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“But you are the one who sent us after Phineas a few months ago. You told us he held the answers we searchedfor when we couldn’t find the missing spell from the Kotova grimoire,” I replied, reasoning it out in my head.

“Yes, my son deals in stolen spells. I happened to know that one was in his possession. Whether he knew it or not,” Alastir replied with the ghost of a smile, pulling a chair out from the table and sitting across from his son. “I know what my son is. I’m not proud of it.”

Phineas appeared as if he was going to say more but stopped himself, biting his lip and turning his gaze away. Saanvi stirred on the table, her legs moving, her lips murmuring, before becoming still once more. Her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm.

“So what did you bargain with my son to save the girl’s life?” Alastir asked.

He looked very, very tired.

I swallowed, steeling myself for what I was about to ask. I hadn’t managed to discuss Nikolai without ripping the wound wide open, and I had lost my temper at the mere mention of his name slipping from Kane’s lips. That is what had gotten us into this mess in the first place.

“You might not know, but—” My words were cut off by Alastir’s interruption.

“Nikolai is Noctani.”

I closed my eyes, pressing them together tightly. “Yes, Nikolai has turned Noctani. The mother showed you that?”

Alastir nodded once.

“We were told by Annelise that there was a spell that lived in the Kotova grimoire once, a spell to reverse siphoning magic. That whatever magic is done can also be undone. Amiyahsaid the spell has long since been ripped out and has been lost to time. But if anyone were to remember it or know where it was located, it would be you. You are our only hope for creating a cure for Noctani… an antidote for it.”

Alastir’s shoulders slumped under the weight of the request before his narrowed gaze met Phineas’s.

“What could it hurt for him to know?” I asked. “He wanted any information we got from you. I don’t see the harm in him having the cure for Noctani. This is agoodthing.”

Alastir shook his head as if I didn’t understand. “It isn’t that simple. Spells can be twisted and turned based on the will of the Shade. A spell can easily be reverse manufactured.”

A sigh escaped my lips as I turned to Phineas. “You wouldn’t.”

“Alastir, I wouldn’t.” There was a pleading note to Phineas’s voice, one I had never in my life expected to hear from him.

This side of him was… unexpected. He was the cocky, arrogant spell thief, but we had a front-row seat to his family drama. Phineas delt in knowledge, maybe he simply wanted the bragging rights of being one of the few Shades in the realm to have this information.

“My trust for you was burned out long ago,” Alastir replied, his gaze falling to his boots.

Phineas appeared stung by his words. “It was the deal they made,” he replied, his voice tight.

“It was,” I confirmed.

Would I live to regret this? Would Phineas twist the spell and turn it into something dark, something evil? Would he reverse it to create even more Noctani? But to what end?

It was a risk we were going to have to take. I needed to bind my magic once more, and I needed Nikolai. We needed to end this war with Donika. Phineas couldn’t be a priority of mine.

“Does this mean you have a cure? You have an antidote?” I asked Alastir.

Hope was clear in my voice as my gaze flickered to meet Tess’s across the room once more. If he was this worried about Phineas having the spell, that had to mean that he had it, right? Or he knew where it was located at the least.

I hadn’t let myself hope before. I hadn’t wanted to set my heart on this only for it to be shattered when this turned out to be a dead end. More than anything, I wanted Nikolai back. I wanted to save him. More than I even wanted to end this war—as bad as that was. I wasbrokenwith the piece of the binding shattered within me, and I wasn’t sure I could make my move against Donika when I didn’t feel whole.

“The spell you seek is the reversal of siphoning. It would reverse the very essence that made the Noctani what they are. I cannot guarantee that it would restore the Shade to their original state, or that the Shade would even survive it.” Alastir’s gaze was sharp, his voice gruff. “Do you understand what I am saying, girl?”

If he called me girl one more time…

I bristled. “Diana.” I replied through my teeth. “You’ll have enough respect for your rightful queen to call me by my name, at the least.”

Alastir cleared his throat. “My apologies. I meant no offense. It’s only that this is a… tricky spell… to put it simply. I cannot make any guarantees about its success and I don’t want your expectations to be misaligned.”

“Have you ever done it before?” Tess asked, moving towards me from across the room and stopping at my side.