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Casting her gaze beyond the skies of warring beasts and the land with her struggling friends, Alex tried to focus her blackening vision. She was on borrowed minutes right now, every second leading her closer to shutting her eyes and not reopening them for a lengthy number of hours. She needed to find Grimm, she needed—

There. He wasn’t far from her, Niida having not made it to the centre of the settlement, either. Alarmingly, Hunter, Rachel,Jack and Niida herself were all lying on the ground next to Grimm, unmoving. She could see Zain rushing their way; she had to trust that her Meyarin friend would look after them while she took care of saving Roka, before it was too late.

Unable to rise fully, Alex half ran, half crawled towards Grimm, most of her momentum on her hands and knees. She paused her uncoordinated movement only when a wave of nausea hit her so viciously that she bent at the waist and vomited what felt like everything she’d eaten in her entire life. When there was nothing left to throw up, she struggled forward again, until finally she reached the unconscious man and collapsed at his side.

Summoning A’enara, Alex roughly sliced open his palm and joined it with hers, screaming the words of the Claiming through her mind:Trae Menada sae!

Despite how weak she felt, her mind was violently flung through to Grimm’s mental space. The resistance was like barbed wire scouring through her brain—an attack that, coupled with her failing body, was almost too much to bear. But then, in an instant, the feeling subsided, just as it had done when she’d overtaken the Claim on Jordan. However, this time she didn’t appear before a representation of Chateau Shondelle, because that wasn’t where Grimm had been Claimed. Instead, she was inside a small cottage. There was a fire burning in the hearth and a meal laid out on the table—the very image of life interrupted. Grimm was there, too, curled up in the corner, his long arms wrapped around his bony knees, his head bowed against his legs. His posture screamed misery and defeat, and when he looked up at Alex, it was with haunted, hopeless eyes.

And then, Aven was there.

“That was some escape, Alexandra,” he said, the politeness of his tone unable to hide his fury. “But I’m curious why you’re bothering with Grimm now that my dear brother is dead.” Hishead cocked. “Don’t look so surprised—I saw you summon theValispath. There’s only one way that could be so.”

Her head was pounding, her pulse beating like drums in her temples—not a good sign, since it meant her physical decline was enough for the effects to transcend into her mental state.

“My blood runs in your veins, does it not?” Aven went on. “That’s how you were able to fool me in the past, how you were able to fool us all into believing you were immortal. Because you broke free of my Claim, and yet, still took part of me with you.”

Alex had always known Aven would figure it out, but she didn’t have the time or inclination to have a conversation with his avatar-self right now. Looking at him, she could see that he, too, was considerably paler than normal, the Hyroa blood affecting him just as much as her. Perhaps more, since while Alex had the addition of the contaminated dagger graze D.C. had inflicted, Aven had been splashed with a larger dose of the spray— something that only happened because of Marcus’s sacrifice.

Suddenly grateful that she felt so sick, Alex realised that since she and Niida were no longer able to keep a hold on theValispath, then Aven wouldn’t be able to manage an immediate arrival at Draekora to join his flying army. That meant she had time, at least, before his Claimed warriors overtook the floating islands. Time enough to evacuate before that happened.

“I’d love to stay and chat,” Alex said, her voice alarmingly strained. “But we’ll have to continue this next time.”

Aven’s reply was as quick as it was threatening. “The next time we see each other, we won’t be talking.”

Alex already knew as much. Just as she knew Aven wouldn’t try and battle her for Grimm’s mind. He’d learned with Jordan that her strength of will overpowered his, that she didn’t need to fight him for it, because she had ultimate control now that she’d uttered the words of the Claiming ritual. No matter how many people Aven had killed, no matter how many hearts hehad consumed, no matter how strong his body and abilities may be, he would always have to yield to her will.

Which was what he did now. If only because Alex quietly reminded him, as she had done with Jordan, that they could stay in Grimm’s mind with Aven forced to obey her every whim, or he could Release the gifted human and they could live to fight another day.

“I’ll be seeing you again soon, Alexandra,” he said in a menacing whisper, before hissing out his words of Release and disappearing from Grimm’s mind.

Instantly, the cottage disappeared and Alex was flung back into her own body—a body that was being shaken roughly by a frantic Zain.

“I’m alive,” she muttered, pushing him away and forcing herself to roll back towards Grimm, who was looking around dazedly, unable to believe what had just happened. His eyes were still haunted, but the hopelessness was now replaced with disbelieving wonder.

“You—You freed me,” he said to Alex in a barely audible voice.

“Not yet,” she managed to get out around her shallow, painful breaths.

Every part of her body was on fire, the Hyroa blood having progressed to feeling like acid eating through her bloodstream. She heard people yelling her name—Zain, Kaiden, Jordan, Bear, others—but it took everything left in her to finish what she’d started, rasping out instructions for what Grimm had to do and say to accept her Release.

Finally, after she joined their bloody hands once more and all but mentally slurred,Trae Gaverran sae, she felt the new bond between them unravel. It then disappeared entirely when Grimm responded with his uttering of,Trae morras rae Gaverran, and Alex was again left in her own mind, in her own body.

And instantly, she surrendered to the darkness.

Thirty-Four

A brush of fur against her fingersfollowed by a wet nose and the lick of an even wetter tongue had Alex blinking her eyes open to find Soraya seated at her bedside, looking at her with uncanny intelligence.

“Hey, pretty girl,” Alex whispered through her dry throat. Had she not already been lying down, she would have collapsed with relief at the sight of the wolf, who showed no signs of the grievous injury she had sustained.

Alex, too, was feeling considerably better than when she had lost consciousness, her wounds having been treated and healed, the antidote having washed the Hyroa blood from her veins. But while her debilitating weakness and associated symptoms had disappeared, she still felt like she was awakening from a long winter of hibernation, her limbs stiff, her muscles tight, her head fuzzy with sleep. And that was why it took her a moment to comprehend that she was in her dorm room at Akarnae. It was also why she didn’t immediately realise that she and Soraya weren’t alone.

“Seems I can’t even take a nap without the world falling apart.”

Shooting upwards so fast that her vision spun and Soraya jerked backwards, Alex gaped at Roka who stood at the foot of her bed, grinning down at her.

His bright eyes looked pointedly at her golden skin. “Looks like a few other things have changed, too,Aeylia.”