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In answer, Alex held up one of her fisted hands and slowly opened it, revealing her Claiming scars—of which there were now a few—along with the mixed red and silver blood that had dried on her skin. And, as Aven’s nostrils flared, like clockwork, Niida arrived on theValispathbeside Alex.

“Show him,” Alex ordered the queen, and the vacant-eyed Niida opened her own bloodied palm as evidence of Alex’s Claim on her.

Aven hissed out a sound of disbelief. “No.”

“If you can Claim the people I love,” Alex said, gesturing to D.C., “I can Claim the people you love. Only a fool would play fair against an enemy who doesn’t.”

With a surge of black flames, Vae’varka appeared in Aven’s hands, and Alex summoned A’enara in response, raising the Blade of Glory in front of her. But Aven didn’t strike. Instead, he was wavering, his indecisiveness concerning Alex more than if he’d chosen to attack. At least then she would have known what he was thinking.

“Careful, Aven,” Alex said when his eyes flickered to D.C. and the dagger in her hand wobbled, deepening the wound. “You kill my friends, my family, and I kill your mother.”

In response, Niida raised a dagger to her own neck—a dainty weapon with intricate swirls along the glistening Myrox, obviously the queen’s personal blade.

Without delay, D.C.’s hand steadied and then slowly lowered until it was resting by her side, dripping red onto the floor, while Aven’s focus narrowed onto Alex as he brought Vae’varka up between them. He said nothing though, just looked at her with unmasked rage. It was enough that Alex felt the need to offer him a new warning.

“I’m sure I don’t need to point this out, but if you killme, thenyou’rethe one who will be killing your own mother,” she said, reminding him of the repercussions of the bond between them—something that would mean Kaiden would die, too. And Xira. But she was gambling on Aven’s love for Niida outweighing his desire for bloodshed.

It was a gamble that fell in her favour when, through tight lips, Aven replied, “It would seem we’re at a stalemate.”

That was exactly where Alex wanted them to be.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” she said, infusing as much confidence into her tone as she could manage, despite the sickening fear roiling through her body. “You’re going to let us go—all of us.” She waved her hand towards her parents and her friends. “Once we’re safely away from Meya, you have my word that I’ll Release Niida and she’ll be free to return to you.”

Alex, of course, knew that Niida would do no such thing. Just as she knew there was no need to Release the queen… since she had never actually completed the blood-bonding ritual on Niida.

It was a dangerous bluff, but while Astophe had urged Alex to Claim his wife—something shestillstruggled to believe—she simply hadn’t been able to bring herself to do it. Instead, Niida had agreed to go along with her plan, even so far as to scratch the side of her own face so that the silver-bloodied wound showed further sign of her connection to Alex, healing swiftly as it was.

“You give yourword?” Aven all but spat. “What worth is that to me, when all you’ve ever offered me are lies?”

Alex pressed her lips together, not wasting her breath trying to tell him that the incorrect assumptions he’d made in the past didn’t equate to her lying to him.

“Do we have a deal or not?” she asked, tightening her grip on A’enara when Calista and Gerald began to move closer, along with Skraegon and theZeltorawarriors. Everyone was on alert, waiting for Aven’s orders, whatever they might be.

And yet, he said nothing and just watched Alex. The gold in his eyes held enough calculation that she raised A’enara higher and widened her stance, balancing her weight between the balls of her feet.

“Agree to let us leave here safely, Aven,” she told him, her voice echoing around the otherwise silent library, “or by your hand or mine, your mother will die today.”

A flare of emotion was the only response Alex received, along with three quietly spoken words.

“So be it.”

And then D.C.’s hand thrust the dagger back towards her own neck just as Aven lunged at Alex.

Thirty-Three

In the split second of shock whenAlex realised that Aven was willing to sacrifice his ownmother, she had to make a decision— raise A’enara to block Aven’s incoming blade, or use her immortal speed to try and save D.C., but in doing so, become vulnerable to Aven’s attack.

There really was no question, and she didn’t hesitate to push off in a leap towards D.C., prepared to risk whatever strike Aven might land. Zaylin’s armour would keep Vae’varka from poisoning her, so she just had to pray the blade wouldn’t offer a lethal blow before she could wrestle D.C.’s dagger away.

But nothing happened as she presumed it would, because before Alex could reach D.C., and before Aven could reach Alex, Marcus Sparker tackled Aven from the side, sending him into D.C. and causing her dagger to fly from her hand as she, Aven and Marcus all crashed to the ground.

At once, all hell broke loose.

… And that was because Hunter used Aven’s stunned moment of distraction to leap out from behind the bookcase and throw the Hyroa spray-weapon into the centre of the room, just as Alex had silently instructed before she’d left his side.

It activated without delay, a burst of mist splattering over everyone, particularly Skraegon and theZeltora,who had rushed forward upon Hunter’s arrival, with them receiving the thickest concentration. Its effects were immediate, with the Meyarinwarriors dropping their weapons and holding their heads and stomachs as they stumbled on their feet, some even falling to their knees.

Alex knew how they felt, because while she wasn’t a pure-blooded Meyarin and hadn’t been blasted with a full dose, she’d still been hit by the blowback of the spray, and the moment it made contact with her exposed skin, she was hit by a wave of dizziness, nausea and weakness so overwhelming that she struggled to keep A’enara in her hands.