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I tried to calm my breathing. To focus, to reach for the essence of Aleks I knew was still buried within him. But it was impossible; I felt him—I could have felt him no matter the chaos between us, I thought—but the heart of him was warring so violently with Lorien’s that it was impossible to truly grab hold of it.

And what would I have done, even if I could have caught him in my grasp?

I squeezed my eyes tighter, sending fresh tears streaming over my cheeks.

“Still crying?” Hetsked.

I opened my eyes and forced myself to look at him, to not give him the satisfaction of knowing just how broken—howfinished—I felt in that moment.

He leered down at me, tapping his makeshift knife against my skin, his lips curving cold and cruel on his stolen face. “Do you want to know my favorite part of all this?” Another tap. “It’s that he can see everything I’m doing to you.”

My heart seized so tightly, so violently, I feared it might shatter into even more pieces than Luminor had.

“I wish you could hear him begging me to spare your life.” He cocked his head to the side. “He really loved you, you know.”

“He still does,” I whispered. “We are not past tense.”

“Give me a moment to fix that,” he replied, his eyes flickering between shades of gold and red as he lifted the shard, walking it casually, expertly along his fingers and into a more secure grasp.

He plunged it toward my neck.

It struck the ground directly beside me.

How?

How had he missed?

His gaze was suddenly full of a rage unlike anything I’d ever seen. It was so painfullynot Aleksthat I couldn’t breathe as I looked into it. Combined with the pain radiating through my shoulder, it was too much. I closed my eyes again. I was drifting, fighting just to stay conscious. All I wanted to do was leave this moment.

A whisper brought me back: “Run, Nova.”

My eyes flashed open.

He’d sounded like Aleksander again.

He was still in there.

He was still fighting.

How could I possibly leave him to fight alone?

“Damn it, Chaos, RUN!”

I started to shake my head, to reach for him—

He jerked me upright and shoved me into motion himself, throwing me toward the wall of magic that separated us from the others. That magic shifted, closing in on us but then parting for an instant—just long enough to allow me to safely stumble through to the other side.

I immediately spun back around, but I was already too late.

The wall had closed, and I could just barely make out Aleksander’s shape through it. He was on one knee, a hand over his face. His body was shaking with obvious effort. Still fighting, trying to take hold of himself once more.

I had to get back to him.

I summoned every shadow I could. Again and again, I slammed them against the wall of light, trying to pierce it. But they only scattered and fell uselessly away. I was too exhausted. The power before me was too great—and only growing more dangerous, more out of control as the energy around the Aetherstone continued to feed into it.

That stone flared so brightly that Aleks disappeared within the blaze. The ground rumbled, and suddenly it felt like the entire realm was in danger of cracking apart.

Someone was shouting, trying to get my attention—the portal! The portal is closing!