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“NOW, ALEX!” Zaylin screamed.

The immortal’s arrival kept Aven in his paused incredulity for barely a moment, but it was long enough to give Alex the opening she’d been waiting for.

‘Make it count.’

Surging forward, she slammed her bloodied arm against the side of his neck where Mayra’s arrow had skimmed him, screaming out both mentally and verbally, “Trae Menada sae!”

And an instant later, she was thrown from her own mind and into Aven’s as the words of the Claiming ritual took effect.

Thirty-Nine

Screaming.

That was what Alex heard as agony unlike anything she’d ever experienced stabbed her mind. Agony from the effort of Claiming someone as strong-willed as Aven; agony from how many others he had bound to him over the years, all of whom he was desperate to keep under his control.

It was agony beyond what Alex could bear.

Just when she thought she wouldn’t survive the initial spearing into his consciousness, the excruciating pain eased, but the screaming remained.

Alex had only Claimed four people before. Niyx had been on his deathbed, and because of that, their bond had been created with little resistance on his part. Kaiden had been willing, again making the process relatively easy on her. Jordan and Grimm, however, had both put up a mental fight—or Aven had, at least in the case of Jordan, until Alex had understood that her gift allowed her will to supersede his own.

‘When it comes down to you against him, the victor won’t be the one with the swiftest blade, but the strongest will.’

Alex had thought long and hard over Niyx’s words from within the Gate of Lost Souls, until she had realised that it was her gift—herwill—that would bring about Aven’s ultimate defeat. She hadn’t wanted anyone else to help her fight him, and not just because of the danger of Vae’varka, but also because,if theyhadmanaged to kill him, everyone he’d Claimed would have died with him. There was only one way to free those bound to him—if he Released them himself. But knowing that he would never willingly do so, Alex had been left with only one choice, with only one plan.

She had to force him to Release them. And there was only one way she could do that.

Certain she would be met with opposition, Alex wasn’t surprised when she arrived in Aven’s mind to find him waiting for her, just like when she’d sought to free Jordan and Grimm.

This time, they were standing on the balcony of the Meyarin palace ballroom, overlooking the city that was filled with the screams of Aven’s immortal victims. His human casualties, fewer in number, were inside the ballroom, stacked up in lines of Myrox-barred cages. Calista and Lena were the only ones Alex recognised, confirming that Gerald, the Sparkers and even Signa had been acting upon their own ambitions all along. But the misery in Calista’s and Lena’s eyes—Alex had only seen such depth of emotion twice before: when she’d been inside the minds of Jordan and Grimm. Whatever it took, she was going to make sure no one had to feel such hopeless suffering ever again.

“You can’t be here!” Aven hissed at her on the balcony, his normal composure gone. “No one can stop me—no one! Least of all a disgusting mortal!”

Alex didn’t reply. She didn’t argue or taunt him. Despite everything they had been through, despite everything he had tried to do to her—everything hehaddone to her, and all those she loved—he had once been her friend, and she had no desire to prolong this moment. She had no desire to torture him as he would her. He wouldn’t see it as mercy, but that was what it was, regardless.

“Release them, Aven,” Alex ordered, her voice quiet but firm. “Release them all.”

Feeling the tug between them, she knew the power of her command was flowing through to him, a power he was unable to resist. The slightest graze on his neck thanks to Mayra’s sacrificial moment of revenge, coupled with the salvation of Zaylin’s timely arrival, and Aven’s rule was at an end. Alex owned him now—he was hers to control.

And yet, there was one final piece of the prophecy that had yet to play out. Knowing as much, Alex was ready when Aven attempted one last-ditch effort to resist her order, summoning Vae’varka into his mindscape and lunging forward with a roar of fury.

Unlike when she had been in Jordan’s mind, she didn’t order Aven to stop. This time, she met his blade with A’enara, one final time. It was in that moment—when Dark and Light met mid-strike—that the power of her command took effect and, gasping and panting as if fighting the words themselves, Aven had no choice but to choke out, “Trae Gaverran sae.”

Alex endured a breathless moment as she waited to see if it would work without him first swapping blood with his victims. But the power of the prophecy held true, because in an instant, those caged within the ballroom disappeared, just as the screaming in the city below ceased. With the tormented sounds now silenced, Alex knew the prophecy had at last been fulfilled.

The captives had been set free.

But that still left an irate Meyarin on her hands. And when Alex retreated from his mind and returned to her own body, it took the combined efforts of Roka and Zain, along with Zaylin and Raife—the latter having also come, along with a small group of other Tia Aurans—to hold Aven back long enough for Alex to utter a single word: “Stop!”

Only then did Aven freeze, glaring at her with such loathing that she trembled, even knowing she had full control of him.

“You—”

Soraya arrived in a flash of light and dark and growled at him threateningly enough that he snapped his mouth shut and turned his glare on the wolf. But just to be sure he would remain silent, Alex commanded, “Quiet.”

It was a miracle none of the others had been wounded by Vae’varka during the struggle, but Alex wasn’t willing to risk Aven resisting her and injuring someone, so she quietly told her friends to back away even as she ordered him to banish his blade. She met Roka’s eyes when he hesitated, seeing the raw grief in them, but the return look she sent him begged him to trust her. And with a wary nod, he did, stepping back with the others.

She didn’t spare a glance to what was happening on the rest of the academy grounds, didn’t spare a glance to see if her friends were safe. All she could do was pray they had survived in this timeline and focus on completing her task—because it wasn’t over yet.