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“And you’re embarrassingly slow at realizing I want you nowhere near me.” She punctuated the sentence with a twitch of her wrist, making the tip of the knife bite painfully into my skin.

A few pounding heartbeats later, the sound of approaching footsteps reached us.

Neither of us flinched.

“Oh, good,” Zayn said, smiling brightly as he appeared in my peripheral vision. “I see you two are still getting along wonderfully.”

I didn’t acknowledge him, keeping my gaze leveled on the princess’s. “Either join forces with us, or leave,” I said, my voice low. “Our resources are too scarce to waste them on outsiders.”

“Fine,” she snapped, after a weighted pause. “I agree. But I’m warning you: One more questionable move, and I am going to stab you in the neck.”

I met her threat with a smile. “Part of me still thinks letting you kill me would be preferable to subjecting myself to more of your company. So, by all means: If you are going to stab, aim for an artery.” I pulled the collar of my shirt aside, exposing myself further to her blade.

She glared, drawing back and spinning the knife around in her hand with impressive control.

Zayn cleared his throat—loudly—finally pulling both our gazes toward him. He held up a bright red fruit, one of several from a basket balanced in his other hand. “Anybody hungry?”

The princess flashed Zayn a perfectly cheerful smile—as though she hadn’t just been threatening to kill his cousin.

“Iamhungry, actually,” she said, sheathing the knife before swiping the fruit from him and holding it out to me. “You first, though.”

“Paranoid, hm?”

“Plenty of others have tried their best to poison me in the past.”

“What a shame they failed.”

She spun the fruit between her fingers, inspecting it closer. It was one of the bright red specimens from the withered trees in the backyard.Hellthorn apples,we’d nicknamed them, because of how difficult it was to pluck one without bloodying your arm against the briar covered branches. Their taste reminded me of strawberries at first bite, but with an odd hint of spice and honey in the aftertaste.

“What was it you were saying earlier?” I asked. “About how I needed you more than you needed me?”

“Don’t test it for me, then. I’m perfectly fine going without food.” She looked as if she was considering throwing it in my face instead.

“No need for that.” I caught her wrist, holding it steady. “It’s safe. Don’t worry.” I leaned in, my eyes never leaving hers, and took a bite of the succulent fruit. Crimson juice trickled like blood from the apple’s broken flesh, winding a path down the side, dripping onto her skin.

Her hand shook slightly as I drew back.

“No one here is out to poison you, Chaos,” I told her, turning away. “But you might wish we had, after you see what the rest of this realm is truly like.”

Chapter Eight

Nova

(Trusting them feelslike a grave mistake.)

I finished reorganizing my bag of jostled supplies and buckled it shut before looking toward Phantom. “Idon’ttrust them,” I admitted. “But it feels like a better option than traveling the Underworld on our own.” Setting my packed bag on one of the stone benches in the garden, I wandered through the vibrant rows of flowers, studying their hues in an effort to distract myself from the haunting memories I’d already made of our journey—the restless energies of the Nocturnus Road, the wandering spirits that had nearly ensnared us, the cold grip that had wrapped around my ankle…

We were still at the ‘outpost’, as Zayn had dubbed it. He and Aleksander were inside, busily making preparations to leave. I’d stepped outside to escape the king’s imposing presence, and Phantom had been trying to convince me to make a run for it ever since.

We were still here because I wasn’t confident of my original plans any longer; stumbling upon Aleksander and the others hadrattled me. I still didn’t know what to make of them—how could the king exist both here and in the living world?

Which one was thetrueAleksander?

I hadn’t mentioned the other Light King to Zayn or anyone else, yet; I wanted to observe them and gather more information for myself before I decided my next move—even if that meant staying uncomfortably close to them, against my better judgment.

Kneeling, I picked a flower with deep, luscious blue-black petals that shimmered like the sea at night. If this Aleksander was the fraud, his magic was certainly convincing; how did he make such beautiful things bloom within the deadly air all around us? And brightly enough, strongly enough, that they hadcontinuedto bloom even while he was unconscious?

I could feel Phantom watching me closely as I plucked the flower’s petals off, one by one.