Page 5

Present Day

Iwas swallowed by the darkness, but not even that seemingly endless oblivion could handle my uncontrollable magic. As I reached what I thought was the end of all-encompassing shadows I had never known before—a peace I desperately reached for—I was spit back out, coughing and sputtering in the dirt.

The last thing I remembered was gazing into Nik’s black, lifeless eyes. The only sound that filled my ears now was the persistent, hollow ringing after my newly unbound magic had detonated on the plains of Siraleth. I wiped the smoke and filth that obstructed my vision from my eyelids, my sleeve coming away bloody and stained with ichor. My gaze found Tess first, and I exhaled an initial sigh of relief before the devastation before me became apparent.

Not only apparent… no. That didn’t adequately describe what I witnessed before me.

It threatened toconsumeme.

Whatever was left of this part of Siraleth had been leveled.

Byme. By my magic.

Bodies were strewn about the rubble, pools of rain and blood scattered across the battle ground. Donika’s men weren’t the only bodies my eyes snagged on as I took in the scene before me.

Resistance members.

Friends.

This wasn’t the first time my magic had lashed out and slaughtered innocents.

Tess moved to my side and my lip quivered as I pushed to my knees, hot tears streaming down my cheeks to leave trails of clean skin in their wake. I turned towards her—but despite her lips moving—I heard nothing.

The ringing in my ears only intensified.

The storm had passed when the shadows claimed me, but I wasn’t sure how long had transpired between then and now. Donika and her men were nowhere in sight.

Nikwas nowhere in sight.

My heart was suddenly heavy, as if I were being crushed by the weight of what had happened. Donika had stolen Isaac’s storm magic and left him a hollow, lifeless version of himself.

My mentor, my friend.

He was gone. He was Noctani. A lifeless monster bound to Donika by black magic.

Donika’s Noctani had then set their sights on Nik. The image of his black, depthless eyes would haunt my dreams. Haunt my every waking thought. A vision of him that would flash behind my eyelids every time I closed them.

We had been happy.

We had beenbound.

But Donika had ripped that away from me, too. As if taking everything else from me hadn’t been enough.

The numb sensation in my chest was suddenly replaced by anger. I curled my nails against the cobblestone street until they turned red with fresh blood, a growl escaping my throat. I couldn’t sense my storm magic. The only thing I experienced simmering in my core was molten rage.

But that was better than feeling nothing at all, right?

If there had been one ounce of magic left in my body, it would have torn through me in this moment. But I had extinguished any and all of it when I had shattered. It would be days before my magic came back to me, as it had during the battle outside the safe house in Prins.

And I was thankful for it.

I needed the silence.

With the bond being broken, there was no way I could control my magic. My unfettered fury threatened all of those around me.

Broken.

But I was alive. Annelise had said that if Nik died, I would die. That was how the bond worked. But Nik wasn’t trulydead…was he? If he was, I would be too. And fate had decided I wouldn’t greet the Mother today.