speaks, her voice is music and storm, whispers and echoes, all at once. Poetic as well as philosophical.

“You are dying,” she says.

Well, it’s nothing I hadn’t guessed. All the same, her words send a chill through me. Not because I fear death—maybe I should, but I don’t. It’s the way she says it, like it’s a test. Like the outcome is still undecided.

I shrug and make an attempt to act cool. “Tell me something I don’t know. Maybe it’s for the best.”

Suddenly, she is in front of me, close enough that I can see the faint shimmer of magic that surrounds her, hear the way the mist around her hums like a living thing.

“Is that truly what you believe?” she asks, her voice soft but unrelenting. Her gaze sharpens. “Is that what you want? Do you seek death?”

Good question. Maybe. I swallow hard. “I’ve tried. I did everything I could. I tried to be what they want me to be. But it’s not enough.I’mnot enough.”

“But what do you want to be?” she asks. Her expression doesn’t change, but the stars above us pulse. “The choice is yours.”