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“Blood spells are convenient for such things.” The sorcerer’s scarlet eyes glowed bright as his power surged. “The trick is the participant must be willing. ”

That explained his swiftness in taking Jessamine. He knew Arabella wouldn’t have given him access to her blood without leverage.

Magnus pressed his bloodied palm against hers and began chanting in a language she didn’t understand.

When their palms touched, their blood floated up and wrapped in a circle around both of their forearms. A moment later, both Arabella’s shadows and Magnus’ scarlet power banded around their arms as well.

He paused his chanting and said, “Your Majesty, do you object to my… borrowing one of your guards?”

“Do what you must,” Genoveva said from her throne.

With a flick of his wrist, the sorcerer sent a band of his magic flying to the soldier beneath the nearest archway.

There was a distinct tug somewhere deep within Arabella as her magic was summoned without her willing it, flowing into Magnus.

When the fae screamed, she turned toward him, watching in horror as her and Magnus’ combined magic wrapped around the soldier, starting at his feet and entwining up his entire body.

As it did, blood flowed down the band of magic toward the fae.

When it collided with his chest, the man’s head jerked toward the ceiling as his screams grew to a feverish pitch.

His eyes and mouth glowed a brilliant white, which solidified into a burbling liquid and poured out of his mouth.

Then it flowed out of him and up their combined magic until it swirled around their bloodied palms.

The guard crumpled to the ground, dead instantly.

“What the fuck?” Arabella hissed. “You just killed him.”

Magnus had begun chanting again, but he paused to say, “You didn’t think a syphen came into existence without sacrifice, did you?” He made a tsking sound before returning to his chanting.

As he wove his dark spell, the flow of magic coming from her changed.

At first, it felt like something tugged at her core, stripping pieces of her away as she was siphoned of energy.

Like a human amplifier. Power flowed from her like a trickling stream until there was a burning sensation and then a tug.

Then it was like the damn on her power had been decimated as the current poured from her.

Gasping, she stumbled forward, catching herself and bumping into Magnus.

He ignored her as he continued the spell, and she watched as her shadows swirled around them both, mixing with the sorcerer’s scarlet magic until she could no longer differentiate the two.

Some of their combined magic flowed into the once-empty amplifier.

Then he held the blade into the air, and a strange darkness swirled down from the windows.

It wasn’t the shadows. She would’ve been able to feel their humming if it had been. This was entirely different. It felt like a pulsing of deep space, an otherworldly dark heartbeat.

The dark moon , she realized. He’s summoning its magic.

She watched as the dark moon’s power twisted in the air, flowing toward the knife. Its movements were jerky, almost childlike, as though it was curious.

As though it was somehow alive.

Hadeon, Genoveva, Jessamine, and Elias watched in silence as that dark crept ever downward.

The only sound that could be heard was Magnus’ chanting, which had softened to a low rumble.

Clenching her teeth, she took several deep breaths, trying to steady her swirling vision.

The flow of Magnus’ dark magic was quickly depleting her energy.

It was an effort to ignore the way her slick palm slid against Magnus’ as he gripped her hand too tightly, his attention focused wholly on the new presence whirling toward them.

Then it was a breath away, stretching out toward the knife.

The moment the energy collided with the hilt, a burst of unnatural wind swept through the throne room.

“Yes,” Magnus hissed as the energy… stuck to the blade.

Somehow, she could feel its sudden fear, how it tried to pull away, but it couldn’t separate itself from the knife.

The sorcerer’s chanting grew to a crescendo, and suddenly his voice was no longer one, but many.

The magic spinning around their bodies swept upward to meet where the dark moon’s magic was being sucked into the blade.

Then all three powers moved in a combined current of magic, billowing in circles that soon became too fast for her eyes to track.

As it did, she felt a tickling sensation from her ears and nose.

When she brought up her free hand to swipe it, she realized it was blood.

Then the torrent began to slow as their powers flowed into the amplifier at the hilt.

In moments, the magic was sucked into the amplifier until nothing remained.

The room was utterly silent, and the dark moon’s magic had changed. No, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t just magic. It was a piece of the moon, itself.

No longer did it hover in the air. Somehow, the sorcerer had trapped the magic within the blade.

Magnus released her abruptly, and she staggered backward, nearly falling on her ass. He looked up to the queen on her throne, whose eyes flashed with sudden fervor.

“Now, I shall prove to you immortality is within reach.” He turned back to Arabella. “But first…” He reached within his robes—grabbing Elias’ syphen. “Elias, restrain Enchantress Arabella. If she resists or tries to break free, kill Jessamine and then yourself.”

Arabella blinked, her mind not wrapping around his words as Elias stepped between the shadows. He appeared beside her and grabbed her arms, forcing them behind her back.

“Elias—” she began but stopped as she watched in horror as Magnus pressed the tip of his new syphen to the center of Jessamine’s chest. His scarlet magic banded around Jessamine’s entire body, pinning her arms to her sides. “No! Don’t touch her?—”

Elias’ lips pressed to her ear, and Arabella thought for a moment he might speak, might say something— anything —to make this better. To make this madness stop.

But she knew with devastating certainty that Magnus had forbidden him from speaking to her as Elias shook his head. The gesture was so faint, and she felt it in the way his cheek pressed into her hair.

Don’t , he was trying to say.

If Arabella tried to use her magic or break away, Elias would kill both Jessamine and himself. In a single instant, she’d lose both her best friend and her mate.

Tears cascaded down her cheeks as she watched Magnus hold the syphen to Jessamine’s chest, chanting once more. Blood plopped onto the floor beneath his hand, but he ignored it as a golden magic swirled from Jessamine’s chest and out her mouth.

Her magic , Arabella realized.

Somehow, Magnus had detached the earthen magic from Jessamine’s body. How was that even possible?

Jessamine snarled at Magnus as his power lifted her off the floor, making her hover in the air.

She spat in his face as her magic wrapped around the syphen and filtered into the amplifier at the base of the hilt.

For a moment, the black glass orb glowed golden.

Then, the sorcerer’s magic wrapped around Jessamine’s neck and pulled.

The sound of Jessamine’s neck snapping cracked across the room, echoing unnaturally loud.

A scream tore from Arabella’s throat as she felt the blossoming light of her friend’s magic—Jessamine’s life— go suddenly dark.

No, no, no, this couldn’t be happening .

Jessamine was her sister, her best friend. She couldn’t even comprehend a life without her in it—without her laugh, her sharp tongue, and her constant reassuring presence.

Arabella screamed and screamed, the shadows surging from the floor in a torrent.

As her knees slammed into the floor, she distantly registered that Magnus’ chanting continued.

One moment, Jessamine’s body hung limp in the sorcerer’s magic a few inches off the ground, and the next, there was a loud gasp.

Blinking through her tears, Arabella watched as the shimmering gold energy from the syphen flowed over Jessamine from head to toe.

As it did, light animated her features, but it also changed them.

Jessamine’s cheekbones grew sharper, her muscles swelled within her leathers, and her ears became pointed.

Like the fae.

Jessamine fell to the floor, gasping.

In an instant, Arabella stepped between shadows, crossing the space and knelt before her friend.

Running her hands over Jessamine’s face, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Jessamine’s neck had been broken—twisted unnaturally to the side.

Now, she was not only whole, but a magic unlike anything Arabella had ever sensed from another magic wielder blossomed in her senses.

No longer was there the telltale golden energy of an enchantress.

Instead, Arabella felt the booming power of something else entirely.

“Unbelievable,” Jessamine groaned. “He turned me into a fucking fae.”

She was right. Or, Arabella thought she was. The magic felt fae but also more than that. It felt like it was somehow tied both to the beating heart of the earth and the fae realm, itself.

A sudden realization struck Arabella as she sensed the pulsing of her friend’s new abilities.

Jessamine’s magic had surpassed all the fae in the room, including Hadeon and the queen. Only Magnus’ power was stronger than hers. Somehow, she’d become…

“Immortal,” Magnus said as he strode over to the base of the dais. “She’s a new type of fae—an immortal race that doesn’t grow old or become ill. The only way she can die is by blade, poison, or a… similar means.”

The queen rose, striding down the dais steps and coming to stand before Jessamine. Genoveva’s eyes drew wide as she studied Jessamine, likely coming to the same conclusion Arabella had—feeling the complete change in her magic.