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“Seriously,what the—” Jordan’s curse was cut off mid-sentence when D.C. elbowed him into silence, all of Alex’s friends watching to see what would happen next.

Alex wondered if she was going to be sick. She knew during the pause in which Aven had told her to think about it, she’d been mentally communicating with Niyx, asking him how best to let Aven down gently. But when she did so, it was even harder to witness the flash of pain that swept across his angelic features than the first time around.

His voice was aching to her ears as he roughly responded, “At the risk of sounding egotistical, I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Aven—”

“No,” he said, raising a hand between them. “Just—Just no.”

And when he turned from her and strode off through the forest back to the clearing where he could more easily summon theValispath, Alex felt lightheaded as she watched herself stumble after him, knowing what was about to happen.

She wanted to scream ‘STOP!’ but not at the replay of her memory—atherself.

If only she’d left him. If only she hadn’t tried to heal their last moments together in the past. She remembered not wanting to part with him on such a miserable note—he was herfriend, and she’d hated hurting him, especially knowing the next time she would see him, he would be trying to kill her.

So she went after him. And when the branch flung back and struck her face, causing a welt with the smallest, most insignificant drop of red blood to well on her cheek, Alex recognised what she had been blind to at the time. The stillness of Aven’s body, the tormented fire in his eyes—that hadn’t been about her rejection. It had been about seeing her blood and suddenly realising that she was mortal.

And then he was gone.

But so were Alex and her friends.

Because no longer were they in Raelia. Instead, they were in front of the Meyarin palace, the streets filled with screams as the armedZeltorasought to calm those who were trying frantically to get away.

But screams weren’t all that the streets were filled with. Because just like the first time, Alex had to again witness the aftermath of Aven’s massacre.

There they were, all six of the humans he had invited to the party—as a giftfor her—lying in pools of their own blood.

As memory-Alex knelt by Bensie’s side, her silver dress staining red, the real Alex heard D.C. retching behind her, the sound causing bile to crawl up her own throat. But still, she knew the worst was yet to come. And, after watching the moment where Niyx’s innocence became known to her and she attempted to Release him from their bond, she then had to endure the scene changing yet again as it turned to the chaos of the throne room.

Roka and Astophe were on the ground. And Aven…

Aven was standing over them, his sword dripping silver blood, his eyes blazing with hatred as he stared at Alex.

“You!” he yelled. “You did this!”

He continued to scream at her, to vent his resurged hatred of mortals, to accuse his father and brother of not listening, of betraying him. Until, finally—

“I fell for you!” he screamed, his gaze ravaged. “I actually thought—”

The strangled sound he made caused tears to well in Alex’s eyes. Everything—everythingwas her fault.

“Aven—”

“Shut your mouth, human!” he roared. “The only way to ensure our glorious city remains free of your infestation is if I sit on the throne.” Using his sword, he pointed to Astophe and Roka, both still bleeding out on the ground. “They have to die. For the sake of Meya, I’ve done what was needed.”

And when he swung his sword to kill Roka and Alex leapt forward to intercept, she watched with deadened eyes as the rest of the scene played out, until he skewered her with her own blade—prompting gasps from her friends and another round of retching from D.C.—before uttering his final condemning words:

“I swear by the stars that you and the others slain tonight will be the first of many. Of that you have my word.”

He then tore A’enara from her stomach, a flash of phantom pain surging through her midsection as the scene finally—finally—faded around them.

But they weren’t done yet.

Instead, what came next was even worse, the Gates revealing with perfect detail the nightmarish future vision the Library had showed her while she’d been in the past.

She saw Tryllin burning as people ran in the streets, screaming for help.

She saw Astophe and Roka dead, with Aven standing above them to take his place as Meya’s king, commanding his subjects to seek out and kill any mortals they could find.