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“We can’t stay here.” Draven says the words carefully, as if worried how I might react. “My clan is still out there. They’ve been in hiding and on the run for months now. I can’t abandon them.”

I turn towards him. “I know.”

Relief flits across his features, and he nods.

Tense silence falls over us as we both turn to stare at the glittering blue doorway. The unspoken question hangs like an executioner’s blade in the air between us. We need to get out, but how the hell do we get through the portal?

My mind churns, and I take Draven by the arm and move us a short distance away from the portal. Just in case the Unseelie King is standing right on the other side, where we can’t see, listening in.

“The son of a bitch picked the only emotion that I can’t manipulate,” I growl softly as Draven and I come to a halt on the grass a little farther away.

“Otherwise, I could temporarily decrease your love for me while I step through the portal. Then once you have been transported back as well, I could just release my magic again. But love is the only emotion I can’t manipulate. ”

Draven forces out a long breath and rakes his fingers through his hair. It’s still wet from the rainstorm, and he flicks the drops away from his hands when he lets them fall back down. “So how do we get through it, then?”

“I don’t know. The one who loves you will die? Everyone has at least one person who loves them.”

A jolt goes through Draven’s body, and he stands up straighter. “Isera.”

I frown, trying to figure out what he means. When I do, my frown deepens even more. “It would’ve been a good loophole, but I don’t think Orion actually loves her. He wants her, yes. But I don’t think he loves her.”

“No, I mean, Isera doesn’t have anyone who loves her.”

The words hit like a stab through my chest. And for a moment, all I can do is to stare at him, my mouth slightly open.

But he’s right. Isera said it herself. She has been alone her entire life.

She has no one. No parents. No partner. No friends.

Sure, she has me and Alistair now, but neither of us actually knows her well enough to love her.

A pang hits my heart.

Goddess above, how sad is that?

“She will be able to step through the portal without anyone dying,” Draven continues. “And that will transport us all back too. We just need to hold the portal until she gets here and then?—”

Fire roars across the glen.

Draven throws out a blast of wind, barely managing to redirect the flames before they can hit. Fire crashes into the trees to our left instead, setting the purple hanging moss aflame.

Whipping around, I gasp as a squad in bronze breastplates charges out of the woods.

Panic rips at my chest. The group of natives who were hunting us from the ground before the winged serpent showed up! I had forgotten about them.

Next to me, Draven flares his wings wide.

And then sucks in a hiss.

Oh, fuck. His wings.

Making a snap decision, I spin to face him and grab him by the collar. “My magic. Take it. Take enough to heal your wings.”

He jerks back, horror flashing across his face at the suggestion, and then has to throw another massive gust of wind at our enemies to stop the blast of water that their leader directed at us.

“Don’t argue!” I snarl. “Just take it. We need to hold the portal!”

Hesitation flickers in his eyes for a second. Then he grabs me by the throat and crushes his lips against mine. I gasp as he inhales sharply, pulling my magic with it.

Strength leaves my body in a rush as the magic is sucked out of my body.

Draven’s wings immediately begin to heal at an incredible pace while he breaks away from me.

“Go!” I yell, shoving him towards the charging squad.

Thankfully, he sprints towards them straight away and doesn’t see the way I stagger sideways from the sudden exhaustion.

I had already used up a lot of energy when I lost my mind and created all those emotions in Blondie’s chest, and then again when I made the winged serpent flee, and now there isn’t much left.

Steel sings into the air as Draven draws his sword while summoning a lightning storm. His wings are now completely healed.

I yank out my dagger as well while calling up what remains of my magic. Creating emotions from nothing takes much more energy than simply manipulating ones that are already there, so I focus on that instead since it will make my magic last longer.

Dread curls around my spine as I watch Draven charge straight towards those nine people. Just like the squad who rode the winged serpent, only the leader seems to be able to use magic. But the other eight carry bows. How the hell are we supposed to?—

The Red Faction bursts through the trees.

Shock pulses across their faces as they take in the scene before them. The strange beings in bronze armor halt their attacks on Draven and turn to stare as well. For a single second, that moment seems suspended in time.

Then Draven slams a massive storm wind into the bronze-clad squad.

They scream, half of them flying backwards and crashing into the people behind.

The leader leaps to his feet, a snarl on his face, and throws a torrent of fire back at Draven, who is countering with another blast of wind.

The other squad members lurch to their feet and swing their bows towards the Red Faction.

Panicked orders split the air as the team leader yells at the rest of his faction. Two of them summon fire and water to block the hail of arrows while their fastest runner, a woman with golden hair, breaks off from the group. And sprints towards me .

A jolt shoots up my spine, and I cast a panicked glance over my shoulder.

Oh shit. She’s heading for the portal. And if she makes it through, her entire team will be transported out with her and the pocket reality will collapse.

It won’t matter if we can hold off against these strange beings in bronze until Isera gets here.

If one person from the Red Faction steps through, the portal will disappear, leaving us trapped here with these furious beings forever.

A snarl of fury rips from my lungs as I spin around and sprint back towards the portal, aiming to cut off the woman’s path to it before she can reach it. I have to keep her from reaching it.

She snaps her gaze towards me. Anger crackles across her face, and she picks up speed.

Panic pulses through my entire body like lightning strikes as she hurtles across the grass at an impossible speed. I run with everything I have, but she keeps getting closer.

Ten strides from the portal.

Eight.

Six.

Three.

I slam into her from the side.

She gasps as my body connects with hers so forcefully that we both go crashing down on the grass in a tangle of limbs. I yank my arm out from between her body and the ground, and then I stab my blade straight towards her throat.

No time to hesitate. No room for second thoughts. No chances to knock her out or to make her surrender. She needs to die. Right now. Before she can get through the portal.

Panic flashes across her face, and she yanks her head to the side right in time.

A pulse shoots up my entire forearm as my blade slams into the ground instead, sinking deep into the grass. With a growl, I yank it back out. But that buys her enough time to get her knee up in between us.

I suck in a sharp breath as she kicks hard, forcing my body away from hers.

The force of it throws me backwards. She pushes herself up from the grass and tries to get to her feet, but I launch myself at her again.

A cry rips from her throat as I manage to slash my blade across the back of her hand.

Drawing her other fist back, she tries to punch me in the face.

But she doesn’t summon any magic, which means that running impossibly fast probably is her magical ability.

I duck her punch, twisting my body sideways as I try to get back on top of her.

But she kicks her knee out, forcing me back again.

While swiping with my dagger, I reach blindly towards her.

Grabbing her collar, I yank her body sideways and throw her to the grass.

She gasps, panic bursting in her eyes as she hits the ground hard while I roll on top of her.

The portal glitters only a single stride away now.

She reaches for it, stretching out her hand towards the sand on the other side. Her fingers almost brush the glittering blue frame.

I scream.

And ram my blade down through her throat.

Shock pulses across her whole face, and her hand falters.

With that shock, and a sudden flood of fear, in her eyes, she stares up at me as I yank the blade back out. Blood wells up from the wound, bubbling as she tries to breathe. Only gurgling sounds make it out.

For a few seconds, all I can do is to stare down at her as the light dies in her eyes.

Then she goes still, her dead eyes staring up at me unseeing and her fingers one single inch away from the portal.

Warm blood trickles down her throat from the wound and spills over the hand I still have buried in the collar of her red fighting leathers. The feeling of it snaps me out of my stupor, and I yank my hand back.

Flicking warm blood from my fingers, I stagger to my feet while sucking in a shuddering breath.

I have recovered enough strength that I will be able to use my magic to create one emotion. And I need to use that on the squad leader in bronze so that Draven doesn’t have to?—

My heart… stops.

Time seems to slow to a crawl as I stare out at the glen before me.

The rest of the Red Faction are fighting six of those beings in bronze armor across the charred and bloodstained grass. The other two bow wielding natives have their weapons pointed at Draven.

And Draven… Draven’s back hits the ground with a thud loud enough to echo across the glen. As if he was high up in the air just a moment ago. Up above him, the leader of the bronze squad is hovering in the air, wind magic rushing around him.

And a massive boulder is speeding straight towards Draven’s head. It’s big enough that it will crush his entire torso when it hits.

It’s not a question of if . It’s when .

Draven, dazed from the hard landing that knocked the back of his head against the ground, will never have time to summon enough wind to push that massive boulder aside.

And I can’t use my one remaining burst of magic to create fear in the squad leader’s chest, because the attack has already been thrown.

It won’t matter if I break his entire fucking mind with fear.

That boulder is still going to crush Draven’s skull.

Each fraction of a second seems to span an eternity as I stare at the inevitable end to the life we were just beginning.

Draven is going to die.

He is going to die.

I scream.

And throw everything I have into one last attack created from pure desperation.

An attack against the person I love more than anything.

Against the person who loves me more than anyone.

My magic shoots across the grass.

A massive wildfire of red-violet hatred slams right into Draven’s chest.

And our mate bond shatters .