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Chapter Twenty-Eight

Annora

The sun rises high in the sky as I grapple with what Aleksander made me do. I try pacing, but my heart refuses to forget.

The hem of my surcoat whips against my legs as I hurry to my desk and grab a piece of charcoal, desperate for some semblance of calm, of normalcy, but it doesn’t work.

How could it?

I toss the charcoal aside and reach for a book instead, flipping through the pages without seeing the words.

I need to get out of here.

Need to run.

Need to flee.

The gods help me.

I slam the book shut as my legs give out, and I crumble onto the sofa, the faces of those men flashing through my mind over and over.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I say through the pain tightening in my chest, but apologies can’t bring back the dead. Nothing can.

Fire burns beneath my skin, that cursed magic yearning to be free, but it’s not mine.

Nothing is mine anymore!

Except the Phoenix.

For some unexplainable reason, I have been able to control the Phoenix with Rowena’s help—to call on it, to dismiss it when needed.

But nothing else.

My crimson magic might as well be dust inside me. Dust I cannot call on. Dust I cannot use without Aleksander commanding me to.

Bastard!

I stumble to my feet, knocking over the chair at my desk. My sketches scatter across the floor—drawings of Jasce, seashells, and ocean waves.

As I bend down to pick them up, my gaze catches on the metal around my wrist, and I freeze. Something’s different.

Instead of one bracelet, two silver bands circle my wrist now.

Anger smolders through me as I wrap my fingers around the metal and try to rip them free, but they don’t budge.

“Fuck!” I scream the word over and over as I hurl my sketches onto my desk. Most slide off, hitting the floor again.

My fingers tremble as I grab my turquoise ring and twist it, my heart aching with a desperate, all-consuming need for Jasce.

His strength, his comfort, his love.

I picture his face as I grip the ring tighter and tighter. “Jasce, please , I need you so much.”

The walls spin around me, colors blurring and bleeding together in a dizzying whirl. My breath catches, and my stomach drops as I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing myself against the disorienting tide.

When the chaos finally subsides, I open my eyes. Crystal walls shimmer with an otherworldly light, refracting and reflecting the elements of the six tribes of Tarrobane—darkness, light, air, earth, fire, and water.

My breath hitches as I spin in a slow circle. The air here feels different—lighter, cleaner, as if filtered through layers of mountain snow.

But none of that matters. Because there, standing mere feet away, is Jasce.

How?

I allow the thought to linger for only a moment before I launch myself at him. He catches me easily, his arms banding around me like steel. I bury my face against his chest and inhale.

“Jasce,” I gasp, my fingers digging into his back. “Jasce.”

His hand cups the back of my head. “I’m here, Annora.”

“I killed them,” I choke out, the words tasting like bile on my tongue. “Aleksander commanded me to use my magic, and I—I couldn’t fight it. I burned them alive.”

The horror crashes over me as I cling to Jasce, as if his strength could somehow chase away the darkness staining my soul.

“I’m a monster,” I say, my words raw and painful against my throat. “Your brother has turned me into a monster.”

Jasce’s fingers thread through my hair, his touch gentle, loving, caring. “No, you’re not a monster. Aleksander is the monster for forcing you to do this.”

“I should have fought harder,” I insist, my voice raw with self-loathing. “I should have found a way to resist him, but I didn’t. Instead, I let him use me and twist my magic into something evil.”

Jasce cups my face in his hands. “Listen to me, Annora. This is not your fault. Aleksander is the one to blame. He’s the one who bound your magic to him. You didn’t have a choice.”

I want to believe Jasce, want to cling to the absolution he’s offering, but the guilt is too heavy, the shame too deep.

Pain squeezes around my heart as I shake my head. “But I’m the one who did it. I’m the one who killed them.”

“Because you had no choice,” Jasce says, his voice fierce and unyielding.

With everything in me, I want to believe Jasce, want to let his words sink into my skin and chase away the darkness coiling like poison in my chest.

“I should have—”

Jasce’s fingers slide under my chin, tilting my face up to meet his gaze.

“If there had been a way to fight him, you would have found it. But this magic, this bond, it’s not something you can overpower with sheer will.

” His words wrap around me like armor, shielding me from the sharpest edges of my guilt.

“I’m so tired of being used. Of being a pawn in other people’s games.”

His arms tighten around me, pulling me closer until there’s no space left between us. “I know. You deserve so much more than what you’ve been given. You deserve to be yourself and to thrive.”

He’s right.

I do deserve more.

I deserve a life where my choices are my own.

“I cannot thrive in Bakva.” I rise onto my tiptoes and slide my arms around Jasce’s neck. “It’s too far from you. My heart withers without you.”

“Mine withers without you. I need you so damn much.” His words wrap around my chest, filling the cracks and fissures.

His fingers lace through mine as he guides me across the room to a curved stone bench tucked into an alcove.

He sits and pulls me onto his lap. “Talk to me. Let me carry some of your burdens.”

Using my index finger, I trace the crimson Phoenix on his surcoat—that coat of arms that should divide us but doesn’t.

“Every time I close my eyes, I see their faces. The way they looked at me right before...” My voice breaks, but I force myself to continue, to say the words.

“They knew what was coming. They knew, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.”

Jasce strokes one hand up and down my back.

“A second bracelet appeared today.” I hold out my wrist, allowing the silver bands to catch the light. “I don’t know when or how, but I feel the difference. The tugging inside me.”

Lightly, Jasce brushes his hand over the metal. “Does it hurt?”

“No, but it terrifies me.” I swallow through the ache in my chest. “Each day, I lose another piece of myself. First my magic, then my will, and now...” I shake my head. “What’s next? My heart?”

“Your heart is yours, Annora. Always.”

“But for how long?” The words scratch my throat as I continue. “I keep thinking about what grandfather did to Asha—how he twisted her until she became someone else entirely. What if Aleksander does the same to me?”

“I won’t let that happen.”

“But you’re not there.” The truth sends threads of pain coiling around my chest. “You’re not there when he commands me, when he uses my magic for his own ends.

You’re not there when I have to watch Asha fall deeper under his influence.

” I press my face into Jasce’s neck. “And the worst part is, sometimes I see glimpses of good in him. When he helps feed the poor or defends someone weaker. It makes it harder to hate him completely.”

“The most dangerous monsters are the ones who show you just enough humanity to make you doubt yourself.” The truth of Jasce’s words settles inside me like stone.

“I’m scared. Not just of what he might make me do, but of who I might become.”

“Listen to me. Every waking moment, I’m searching for a way to break this bond. My scholars are combing through ancient texts. My spies are hunting down anyone who might know something about binding magic.”

“But what if there isn’t a way?” I ask, my voice fracturing under the weight of that question.

“There’s always a way.”

Every part of me wants to believe him— needs to believe him, but hope feels dangerous right now. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because I refuse to accept any other outcome. I’ve already lost too much to my brother’s ambition. I won’t lose you too.” The conviction in Jasce’s words settles over me, and for the first time since those men died by my hand, the tension in my shoulders eases.

I pull back, my gaze darting around the strange, shimmering room. “Where are we?”

“This is The Elemental.”

“What is The Elemental?”

“It’s a sacred space between realms. A meeting place for those who need it most. The old texts speak of it, but I never thought...” He shakes his head.

“But how are we here? I don’t understand.”

The lines across Jasce’s brow deepen as he reaches for my hand, fingers wrapping around the turquoise ring. “I wonder if it’s because you’re wearing this ring.”

“Zerah gave it to me. She said it belonged to your mother.”

His thumb traces the smooth stone. “It did. But I never knew it held this kind of power. Though, I should have guessed. My mother always said it was special.”

As I look around the room again, the elements continue their dance—fire, water, earth, air, light, and shadow—all existing in perfect harmony.

If only all Tarrobane existed like this—in harmony—instead of warring against each other.

“Your sister saved my life when she gave me this ring.” I cover his hand with mine, feeling the warmth of his skin against my palm. “She knew exactly what I needed, even when I didn’t.”

“Zerah is intuitive.”

“She is a true friend,” I say, and I mean it with all my heart.

As I settle back against Jasce, a thought strikes me, and I voice it out loud. “How long does this last? Will I be transported back to Bakva at any moment?”

“I’m not entirely sure. The legends are vague, but I believe it may last until we fall asleep.”

“Then, I’m never going to fall asleep.”