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I shook it off, sending it skittering into the sands as Caldris’s blood coated my hand—staining it red like the thickest paint.

“Min asteren,” he murmured, his voice too weak. I pursed my lips together, trying to think of the words to say. Trying to figure out what I could do.

There had to be a way to save him, a way to keep him here with me even without a functioning heart.

“I don’t know what to do,” I said, the gasping sound of my voice relaying the horror I didn’t think I could feel. Shock coursed through my veins, agony like I’d never felt lingering just behind the strange numbness that tried to protect me in my final moments with the man I loved.

Because I knew in my heart that’s what this was. That Caldris would die.

That I’d failed him.

I shifted, ignoring the pained look on his face as I pulled his head into my lap and ran my fingers through his ashen silver hair. It threaded through easily, allowing me to offer just a few moments of comfort. “Just stay with me,” Caldris said, his voice weakening. His eyes began to close, but he forced them open one last time, the blue of them staring so deeply into me that I choked down a sob. “I want your face to be the last thing I see.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. You deserved a better mate, someone stronger than me,” I said, my voice breaking.

Caldris raised a single hand, his blood-covered finger touching my lips to stop me from the path my thoughts had wandered. “Don’t you dare. I’m sorry for many things, my star, but being your mate is not one of them. I’m only sorry we didn’t have more time. That I never gave you peace,” he said.

I leaned forward, touching my mouth to his gently and swallowing the sigh that he let loose. Trapping it within me, holding it for the remaining time I would have before I followed after him. “Youaremy peace,” I said, touching my forehead to his.

He did not sigh again, as his eyes drifted closed. His chest refused to rise again, even though I waited and watched, begging the universe to give him back to me. “Please,” I whispered, the words barely audible.

I felt the moment his soul left to make its way to the Void to wait for me. The deep, splintering crack that struck down my center seemed to cleave me in two. I jolted with the force of it, a mangled scream tearing free from my throat.

My hands shook as I wrapped Caldris in my embrace, cradling his body to my chest and rocking back and forth. My tears wet his hair, and I could not say how long I spent there waiting for death to claim me.

With our blood pact, I would follow. I felt immense gratitude for it,knowing I would only need to exist without him for a while. I couldn’t say how long, minutes, hours, or days, but my suffering had an end.

I got to my feet, staring down at my mate’s lifeless body. Reaching down, I closed his eyelids the rest of the way before I pulled one of my swords free from the strap across my back. Turning to the entrance to the cove, I met the gaze of the daemon who thought to block me from getting to its master.

From getting to the bitch Queen that I would kill with my own hands before I left this world.

His twisted, razor-sharp teeth snapped together tauntingly. The four tusks spreading off his face gleamed in the moonlight as he leaned forward, preparing to fight me.

In our last fight, I hadn’t been skilled enough in combat to not rely on my magic, but I’d spent the entirety of my time in Tartarus fighting without it. But the Estrella who had walked out of Tartarus was stronger. I was far more capable of fighting him, of killing him with my bare hands and then seeking the revenge I deserved. My eyes warmed with the swell of that beast within me, her growl rumbling in my chest as I took another step forward in spite of my fear of what she would do to me.

I’d survived the bull. I’d survived the…

I shook my head, my arms dropping at my sides with my swords still held tight as I glanced over my shoulder at Caldris’s prone form. My throat closed all over again, but I forced myself to stop.

To fucking think.

What was the second trial?

I couldn’t remember, couldn’t grasp the memory of the trial. I stared down at Caldris, forcing myself to feel past the surface of that absolute blinding agony and search for our bond. I couldn’t see the thread, but I couldfeelit.

It swayed in the wind as I reached out a single finger to stroke it, feeling it tickle my skin exactly where I’d thought it might be. The shimmering of its light came slowly, filling my vision until it glowed brightly.

Glowing with life.

I held out a single hand, uttering very simple words that I felt the truth of in my soul. It chased away the pain, forcing the grief away. “It isn’t real.”

My body was weightless for a moment, my feet flying off the sand as I became airborne.

And I landed on the platform once again, staring across the gap to find Melinoe’s shocked gaze upon mine.

Our platforms were even once again. Hers having dropped so that mine could rise with my victory.

Caldris was alive. And I?