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Before he could say—or do—more, Skraegon appeared in the room on theValispathand called for Aven’s attention. In the Meyarin tongue, the hideous brute who had nearlykilled Soraya said, “As far as we can tell, she’s no longer at the academy.”

A dark smile touched Aven’s mouth as he replied, also in Meyarin, “So she’s on her way here. Perfect.”

Turning to Calista and the threeZeltoraguards, Aven gestured towards Jordan and Bear and ordered in the common tongue, “Watch them.” To Grimm, he commanded, “Find Marcus and have him drag Alexandra’s parents over fromTaevarg.By the time she arrives, we’ll have a reunion ready and waiting.” In an undertone he added, “And she can watch as I kill them all, one after the other.”

Alex closed her eyes against the roaring in her ears. She focused on the tight grip of Kaiden holding onto her, on Hunter’s hand still slammed over her mouth, and somehow the combination of both managed to help her beat back her growing numbness and control her emotions.

“I’ll return as soon as she’s sighted,” Aven finished, not that any of his Claimed followers cared about his actions. With the number of people he’d performed the blood-bonding ritual on, there was no way he was controlling all of them at once. Their mental link might keep them under constant surveillance, but unless they were given specific commands, they were free to go about their lives, just as Niyx had done when Claimed by Alex.

So, while those in the room didn’t need nor care for Aven’s declaration of return, Alex did. Because, as Skraegon drew close and swept both Aven and Signa away on theValispath, she knew she’d been given a window of opportunity. And she was going to use it.

Praying that Jordan wouldn’t bleed out before they could get him medical attention and that D.C. would remain standing there blankly without being issued further orders to use the dagger still held loosely between her fingers, Alex gestured for Kaiden to reactivate his transcendence around them, and shesummoned theValispath. Together with Hunter they travelled down the hallway of the palace as swiftly as possible until she found the nearest empty room. Once there, she dropped Kaiden’s hand and motioned for him to cancel his gift again. She was alarmed by the strain in his features, but the look he sent her promised he was just as determined as ever.

Before either of her companions could speak, she quietly said, “We need to split up.” They both opened their mouths to object, but she continued over them, “We don’t have time to argue. My parents are being brought here which means we don’t have to hunt them down”—she refused to think of them having been locked in the dark prison for two weeks, refused to think of what they might have gone through in that time—“but we still need to get Niida, as well as Grimm, if he doesn’t return after completing his task. Both of them need to be in the library so we can all leave together.” Especially now with the veeyons overhead, because they would need to slip invisibly through the masses of flying creatures again. Making multiple trips was no longer an option.

“If you both hurry, you can catch up to Grimm and knock him out after he’s followed Aven’s order about my parents,” Alex continued, extracting the black powder and opening her palm to keep half of the dust for herself before handing the glass vial to Hunter. “Do it quickly enough that he doesn’t have a chance to get a warning message off to Aven. Then take him back to the library and wait for me behind the bookcase again. Once I have Niida, we’ll come straight back. Then we’ll… figure out the rest.”

“How do you know where the queen is?” Kaiden asked, his tone grave at the idea of them splitting up, but also at the knowledge that it was necessary.

“If Niida’s anything like she was when I once knew her, she’ll be in her sunroom having breakfast,” Alex said, confident in her deductive reasoning. “I’ll get you both close to Grimm, butfrom there, you’ll have to find your own way back to the library. Can you do that?”

“I’ve been here before,” Hunter said, and Alex raised her eyebrows, since as far as she’d known, she, Jordan, Bear and D.C. were the only humans to have visited Meya since her time in the past—thousands of years ago. But now wasn’t the time for questions, and Hunter went on to confirm, “I can guide us back easily enough.”

Alex nodded her approval and then linked hands with Kaiden again, Hunter doing the same. As the transcendence washed over them—and Kaiden’s face paled even further, to Alex’s increasing alarm—she said, “Once I drop you both off, I’ll have to move on straight away so I’m not spotted.” She mentally crossed all her fingers and toes that no Meyarins would see her as she zoomed untranscended through the palace on theValispathafterwards.

“We’ll see you back at the library,” Kaiden said, his tone making it clear that she’d better arrive safely.

“I’ll be there,” she promised, hoping her words proved true, while accepting the promise in his eyes that he would be there, too.

And then they were off again, with Alex soaring them through the gilded walls and along decadent corridors, following the path she presumed Grimm had taken to find Jordan’s dad.

In the back of her mind, she found it odd that Aven hadn’t just mentally communicated to Marcus himself, rather than sending Grimm to pass along the message. She wondered if it was possible that Marcus wasn’t Claimed; if perhaps, despite all his deplorable actions, he had simply chosen his side all along, without Aven having to steal his will.

Alex had no way of knowing if that were true, just as she had no way of knowing where Marcus was—which meant they were flying blind to hunt down Grimm. However, in their favourwas that the hallway was long and narrow, and after only a few wrong turns and incorrect staircases, they caught up with the gifted man who was limited to travelling at human speed.

Confident that Kaiden and Hunter would wait until Marcus received the message to collect her parents before incapacitating Grimm and returning with him to the library, she squeezed Kaiden’s fingers in a quick, reassuring gesture, then nodded at both him and Hunter as she halted theValispath.In the blink of an eye she released Kaiden’s hand and took off again, careful to make sure Grimm was oblivious to his tailing company.

With another mental prayer that her friends would be all right—allof them—Alex headed straight for the sunroom, relieved to not cross paths with any other Meyarins along the way. She was even more relieved to find Niida already there, just as she had hoped.

Alex knew speed was of the essence. Presuming Astophe had been right and the queen wasn’t Claimed, she could still yell for help loud enough that the entire palace would be able to hear her call. Just as she could activate theValispathand escape to raise an alarm. All Alex knew was that she had to knock her out straight away.

Without delay, she blurred directly over to Niida’s side, her hand stretching out just as the queen’s head lifted, giving her the perfect opportunity to blow the powder straight towards Niida’s face.

But as if she’d been anticipating Alex’s arrival, in a whirl of movement, Niida ducked to the side, the powder sailing through the air to land like useless black dust on the ground.

The queen’s expression as she locked eyes with Alex was so raw, so ravaged, as she said, “I’ve been waiting for you,Aeylia.”

And then, before Alex could figure out what had just happened or scramble to devise a new plan, Niida surged forward, her nails glinting like claws as she lunged towards Alex.

Thirty-Two

Alex was too surprised to react intime to avoid the queen’s attack, and when Niida collided with her, the two of them crashed to the ground.

Niida got in one good swipe of her nails, scouring open the recently healed flesh along Alex’s cheek, before Alex managed to grasp her wrists and roll them both over so that she had the stronger position above.

Despite her royal lineage and immortality, Niida wasn’t a fighter, which meant Alex was able to swiftly overpower her without having to draw a blade. But as the queen bucked violently underneath her, Alex looked deep into her eyes, seeing nothing but a raging, savage beast.

“You were like a daughter to me!” Niida screeched.