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Unable to contain a hiccup-like sob, Alex jumped up and lunged towards him with immortal speed, crashing into him with enough force that he had to go back a step to brace against her impact.

“I’m so sorry!” she said into his chest. “I had to do it! It was the only thing I could think of to—”

“I presume you’re talking about how you tried to kill me?” Roka interrupted dryly, patting her back in comfort before pushing her away so he could hold her gaze. “Let’s not forget that you’re also the reason why I’m awake, Alex. I think the two cancel each other out.”

“But I nearly didn’t—”

“Nearlys don’t count,” he told her. “You did, and that’s all that matters.”

Drawing a deep breath, Alex managed to pull herself together. “Still. For what it’s worth—”

“Apology accepted,” Roka said, not making her work for it at all. “And nowIneed to apologise.”

Alex’s brow furrowed.

“I should have given more dedication to your training. I should have been less cautious about hurting you,” he said, and Alex knew he was referring to their time together in the past. “Knowing what I do now, it should have been my top priority.”

Shaking her head, Alex said, “You had no way to know.”

“But I did,” Roka said. “You told me yourself how important it was for you to learn to fight. I didn’t listen. I’m just glad that someone else did.” His tone lowered. “Zain, Kyia and Mayra filled me in on what happened with Niyx—back then, and… more recently.” He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and said, “I’m sorry, Alex. I know that means little now, but for so many reasons, I’m sorry.”

Alex allowed his words to settle deep within her as she nodded her gratitude. She wouldn’t cry—she’d promised Niyxno more tears would be spent on his account. So instead, she just said, “Thank you, Roka.”

He gave her shoulder a squeeze before removing his hand.

Swallowing against the dread of what she might hear in response to her next question, she forced herself to ask, “My family—my friends—” She cut off, fearful of the answer, since the last she’d seen, Kaiden, Jordan and Bear had been covered in blood and fighting to hold down the deranged D.C., while her parents, Hunter and Niida had been on the ground, unmoving.

Sensing her anxiety, Soraya moved closer, the fully-grown wolf tall enough that Alex had to raise her hand to stroke her chest-height head.

“Everyone is fine,” Roka told her quickly, and she would have crumbled from the weight of her relief if Soraya hadn’t been there for her to lean on. “They’re all exhausted and sleeping off the trauma of what they faced, but physically, they will recover swiftly.”

He gave her a moment to process that before he continued, “The veeyons were forced to retreat thanks to the draekons, but we weren’t willing to wait and see if they would return, so we evacuated everyone to Akarnae. While the draekons are strong, their numbers are considerably fewer than my brother’s beasts, and the strain of their journey across worlds has left many of them weakened. They will need time to recover—time they wouldn’t have been given if we’d remained in Draekora.”

“With Aven now able to access theValispathagain, everyone needed to get out of there anyway,” Alex pointed out, while sending a quick mental call to Xira who just as quickly responded that he was fine and they would talk soon.

“Aven can’t use the Eternal Path any longer,” Roka said, causing Alex to focus on him again.

Frowning with puzzlement, she said, somewhat indelicately, “But… You died…”

“And once you Released Grimm and he deactivated his gift’s hold on me, my heart started beating on its own, meaning I was once again the rightful heir to the throne.” His eyes dulled with grief as he explained, “With my father’s passing, I’m now the King of Meya. As such, my first act was to officially disinherit Aven again.”

Alex struggled to believe it, but when she tried summoning theValispathand it didn’t come at her command, she knew he was right. A startled laugh left her as she said, “That was quick thinking. How on earth did you catch up so fast on everything that happened while you were… sleeping?”

“Fletcher was wrong about my lack of cognisance while I was under Grimm’s sleeping curse,” Roka said. “I could hear everything that was said around me.”

Alex’s eyes widened. “The whole time?” At his nod, she muttered, “I guess that saved some long explanations.”

She winced at the idea that he would have heard her declaration of having to kill him and wondered what he’d thought of that plan. But since he’d already accepted her apology, she wasn’t going to revisit that conversation. Preferably ever.

“Anything I missed, I’ve managed to learn in the time since we evacuated,” he said. Then, somewhat hesitantly, he told Alex before she could ask, “You’ve been sleeping almost a whole day.”

Alex jolted. “A wholeday?”

She was in motion then, blurring away from Soraya and Roka and over to her wardrobe, pulling out clothes to swap with the pyjamas she was now wearing. During the endless hours she’d been sleeping, someone had removed her Tia Auran armour and draped it across D.C.’s bed. It also appeared cleaner than when she’d last been wearing it—almost as good as new, if not for the slight tear in the upper leg area where D.C. had grazed her with Hunter’s dagger.

Ignoring Roka’s questioning calls and Soraya’s tilted-head expression, Alex slammed the bathroom door shut and shoved on her jeans, shirt, jacket and boots combination before rushing back out into the room.

“A whole day?” she said again, much more of a shriek this time. “Why didn’t anyone wake me?”