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Sion took a step closer. “See? I knew it would work out to have you working together. When I think about it, you have a lot in common, don’t you? You both hate your own power, can barely control your murderous cravings…”

Maelor’s shadows stained the air around us, cooling the air. “Oh, thank the Archon you’ve decided to bless us with your pearls of wisdom. Truly, we’d be lost without you.”

Sion nodded at the place where the deer had been. “Right, it looks like you’d been doing so well. Tell me, what have you successfully hit so far?”

“Wejuststarted.” I glared at him, beyond irritated. Straggling in late because he’d been shagging a servant all night, and doing so with his sarcastic attitude.

Sion turned, walking along the forest path. “Come with me. I have a better idea.”

Maelor ran his hand through his hair, nodding at me, indicating that I should move, and we followed behind Sion.

Sion led us toward a clearing where the oaks towered high above, their gnarled branches clawing at the sky. Leaves tumbled over the earth, sweeping over moss and rocks.

I stood at the edge of the clearing, folding my arms. “What are we doing?” I asked, irritation seeping into my voice. A cold breeze rushed over my skin.

Finally, Sion turned back to me, and his eyes shone like warm honey. “I think I know the perfect way to make you focus.”

Unease skittered up my spine, cold as ice. I gripped the yew wand more tightly, feeling its weight, its power. “How, exactly?”

In a blur of shadows, Sion swept across the clearing, reappearing on the opposite side, fast as a sparrow’s heartbeat. And then, as if swallowed by the darkness, he vanished again among the oaks.

An unsettling chill seeped into my bones.

From the shadows, Sion called out, “Get your wand ready.”

I exchanged a nervous glance with Maelor, my nerves set on edge.

“Any idea what he’s doing?” I asked.

“No, but if the centuries I’ve spent with Sion and his mind games are any indication, it’s better to just do what he says.”

As Sion stepped out from a tree, holding Leo’s hand, my heart lurched, the breath going still in my lungs.

What the fuck was he doing here?

Sion’s golden eyes locked onto me. “Are you ready?”

“I didn’t say you could bring Leo into this.” My glacial voice boomed across the clearing.

“Lift your wand,” Sion commanded. “Trust me.”

“I don’t trust youat allright now,”I shouted.

Leo’s eyes were wide.

Next to me, Maelor whispered, “You’d better do what he says.”

The hair on the nape of my neck rose, and dread took root in my thoughts. Reluctantly, I lifted my wand, feeling it throb in my grip, the yew wood alive and vibrating with magical energy.

From the forest floor, magic seeped into my feet and legs—a deep magic, ancient and rhythmic, like the forest itself was waking. The trees seemed to breathe, roots sinking into the earth, and all the life around us beat in sync with Leo’s frantic pulse.

In the recesses of my mind, he appeared again—the god of death, the insatiable Serpent King who fed his garden of lilies with blood and crushed bone. He spilled blood, and from the drops, the yew trees grew.

The wand thrummed more powerfully. The Serpent’s dark magic surged into me, churning like a wild river.

Sion turned, shouting across the clearing to someone hidden behind the oaks. “Release him!”

My gaze snapped toward the trees, and I saw it—a massive dark wolf, its muscles rippling, charging out from between the shadows. Just like the wolves that tore people to pieces in the Ruefield labyrinth. Fury snapped through my nerves.