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Skepticism flooded through me, rooting me to the spot.

But then, what was our alternative?

I looked back to Nova. Her shadows were still drifting, circling around her with what seemed like a conscious anticipation; she was upright and balanced, yet her eyes were closed, her head bowed just as it had been when I’d found her earlier.

“I’ve already paid off the guards, too,” Thalia urged, waving me toward Nova. “Go before they decide to cheat us out of our exit. Run straight for the gate and trust that it will open.Now!”

Zayn was already swinging himself into the saddle of Thalia’s horse and securing Red in front of him.

Seeing no better options, I backed quickly toward Phantom and followed Zayn’s lead, hoisting myself up and pulling Nova against me once more.

My pulse pounded against her back as I threw one last glance over my shoulder. It all felt…unfinished. Too many questions unanswered. Too much magic lingering in the air. Too many possibilities unmet. But my mind was made up; I had no intention of dying here.

The gates creaked open.

We raced through without hesitation, the city and its monsters howling at our backs, all its blue flames flickering desperately against the deepening night.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Aleksander

There’shelp waiting on the other side.

I repeated Thalia’s words over and over to myself as we galloped into the darkness.

There’s help waiting on the other side.

I didn’t believe her.

I had never been one to believe in help from others, regardless of where it came from. I didn’t expect it to find me in this realm, or in any other—I’d had such foolish notions beaten out of me at a young age. Accepting help was always a dangerous endeavor, anyway. It led to debts. And the rule of the Light King was meant to bedebt-free, as the head of my council and the master of my studies, Lord Ithar, used to say.

We made it perhaps a mile before slowing and circling back toward Erebos, hoping to spot the rest of our party gaining on us. But no one was behind us, nor ahead of us, and the landscape was even more desolate and daunting on this side of the city.

If not for the fact that she’d given Zayn her horse, I would have been entirely convinced that Thalia had tricked us and had no intention of ever seeing us again.

“What now?” Zayn called from Uldrin’s back, while struggling to keep the steed still.

I didn’t know how to answer him. I wasn’t sure what plans Thalia had for catching up with us, I just knew we couldn’t leave Rowen and Farren solely in her hands—but wealsocouldn’t effectively fight our way back to them, given our current cargo.

“Nova.”

She mumbled something in response to my voice, but she didn’t open her eyes.

Could I force her awake?

Should I?

No; it wasn’t even a question, really. Fresh blood continued to seep from her shoulder, even now, despite my attempts to staunch its flow with my coat—I couldn’t leave her to go back for the others.

“The chaos never fucking ends with you, does it?” I mumbled, partly in an attempt to get a rise out of her. I needed to hear her voice, even if it was simply her telling me to fuck off.

But before I could rouse her enough to speak, Zayn interrupted us by shouting my name.

“Company!” he informed me, pointing at a line of riders taking shape in the distance. The blue flames affixed to their horses’ gear suggested wraiths.

Of course.

We could outrun them, perhaps, but it would mean leaving the others behind indefinitely. The others whoalsohad most of our supplies.