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“You trusted me in the trial. I trust you, Severyn. You are more powerful than you think.”

I climbed onto Naraic’s back, grazing my hand over his scales.

“What’s going on?” I demanded through the bond.

“The bond is down.”

“Is he—dead?”

A pause . “I don’t know. Ciaran can’t hear him.”

Ciaran cried from above like a wounded bird. The same noise Haziel made when Myla was taken to Malvoria. I nudged Naraic with my boot, and he took off.

Archer could be dead. The thought destroyed me. Destroyed any sense rattling my mind.

I had nothing to protect my body besides a few rusted daggers.

The sky welcomed us through the clouds .

Which way was Demetria? I knew the capital was the other end of Verdonia, but was that west? Which way was West?

Breathe.

I swore Naraic was in control of my lungs at this point.

We flew over the ocean, wings spread wide and fast. We hadn’t flown like this since Skyfall.

Ciaran stayed a few beats behind. The midnight sky loomed over, soaking us in nightfall.

Not the stars I wanted, not the moon’s glow I fasted to feel on my cheek.

“Naraic, can you hear him?”

Silence rang through our bond.

We made it to Ravensla at half the time, landing on the beach for a moment to catch our breath.

Damien closed his eyes, opening his palm. “I can’t portal Naraic without the risk of slicing him, Sev. He can’t come. I don’t trust my quell, not after the last trial.”

I glanced at Naraic and into his darkened eyes. The overhung shadows consumed the violet hues in them. “Tell Ciaran I will save Archer.” It pained me to leave him, but I knew flying would take days.

Emerich bowed low.

Ravensla, stripped of the lights and glamour of the festival, appeared different without the flurry of visitors.

Naraic huffed as I climbed onto Emerich’s back—and as those shadows ripped off my heart, the bond between Naraic and I swayed, fading as I gripped new scales.

Emerich clawed at the sand before taking off.

Damien yelled, “Hold onto me.”

Naraic followed, not listening to my pleading demands to stay back. I gripped Damien’s waist as he palmed the air, casting a flurry of glass and sand. I screamed as shards whirled, slicing into my hands and legs .

One sliced Naraic’s neck scales as he dove at us, wild eyes pleading like I’d never seen before. I couldn’t hear Naraic, and maybe that was for the best.

His talons shredded through the glass, stirring the shards in all directions. I opened my palm, twirling a rope of flame around Naraic’s neck.

“I’m sorry, Naraic.”

He growled, snapping his barred jaws like a wild beast, scorching a cindered mark around his scales, wings thrusting to break free. A white flash struck us as we traveled through the portal.

Fragments whirled, slicing me, slicing Damien. I screamed in agony. “Damien!”

Clipped mirrors and sand throttled the air.

Emerich hurled me off, crashing onto the unforgiving ground. Blurred vision, a brisk breeze, and cool dirt pressed against my cheek. Head throbbing from the impact, I rose to my bloody knees, tasting the metallic tang of blood on my bitten tongue.

“Damien!” I cried, staring into the shallows of the dark forest.

No answer.

I swung my gaze along the starlit woods, searching for him, for Emerich. But only wisped trees scorned the dirt path.

And then it was blood.

A bloodied body lay on the darkened dirt with a glass shard sliced through his neck.

Oh—Oh.

I ran, unsure how I hadn’t collapsed from the sight. A deep gash trailed along Damien’s neck, a shard sticking out of bloodied flesh. His pale eyes shifted in every direction before latching onto me.

I crawled toward him on my hands and knees, bracing his cold cheeks. “Damien, you got struck,” I cried. I was tired of crying.

“Severyn, take Emerich—find Archer. ”

“I’ll save you,” I said. “I can save you.” Burning tears fell onto his forehead as I brushed the dirt off his chin.

“I’m not dead. Yet,” he chuckled low and reached for my face. “Severyn—”

Yet. Damien would not die. “I’m not leaving you!”

“It’s me or you, Severyn. One of us will end up in Malvoria or worse…”

He wasn’t dead. I couldn’t save him, not yet. But how long would yet last until he was choking on his blood? How many breaths did he have left in him?

“You’re not fucking dying,” I hissed.

A shaking hand reached for me as if I would be his last sense of peace. “I loved you since I saw you, Severyn, and I need you to know that. I need you to know that it kills me that I will never be him.”

A trickle of blood dripped from his trembling lip. “I need you to know that—I love you as my last words. I don’t care if you don’t love me back, but… you… need to know it. If you bring me back, at least this voice has admitted it.”

“Damien,” I whispered as his hands clawed for air, choking on his every breath. “I’ll save you.” It killed me to watch him like this. I crawled back toward Emerich, knowing I had two lives to save in moments. I reached for those algae-streaked scales—

“We were never rivals,” he said, eyeing his pocket. “Take the letter… it’s the one we received at the sanity trial… I only wish things would have been different between us.”

I shakily reached for his torn pocket, gliding my chilled hands over a folded sheet of parchment. “You’ll wake up. You have to.”

I couldn’t save everyone—it would kill me knowing how many times death had crept into me. And as Damien took his last breath, I stayed there for a moment, allowing the silence to take over.

One less. One less to the title .

I covered my ears as Emerich cried the most devastating howl I’d ever heard. He spread his wings wide, a green scale already hued gray as if the color had washed out within the moonlight.

“Damien,” I cried. “I need you. I need you to stay, to wake up… I’m sorry.”

But he was also Archer’s brother, Kian’s too. And I could never—never wish the pain I felt when Klaus passed on anyone.

For a moment, I thought how cruel I was to believe a title meant more than a life.

I pressed my hand on his cold cheek, and a tremor went through my body, and it took everything in me to keep my hand there against his stillness. I sobbed as I ran my hand over Emerich’s scales. “Breathe. Breathe. Damien! Fight it.”

But both bodies were too still. Had I done something wrong? I got to my shaking knees. “Damien, you need to live. You need to fucking live.”

There’d been seven keys. With two more lives to save. Why was this not working?

I waited an hour, resting on his chest, dirt caking my swollen cheeks. My hands numbed from clutching his cheek.

Damien was dead, and he wasn’t coming back. I needed to leave.

I peeled myself off the cold ground, my body trembling. Blood smeared the inside of my mouth with every pounding beat of my heart.

Jagged peaks rimmed the land, and flocks of wild wyverns manically carved shapes into the clouds above. I was merely a mouse to them.

They spotted me.

The wyverns swooped low, talons outstretched, ready to tear through my leathers. I struck a flame at the nearest beast’s neck, but it wasn’t enough. Both palms faced the cold air as my sweat mixed with the blood clinging to my forehead .

The flame erupted from my scream, knocking me onto my backside.

“Enough! I’ve had enough!”

Three wyverns roared in response, releasing a storm of quilled spikes. I buried my face in my sleeve as the projectiles pierced my leather, biting into the flesh beneath.

I gritted my teeth and forced the remaining quell in my veins forward.

A golden griffin descended from the night sky, talons ripping into oily scales. Her beak snapped at a wyvern’s face, scattering its quills to the winds.

Setrephia.

Her feathers stretched wide as she hit the ground, crouching low enough for me to understand she wanted me to ride her.

She wanted to save me.

But where’s Charles?

The remaining wyvern whirled and fled south. I climbed onto Setrephia, leaning into her soft feathers and avoiding the healing scar near her left wing.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

Her sharp eyes turned toward the mountains in the distance.

That’s when I saw them—the masses, guards on foot, their armor gleaming under the moonlight as they marched toward the borders of Night. Something had attacked the walls, leaving rubble and broken stone scattered along the fences.

Archer wouldn’t allow enemies to breach his wards.

Archer was dead. He had to be.

Why had Damien portaled us so far? The plan was to stop in Heit. He wasn’t strong enough to transport us this distance.

Setrephia veered low, wings stirring dust and debris as the guards below pointed at the sky, their lips moving with shouted commands I couldn’t hear. I was too weak to feel my quell, drained and chilled within the shadows of whatever ripple remained of Archer’s wards.

The soldiers ran through the Night realm, swords drawn, while the civilians of Demetria screamed. Violet-caped figures darted into the alleys, seeking shelter.

Near the gates, I spotted him.

Charles.

He was leading the charge, his form steady as he directed others through the broken barriers. My grip tightened on Setrephia’s feathers as we landed.

“Charles!” I screamed his name, over and over, flailing my hands.

His blank gaze flicked toward me, his eyes softening as they met Setrephia’s. He gave her a subtle nod, acknowledging her presence.

In the pale moonlight, Charles looked different—his face dirt-smudged, his chin shadowed with grime. The three relics at his side glinted faintly, catching the silver glow.

Three cloaked figures emerged from the shadows, moving toward him. They whispered in his ear, their words too low for me to catch.

Charles’s lips moved.

He mouthed my name.

I stepped back instinctively, my pulse hammering in my ears.

Before I could react, slender hands gripped my elbow, their hold as cold and unyielding as iron.

I turned to face Myla… her face was unrecognizable, and a new scar marred her temple.

I felt a pound on the bond. “Severyn, Naraic says you took off?”