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Luck never stayed by my side this much.

Another boom of a cannon shook the castle beneath us. Closer this time.

“Tessa would be freaking out if she were here,” I breathed. I felt Malachi’s attention snap to me. “In a weird, terrible way, I’m glad she doesn’t have to deal with this. I just hope she’s found peace.”

Pain shot through my chest, but I quickly brushed it aside. This wasn’t the time for pain. This was the time for focus.

“This world is no place for the innocent,” he said. His words were so quiet at first, I thought I had imagined them.

But when I looked over to meet his eyes, I saw a face of so much sorrow, I could nearly feel the grief.

We had both been hurt. We had both been betrayed. We had both fought to survive until our fists bled, our hearts ripped.

This world was not kind. This world would chew you up and swallow you whole.

The shouting from the battlefield increased. By the sounds of it, the deadlings were beginning to die out. Next would be whatever army the Paragon had pulled together.

And they would not be as easy to defeat.

I leaned my head against the stone ledge behind me and closed my eyes.Breathe, Jade. Breathe.Malachi was right. This army would have no problem defeating any enemy of ours. We were large and experienced. We had numbers. We had the advantage.

“Are you afraid?” Malachi asked, snapping me from my thoughts.

“Yes,” I answered. “But…it’s a good kind of fear.”

“A good kind?”

“It’s…it’s the kind of fear that makes you want to survive. That makes you want to keep living. I don’t want to die, Mal. Not anymore.”

He reached over and grabbed my hand, squeezing tight. “Nothing scares me more than losing you,” he whispered.

Malachi’s free hand found my cheek, and he slowly leaned over to kiss me.

My heart swelled as his mouth moved against mine. I could practically feel the goodbye in his lips.

But I kissed him back, anyway. I kissed him on that roof, holding onto him like he was all I had left in this world.

Another cannon struck the castle wall.

And the screams of battle began.

CHAPTER34

Malachi

Every instinct in my body told me to fly down to that battlefield and pick up my sword.

But holding Jade in my arms caused me to stay.

“We should help them,” she said. “If we use our power from here, they’ll never know.”

“They’ll know you’re here,” I replied. “It’ll be a dead giveaway.”

“How?” she asked. “They have no clue what type of power I have. And they won’t be able to tell where it was coming from.”

“They’ll storm the castle to find you,” I replied. “Using our power is a last resort, Jade. The less they know about our power and what we have, the better.”

She nodded, drinking in every one of my words.