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Lissandra didn't argue, didn't try to stop me as I turned and strode from her sanctuary. My boots crushed ancient leaves beneath them, each step heavy with frustration and barely contained violence. The fog curled around my ankles like living things, whispering promises and warnings I refused to hear.

I paced like a caged animal,each step measured in heartbeats that felt like wasted time. Cade was alive. But for how long?

“You realize Lissandra was right about one thing.” Sterling's voice cut through my spiral, maddeningly calm as he leaned against my weapons counter. “Whoever has him? They're stronger than anything we've dealt with before.”

I met his gaze, letting him see the steel forming in my soul. “Then we get stronger. Find better weapons, darker magic, whatever it takes.”

“And there it is.” Lex exhaled sharply, rubbing his temples. “Look, I want him back as much as you do, well, maybe not quite as much,” he amended at my glare. “But we don't even know where to start.”

“Then we don't stop searching.” My voice cracked like a whip, accent thick with barely contained fury. “We push until we find something. Someone. I don't care what price I have to pay...”

“And that,” Sterling cut in, voice sharp as steel, “is exactly how we lose you too.”

Something inside me snapped. “Lose me? Lose me?” The words ripped out of me raw, sharp enough to wound. “He walked into that void alone. Do you get that? He knew what was waiting and still...” My breath shuddered. “Still, he went.”

Lex took a step back. Juno, for once, stayed silent.

“I should've done more,” I rasped. The words tasted like blood. My hand slammed against the counter, sending a knife clattering to the floor. “Should've done something.”

“Sean...”

“Don't.” My voice was wrecked. “Don't tell me to be rational. To be smart. To wait. To think.” A bitter laugh tore out ofme. “Waiting means watching him disappear. Thinking means remembering that I was right there, and I still couldn't save him.”

A heavy silence fell between us, the kind that pressed against the ribs like a physical weight.

Sterling exhaled, slow and measured. “You think he'd want you to do this to yourself?”

“Don't you dare use him against me,” I snarled.

“I'm not.” His voice softened just slightly. “But you're not thinking straight, and you know it. I know what losing someone like this does to a person. And I know it feels like if you don't do something right now, you'll come apart at the seams.”

My throat burned. “And what if I already have?”

Sterling's expression didn't waver. “Then we put you back together. But not like this.”

I looked down at Cade's dagger, still resting on the table where I'd left it. Its blade hummed faintly with traces of whatever power had consumed him. My fingers curled around the hilt, grounding myself in something sharper than grief.

“I don't care what it takes,” I murmured, running my thumb along the edge. “I will bring him back.”

Lex let out a long breath. “Well. That's not ominous at all.”

Juno's grin showed too many teeth, her dark eyes sparking with something unreadable. “I like this side of you,” she murmured. “The hunter losing control. It's a fascinating thing to watch.”

“This isn't a game.” But my voice had lost its edge, replaced by something colder. More certain. “This isn't about irony or revenge or even love, though God knows that's part of it.” I turned to face them, letting them see everything raw and unfiltered in my expression. “This is about choice. His choice. And if I have to follow him into the deepest depths of Hell to bring him home, then that's exactly what I'll do.”

Sterling studied me with eyes that had seen too much, that carried the weight of secrets older than time. “And if what you find isn't him anymore?”

I gripped the dagger tighter. “Then I become something else too.”

The air in the loft felt different after that, charged with something heavier than just magic. Fate, maybe. Or something darker.

Sterling exhaled. “Then let's make sure you don't lose yourself before you even find him.”

It wasn't enough. Wasn't nearly enough. But for now, it would have to be. Because Cade deserved more than a desperate, reckless rescue that would undo everything he'd sacrificed himself to protect.

And I wasn't losing him. Not now. Not ever.