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“Diana… ” It was Annelise’s voice that broke the fragile silence, a note of hope in her tone. “Did he just… ”

I peered over Zion’s shoulder to see Annelise on her knees before Nik, his hand grasped firmly between hers.

His finger twitched.

“No… I had to have imagined… ” my voice trailed off as I pushed away from Zion. He placed me gently down, and I joined Annelise on the forest floor. “Did you—”

She shook her head. “I did nothing. I did not heal him. I only came to say my goodbyes. His hand moved in mine.”

My brow crinkled as I watched him, unblinking. I didn’t want to risk missing a single movement. My eyes were open long enough that I wasn’t sure if I had seen his eye twitch, or if it had been my own.

If I had simply imagined it.

“Did you see that?” It was Tess’s voice behind me.

I nodded, afraid to move my gaze from his face. The forest was utterly still once more as we collectively held our breaths. The dead bodies were still strewn around us, the trees still devoid of all wildlife. There were no animals rustling in the brush. Everything became completely and utterly still.

All at once Nik’s tattooed chest gulped in a breath, his chest rising off the dirt as his lungs filled with air, a gasp releasing from his blood caked mouth.

His eyes closed as his hand fisted in Annelise’s.

His chest rose again with another tentative inhale.

Then another.

Great heaving breaths racked his body until he settled, his breathing evening out and becoming rhythmic once more. When he opened his eyes to gaze upon the morning sky of Akra they were impossibly, glacially, blue.

For one impossibly long moment, I sensed the bond snapping back into place. A surge of magic sparked in my core, seeping through my veins, and my eyes pressed closed at the intensity of the power surging through me. I allowed myself one moment of shock before relief swarmed my body and I fell against him, wrapping his cold, blood caked body in my embrace. I didn’t care.

Nikolai wasalive.

And hewasn’tNoctani.

He wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me against him. His hand fisted in my hair as he held my face against his shoulder, soft sobs escaping me. I could sense the binding deep in my core, as if it had never left at all.

“Diana, Diana, Diana.” My name was on his lips as if it were a chant. A prayer. Wonder laced his voice as if he couldn’t believe it, and neither could I.

And then something in him shifted.

He pushed me away enough to gaze into my eyes—and in that moment—he finally broke.

Tear drops fell from his eyes, leaving dirt and blood stains across his cheeks. His hand held my cheek as he held my gaze with his own, the pain clear in his gaze.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” His voice cracked.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” I assured him, my hand clamping over his at my cheek.

“You’re wrong.” His eyes swam with tears, his face stricken. “You’re wrong.” His voice was a harsh whisper as his eyes fell to his lap, his hand falling with it.

I tried to hold his hand in mine, but he pulled away.

“Nik—” I wasn’t sure what I was going to say.

That everything that had happened while he was Noctani was ok? That we could go back to the way things used to be? The binding constricted in my chest as he moved away, standing on shaky legs.

“Welcome back,” Puck said, a smile lifting the corner of his mouth.

Nik’s gaze met his and fresh tears sprang forth. He was likely thinking of how he had fought him.Hurthim. Knocked him out. He had done the same to me.