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She saw the destruction they wrought—houses, families, villages laid to waste.

She saw entire races massacred, from the Jarnocks in their treetop city to the Flips in their underwater haven. Not even the Shadow Walkers and Dayriders were able to prevail against the power of Aven and his Claimed army.

One by one, the mortal races fell.

And then came her friends.

Bear and his entire family strung up in Myrox cages and left for dead.

D.C. carrying out Aven’s Claimed order to kill King Aurileous and Queen Osmada before turning the blade on herself.

Alex’s own parents tortured before their screams turned to silence.

On and on it went, until the scenery changed to the bloodied battleground at Akarnae.

There, Alex had to watch the deaths of all those who remained, one after the other.

Darrius. Fletcher. Karter. Hunter. Finn. All of them dead.

Generals Drock and Tyson, dead.

Jeera, dead. Declan, dead.

The rest of her classmates and teachers, dead.

Everyone—dead.

And then she had to again endure the fight between Kaiden and the Claimed-Jordan, watching as Aven speared A’enara through Kaiden’s back in a surprise attack, followed by the vengeful Meyarin slicing his blade across the base of Jordan’s neck.

This time, Alex didn’t bury her face in the real Kaiden’s chest, unlike her memory-self who was now doing so with his avatar. While he had once told her that he’d dreamed flashes of the future vision she’d witnessed, she was certain he hadn’t seen all of it. Only Niyx had known the whole truth, having watched it play out after she’d Claimed him. For everyone else, she’d only shared the barest of details, but now…

Now they knew everything.

And D.C. wasn’t the only one retching this time.

As the scenery shifted to the ruins of the once beautiful Meya, they listened to how Aven, after exterminating the mortals of Medora, would set his sights on the humans of Freya—all because of his hatred for her—and how the Tia Aurans would step in to stop him. If nothing else, Alex was glad that the golden cuffs meant their immortal audience were seeing for themselves just how vital their help was. If they hadn’t believed Alex’s words, they would have no choice but to believe what they were now witnessing.

Except… just as she had realised while thinking about William’s death only two days ago, parts of the vision were already redundant. Jordan wasn’t Claimed anymore. Roka was still alive. And while Astophehadbeen killed, it hadn’t been by Aven’s hand.

Perhaps they were subtle differences. But Alex had no idea what changes they would mean for the future.

Right now, however, wasn’t the time to think about it, not as the memory dissolved and the Gate released them, returning Alex and her friends to the stadium and its stunned, subdued audience.

Saefii didn’t stand up and offer her congratulations. She, like everyone else, was watching and waiting to see what would come next. Because even Alex could tell something was about to happen. Her friends had been silent since Aven had declared his feelings at Raelia, not one of them having uttered a single word during all that came afterwards.

During the vision, Alex hadn’t been able to so much as look their way. Yet she knew it was now time to face them, even if she would have preferred to do so without their immortal spectators, none of whom seemed inclined toparronaway and offer them privacy.

Turning around, Alex met her friends’ gazes, recoiling at what she saw blazing in their eyes.

It was Bear who spoke first, his voice full of pain, the sound unlike anything Alex had ever heard from him before. “My dad is dead because of you.”

As if she’d been kicked in the chest, all the air rushed out of Alex as she breathed, “What?”

His eyes filled with tears as he said, “What we just saw— Aven did all that because of you. Everything that happened between you, that’s why he started Claiming people, killing people—people like my dad.” His voice broke. “Because ofhim—because ofyou—I’ll—I’ll never get to see Dad again. Never get to—” He raised a clenched fist to cover his mouth, unable to finish.

“Bear,” Alex whispered, reaching for him. But he flinched away from her, unwilling to even look at her.

Trying again, she said, “Bear,please.” But he stepped backwards on the dais, his face downturned, tears leaking from his eyes.