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Securing her in my arms, I rose to my feet and turned to find her brother, Thalia, and a handful of others racing down to meet us and the risen army.

The air had turned warmer. The scent of dust and ash was fading, giving way to the sharp, almost electric scent of new growth. Bodies moving, life unfolding…the scene was astounding, I vaguely realized. But I felt too numb to take in much of it, my eyes narrowed on the Regent of Rivenholt, and the Regent, alone.

Blood still streamed freely from his nose.

I didn’t regret a drop of it.

I wished I’d done worse.

We stared at one another for a long, tense moment. A protective urge that bordered on feral wound its way through me, tightening my muscles, drawing Nova more completely against me. There were a thousand choice words I could have said to her brother, but all I managed to grind out was, “You better hope she makes a full fucking recovery.”

I didn’t wait for any response.

Without a backwards glance, I carried Nova up the hill to where my horse waited.

I climbed into the saddle and, with Zayn’s help, dragged Nova up as well, carefully situating her in front of me. Once we were fully balanced, she finally opened her eyes again, gazing up at me without lifting her head from my chest.

She said only one more word—only my name. It sounded like a complete sentence from her lips. A complete plea. A complete surrender.

“You’re safe,” I said, tightening my grip on her once more, gazing one last time at the magic laid upon the land behind us.

Despite all she’d brought to life, death still hovered at the edges. There were still hordes of shades who hadn’t been revived. The sky was still streaked with bruise-colored clouds that matched the ones on Nova’s face. The patch of green grass we’d created seemed small and insignificant, an island in an ocean of darkness, reminding me of how vast this world was—and how much more it would take to save it.

How much more they would ask of her before the end.

She curled closer to me, her hands clenching into the front of my coat.

“You’re safe,” I repeated.

Even though it felt like a lie.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Nova

I openedmy eyes to find myself back in my room at the palace. It was early morning, judging by the light filtering in through the window—which meant at least another day had passed.

Had it been longer?

How much time had I lost?

Phantom lay on top of my legs, the way he always used to when I was ill, letting out a soft cry every time I restlessly changed positions. My head throbbed. My hands tingled. My arms were covered in faint, shadow-like bruises, and my mouth was so dry it hurt to swallow…but, otherwise, I seemed intact.

It took a few attempts, but eventually I managed to shift out from under Phantom’s weight and sit up, at which point I noticed my brother slouched in a chair in the corner of the room, his face resting against one of his hands. I thought he was asleep until he jerked his head up at the sound of Phantom repositioning himself on the bed.

We stared at one another without speaking for a long, uncomfortable moment; it felt as if we were strangers all over again.

I sat up further, leaning against the upholstered headboard, trying to recall my last moments before I’d fainted. Trying to find something to say about the mission to Graykeep, a scene that was coming back to me in bits and pieces—but the details of it all were foggy, at best.

I fixed my gaze on his. “…I don’t remember falling asleep, or much of what came before. What happened?”

He swallowed hard, emotion shimmering in his eyes. “I made a mistake.”

“…A mistake?”

He came closer, settling on the edge of the bed. After a brief hesitation, he told me all that had happened—the warriors I’d brought to life, the pendant shattering, the swarm that had converged around me, the fight Aleksander had put up to get to me.

The way he wished he’d told me to stop before the situation had turned dangerous.