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I tensed as Erovos seized control of my body with whips of darkness. Smokey tendrils ensnared my wrists one at a time, forcing my hands into the shackles that swayed from Indrasyl’s cavity. My tendons strained as I resisted the dark power that controlled me like a marionette doll.

With the final clink of the irons, my arms were wrenched apart, drawn taut within the hollow trunk.

I had always known my wrists were destined for these chains. And now here I was, strung up and decorated like the sacrificial lamb I’d been reduced to.

But I wasn’t alone; Indrasyl and I were both prisoners to Erovos’ devices.

I had seen the dying Mother Tree after my Hymma ceremony, where I thought I’d met the Dark Spirit for the first time.

Though, according to my repressed memories, this was where my childhood night terrors had played out one by one.

I lifted my gaze to find Erovos, his eyes gleaming with the anticipation of receiving everything he’d ever wanted. The cost being me, my body, and soul. “How many men did you string up like this before me? Killing them for something they didn’t possess?”

“It took mountains of corpses to find you,” he said casually, inspecting the dark smoke against my skin, and I flinched in disgust. “I’m glad you’ve finally decided to see things my way and cooperate. It wasn’t easy getting you here.”

Erovos stepped into my space, eyes on fire with a gravitational hunger that pulled at the edges of my skin.

He placed his finger on my cupid’s bow, his touch cold, hard, and unflinching.

My gaze burned with revulsion as he traced a finger down my mouth and paused at my lower lip.

I snapped at his hand with my teeth, but he grabbed my chin in a bone-crushing grip.

“Don’t bite the hand that is about to free you. ”

“Interesting words to say to someone you just shackled,” I said, staring back into his eyes defiantly.

“Oh, Keira, it is not these chains that bind you. Can’t you see? It is this body that imprisons you,” Erovos said, loosening his grip to trace his fingers over my chin. My breathing was rampant, my chest heaving as his finger continued to slide down the column of my throat.

“Where does the Alcreon Light reside? Is it in your spirit? Your mind? Or is it here?” he asked, tapping his finger at the swell of my left breast. His touch lingered over my pounding heart, which simultaneously surged with life yet shattered with grief.

“I guess I will just have to use all of you to find out.”

At least my heart had known Rowen’s, however fleeting our time together had been. He finally confessed his love for me and explained why he’d kept it hidden for so long—why so much time had been wasted. He had done it to protect me from the woman who had cursed and abused him.

I needed to get back to him. That couldn’t have been all the time we were allowed after baring our souls and claiming each other’s bodies. I would forever resent the Spirits if that were all the time we were given.

I thrashed beneath Erovos’ icy touch, desperate to find a way—any way—to stop him. But I had willingly brought this upon myself, and he relished every second of my fight.

His amused expression turned hungry as his orange eyes glinted in the night.

“Such a pity that one so beautiful must be destroyed,” he said, his hand latching onto my shoulder.

“I can put you back to your true form. You were never meant to be trapped in this fragile body. Can’t you feel it failing all around you? ”

I squeezed my eyes shut and thought of Rowen. No matter what happened, I would keep thinking of him, of our few perfect nights together. I would let the memory of his fingers and breath on my skin give me strength.

“Beings of my kind made you. Therefore, it shouldn’t be without too much difficulty to unmake you. You should be thanking me.”

“You underestimate the Elder Spirits,” I said, ignoring the dress that clung to my skin like a shroud of crawling spiders.

“They chose me for a reason. Maybe this was their plan all along, and you’re falling right into their trap.

” I was grasping at straws, but how could I defeat a being with no weaknesses?

The Dark Spirit smiled, a horrifying sight on his smooth, pale face.

“The Elder Spirits have made many mistakes. As well as your fearless leader Nepta. When she broke the Stone, the Light sought a vessel from another world, though why it chose one so fragile is beyond me. You might just be another mistake, but I must admit, you were the last place I would ever look.”

Erovos lifted both hands and placed them on either side of my face.

His touch was gentle, almost like he was pulling me in for a kiss.

Disgusted, I wrenched my head in his grasp, but his fingers dug in deeper.

I may have agreed to be here to save everyone I loved, but I refused to be toyed with any longer.

“Do what you mean to do, and let’s be done with it,” I spat.

“Very well. Goodbye, Keira, bearer of the Alcreon Light.”

A splitting pain unlike anything I’d ever felt erupted in my skull. It traveled down my neck and back in chasms of agony when, suddenly, a blast of light shot out of my arm like a bullet hole.

I blinked in shock before another silver beam shot out of my chest, then my shoulder, stomach, and hands. Bright streaks erupted all over my body, covering me in pinholes of searing Light.

I yanked against the bonds, uselessly thrashing as Erovos’ fingers pressed into my scalp. I only knew I was screaming from the tearing sensation in my throat.

I’d emitted power out of my body before. But this? This was different. It was as if the Light was being pulled from the very essence of my being. My legs gave out, forcing my wrists to take the brunt of my weight.

Tears streamed down my face as I retreated somewhere deep inside, where I wouldn’t feel this . . . this destroying.

“Watch as I free you,” Erovos said, forcing my gaze back to his. His focus was steady as he dug his nails in so deep, I swore blood dripped down my temples. “Watch as I bend your body to my will, reshaping you into a gateway—a tunnel of light through which I can travel.”

My eyes widened in terror as agony pierced me to my marrow. He was deconstructing me down to the purest form of Light.

My flesh burned out of existence as more streams of celestial brilliance shot out of my body. I barely registered the breathtaking sight before I whipped back in a violent arch; the Light engulfing me like an exploding star .

I was losing feeling, going numb, which was bad. Very bad. I tried focusing on my wrists where I still felt the cold metal shackles, but even that was fading.

Suddenly, the pain vanished. All of it, and the chains that once bound my wrists now hung limp and empty.

The body I knew was gone.

My pearlescent glow bloomed like a noxlily, my silver petals unfurling to connect with the sides of the tree, looking for something to grasp on to.

“Fascinating,” Erovos marveled as his eyes grew wider, a shimmering pool of Light reflecting in his irises.

Me.

Somehow, I could still see and hear even though my senses were distorted without a body to anchor them. I should have been terrified, but it was oddly freeing. And for a moment, I considered giving in. I had already lost.

Or could I harness this new form? Use it to my advantage?

If Erovos intended to turn me into a gateway of Light, then I would be just that. I would decide who and how they passed. No one else.

Step through, I coaxed the Dark Spirit’s mind, shocking even myself with the sound of my voice.

Erovos hesitated, astonished that I could speak to him. My caressing of his mind had defied his expectations.

What are you waiting for? Isn’t this what you wanted?

Erovos remained where he stood, his billowing cloak of darkness brushing against his bare ankles.

Why wasn’t he moving?

I couldn’t lose this chance and let him slip away, not when I was slipping myself. I could barely remember why I was here, only that I desperately needed to contain this Dark Spirit before his blight spread through the cosmos .

More power awaits you , I lied, not letting my voice reveal how frightened I was, terrified that he might change his mind.

“You are under my command. And you will take me where I wish to go,” he said, dipping his hand into my pool of Light.

My new form wanted to recoil, but I quickly latched onto his hand. I will take you where a hungry being such as yourself deserves to go.

Erovos tried to pull away, but my Light held firm. He yanked again, his expression twisting in fury as he realized I wasn’t letting go. “Release me,” he demanded, and when I ignored him, he thrashed like a wild animal, desperately fighting to break free.

You thought I was weak and easily manipulated. But you have unleashed me, I said, surging with unshackled power.

However strong I felt, Erovos was an Elder Spirit with formidable power, and I was losing my grip in our battle of wills.

You shall travel where I see fit for you to go, I said, struggling to hold on to Erovos’ thrashing body, gnawing for release. I couldn’t keep him like this forever. I would have to send him somewhere.

I shifted my attention, searching for a familiar prison, even though it already harbored a guilty man. Or what was left of him.

I frantically searched for the lightning-shaped crevice that had once opened just for me, revealing the astrally torn spirit of Maddock Mosa.

His fractured mind had called to me after the connection we’d forged in the hospital where I’d tried and failed to save him.

The echo of pain guided me to the place where all our destinies would intertwine.

I needed to hurry before I lost my hold on Erovos, which was weakening by the second.

At last, I found the crevice—dark and jagged, just as I remembered it. And now, it would be the eternal resting place for both Erovos and Maddock.

But before I could transport Erovos, he wrenched free, and my heart plummeted like a cliff falling into the sea. The failures of my life stacked before me like a crumbling wall, waiting to bury me under the weight of my guilt. Maybe Erovos was right, and I was a mistake.

I failed not only Luneth but Earth as well, and any other planet Erovos deemed worthy enough to drain. Because the Dark Spirit would not give up; he would find another way to travel to distant worlds, returning here to use me once I’d forgotten who I was.

Suddenly, a bronze warrior burst from the shadows, barreling into Erovos with the force of a charging beast. Demil lunged out of nowhere, his momentum unstoppable as he locked the world eater in a tight embrace.

I could only watch as they both fell through my tunnel of light.

How had Demil returned so quickly? Had he slain Graem? The giant was colossal, but Demil was a fierce warrior. Had it come to deathly blows, or had Demil escaped, returning for one last shot at redemption?

“Unhand me!” Erovos shrieked as they plunged together into the crevice. The once handsome man who’d lain next to me in the ICU would be there to greet them. Though his physical body was comatose in a hospital bed, his astral body was stranded in the cave I now banished the Dark Spirit to.

But I didn’t have the time or luxury to feel regret over Maddock and Demil. They had chosen their fates.

I extended my Light in a swirling vortex, pushing the traitor and world eater deeper into the crevice.

Erovos fought and gnashed, but Demil’s arms squeezed tighter, never letting go of the Dark Spirit. The warrior’s yellow eyes quickly traced over my glimmering essence, so out of place in this nightmarish cave. “Get out!” he screamed, his silver circlets stark against Erovos’ black robes.

I pulled away, reeling in my current of Light as Demil held the Dark Spirit back, buying me precious time to escape. But I couldn’t just leave. I needed to seal the rock shut.

With unspeakable strain, I tried to close the chasm, and to my disbelief, the sound of grinding stone filled the air.

It was as if the earth was aiding me, helping me imprison the being that had fed off it for years.

The lightning-shaped crevice closed, trapping all three men deep within the mountain.

Relief surged through me as I fell back and settled into my crushed diamond energy, letting it become all that I was.

Cradled within Indrasyl’s hollow, I silently slipped away, and I knew no more.