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The black diamond sparkled in his clenched hand. He’d collapsed right after the shards had combined. If Gloom had summoned his spirit, how long would he be gone?

My senses heightened with alarm.

Whatever was happening, we had to wait it out. Without his shadow-steps, my only alternative was to carry him out.

Straining to hear past my pounding heart, I determined that nobody moved in the rooms beyond. The door was still closed, hiding us from the hallway, but if Zayne’s shadows had been intermittent before, they were entirely gone now. I had to find a new hiding place, and the desk filled most of the room.

A dull, determined light ebbed from my hands as I got to work, shifting Zayne’s body until he was hidden from the view of the hallway behind the large desk. Satisfied, I settled beside him.

He would return to the Living Realm soon. He had to. I needed him. But as the seconds passed, he didn’t rise.

Again, I tugged at our bond.

Nothing.

Searching deeper, I gained the vague sense he was somewhere on the other side, so far away that our connection sagged like a loose thread. Where I’d once been afraid to acknowledge what had grown between us, I clung to what remained of our tether as my stomach hollowed out with fear.

“Zayne,” I whispered, rearranging so his head lay in my lap. Unbidden, my memory snapped to the last time it’d been like this—when he’d fallen so far into death I’d awoken my magic to help him rise. When we’d first created the tether.

I clung to him, running my fingers through his long black hair, determination tightening my throat.

If I’d done it once, I could do it again.

Except last time, Ninti had been at my side, sharing her power. I glanced at my ruby ring. “Ninti, if you’re there, please help,” I pleaded and closed my eyes.

I settled my body and focused my mind.

I was torn asunder, in ways I hadn’t had time to process. The Starlit King was still that to me—aking, one who negotiated with mystepfather. The knowledge of our relationship strained my being with dissonance. My jaw tightened as I acknowledged the confusing, conflicting ache.

I dug deeper.

My bond with the Starlit Throne was fresh and newly made, undeniable all the same. The isle’s deity persisted on the fringe of my awareness, as hesitant of me as I was of them.

Even deeper. Even darker.

There.

My bond with Zayne lay beneath it all. I trailed after it, tugging on the tether’s thread as I followed it further into the spacebetween us. Finally, a labyrinth formed in my mind, the path edged by thorny roses.

Guided by the string that bound us, I journeyed into the maze’s abyss. Left, right, left. I began to run, and when I rounded a corner too tight, my shoulder caught on thorns. Ignoring the pain, the blood, I ran faster, but with each step my feet grew heavier with doubt. The string between us seemed infinite, hanging limply in my hands.

Where is he?

I took off at a race again, but too soon, I was desperate and overwhelmed. The tether had grown so thin I could barely hold it.

At the next juncture, I fell to my knees, uncertain where to turn. Over the beat of my racing heart, I almost missed it.

A howl.

I spun on my toes and found myself eye to eye with Ninti’s astral form, translucent and barely present in this place that wasn’t one.

I swelled with relief as her expressive green eyes bloomed with life, fighting the urge to wrap my arms around a shape that wouldn’t hold. She bowed her head as if she would nuzzle my shoulder.

Words choked in my throat. Hope billowed in my chest.

She looked to the sky and howled anew. The sound rattled in my chest, leading me to follow her gaze.

The stars.