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He inclined his head towards me, confusion creasing his brow. “Firecracker, you have no reason to fear me.”

“No reason to fear you?” A humorless laugh escaped me. “You’re Noctani now. Youhurtme.” I spoke through a clenched jaw, my hand subconsciously traveling to my temple where a headache throbbed.

His gaze fell to the floor before flitting back towards me once more, as if he were choosing his words carefully. “But that was necessary.”

He appeared so… confused. I narrowed my eyes at him. “How so?”

“You wouldn’t come with me,” he explained simply. As if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

I nodded slowly. “Why would I willingly go with my captor?”

“I am not your captor, Diana.” His brows drew together once more.

“What would you call it?” I asked, incredulous. I couldn’t believe we were having this conversation right now. As if I would willinglywantto go with him while he was in this state.

“I—” he started, but the words never came. It was as if he was trying to speak, but the words wouldn’t come forth. “I—” he tried again.

After a moment of struggling, he closed his eyes, recentering himself. “I don’t know.” Those black eyes opened once more and locked on me. “Come closer… I’ve missed you.”

“Stay away from me,” I replied, disgust clear in my voice.

Confusion twisted his features once more. “Why are you mad at me?”

“Mad at you?” Now I stood, my hands at my side, nails digging into the palm of my hands hard enough that the biting pain would help to clear my thoughts. “I’m not mad at you, Nikolai. You are amonster. You have been sent to steal my magic and bring me back to Donika so that she cankillme.”

“That’s not—” but the words were cut off again, his mouth opened as if he was trying to push them out. “Dammit!” He grabbed the chair across from my cell, smashing it against theconcrete wall until it shattered into a million broken pieces. My arms covered my face to protect it from the flying debris.

“It’s as if I can’t say the right words. I think them… but they won’t come out of my mouth.” He ran a frustrated hand through his blond waves, pulling the hair tightly in frustration. “I would never hurt you.”

Was he fighting his link to Donika? Was his tether to me still intact, allowing him to resist her compulsion? I could only pray that his magical bond with me still lingered somewhere deep within, even if I couldn’t sense it anymore. That the fact that we were both still here meant the bond hadn’t been broken, and that it was stronger than whatever hold Donika had over him.

“But… you have.” My voice was barely above a whisper as the moment he slammed the sword into my temple flashed before my eyes. “You gave me a black eye. Maybe even a concussion.”

He shook his head. “You have it all wrong. You’ll see.”

“You need to let me go.” My voice had turned into a plea.

“Don’t you see?” he asked, his black eyes wide. “I can’t.”

But I was here—wherever that was—and not in the Stormvault. Was he fighting it? Was there a piece of the Nikolai I knew hidden within the monster that stood before me now?

I pressed back against the stone wall, the cold leeching through my body as I rest my hands against it. “Please, Nikolai.Pleaselet me go.”

He shook his head as shadows slithered from his fingertips, through the bars of the cell. They glided towards me until Icouldn’t see anything at all except darkness. I recoiled from those shadows, not knowing what to expect from him.

“You’ll see. This is how it has to be… but you’ll understand, eventually. Until then… ”

His voice trailed off as his darkness wrapped around my face. I tried to claw the shadows away, but they simply reformed where my hand had trailed through them.

I couldn’t see.

Couldn’t breathe.

And not until my limp body hit the cold, damp floor and my consciousness slipped away from me once more did I truly feel that my heart had been irreparably shattered.

When I woke a second time, I was in the same cramped cell, but this time it wasn’t empty. I was lying on a cot with a brown knit blanket thrown over my legs. There was a bowl of what appeared to be soup and stale bread propped on a stool in the corner. A stack of books sat beside it, a lone lit lantern as well. The warm light filled the cell, and the aroma of the food reached my nose right as my stomach grumbled.

He hadn’t stolen my magic yet, and for that I was thankful. I could still sense it simmering in my core despite it having nowhere to go due to the ash enchantments. If I had any hope of escaping him and the rest of the Noctani, I needed to keep up my strength. And Ineededmy magic. Even if it was unbound. I rose to approach the bowl of food, my body protesting and a groan escaping my lips at how sore I was.