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Mara rested, sitting back on her haunches as she flattened her bloody dress. She gazed wistfully at Acastus who sat propped against the back wall of the cathedral where large windows opened up to view down through the courtyard. Cas’ crown sat in a puddle of blood by his mangled feet.

“We can’t just sit here,” Mara insisted without any real solution.

“Let's just hope the gods are watching,” he responded in his scratched voice.

Mara could hear the screams of the people even though they were a great distance away from the city. She held back her tears.

“Why are you crying, Princess? This was no fault of your own.”

She wiped her eyes, her fingers moving to pull at her skirts. “Of course it is. I’m the one who opened us up to the Veil.”

“I forced you to,” Cas said softly. His eyes were stark silver; the shade Mara had gazed into countless times since arriving in Kairth. Except this time, they didn’t flash back to gold. This was Acastus in all his glory, his true self. Something about the benevolence of his true self made her linger with remorse.

“And I was too much of a coward to say no.”

“I would have killed you, Mara.”

“And I would have saved so many people if you had taken my life,” she spat. She took a moment to breathe, trying to focus her attention on things that could help, not past mistakes. “If Evrardin manages to stop the svik ?—”

“It doesn’t matter if he does. The Sun Warriors are being powered through the Veil. The only way to stop them is to sever the connection altogether.”

Mara grabbed at her chest, her fingers digging into her skin, her heart throbbing in pain.

“What is it?” Acastus asked her.

She squinted her eyes in a grimace. “I… I don’t know. My chest… it’s—” She began coughing violently, blackened blood spewing onto her hand. Her eyes widened. Mara’s thoughts wandered back to what Willow had warned her about with the draugr flower.

But take too much, and you will never return to your previous state.

Had Mara consumed too much? She looked up at Cas in panic. “I…” she began. “I took draugr remnants.” Her words were hard to get out, her chest throbbing.

Acastus’ eyes darkened. “How much?”

She winced, her eyebrows furrowed as she pleaded.

He shook his head. “Shit.”

The whites of Mara’s eyes began to blacken, and she looked at Acastus in horror. His feathered hand reached for her. “The darkness is taking you,” he said rashly.

“I took too much.” Her heart raced in her chest, making her nauseous as more blood leaked from her lips.

“No.” Cas shook his head, propping himself upright with great distress. “Dark magick already coursed through you from the bonding… I had been using draugr.”

She swallowed the thick liquid that wouldn’t seem to stop pooling in her mouth. “But… But I took…”

He sucked in a breath. “Yes. Taking draugr, whilst already possessing dark means, is too much for a human body. It’s going to drag you under.”

Mara’s eyes were as large as she had ever pried them open, her irises lost to everything else. “Oh no,” she whispered, the horror dragging in each quiet syllable.

“The connection has to be severed. The draugr will leave your body if it has no place to thrive.”

She winced. “Yes,” she groaned, frustrated, “but how?”

He reached for her hand, holding it in his. Her fingertips were turning black the same way Cas’ irises blew, blackening his eyes.

And even if you do everything perfectly correct, a piece of you will always be bound to darkness.

“I’ll kill him,” she muttered, digging in her skirts for her dagger. She clutched it in her hand.

His fingers found hers, releasing her from her dagger as she stared at him. “It will only weaken him, Mara. I told you, we’re both connecting the Veil?—”

She gritted her teeth. “I know. I just… I need to know the captain is okay.”

She imagined Acastus had once been so full of life and kindness. Maybe he was not perfect, but he wasn’t malevolent like the monster the svik turned him into.

“Maybe you could forgive me,” he grumbled to himself. “Only knowing me for such a short period of time. But Evrardin had been under my command for years against his will, slowly dying inside.”

Evrardin came tumbling back into the cathedral, his heavy footsteps headed straight for the princess. She stood abruptly to face him, and he faltered in his step. “Princess.” The word came out as a breathless whisper. His eyes narrowed at Cas who was attempting to stand up. “What did you do to her?” His voice was dark as he charged the prince disguised as a crane. Ev’s hand wrapped around Cas’ lanky neck and held him pinned to the stone wall, dangerously close to the open window. He seemed tempted to toss him out and let him fall on the rocks below.

“You can still save her,” he managed in strained, sectioned breaths.

Evrardin tightened his grip.

“Sever” — cough — “the connection.”

Evrardin had never looked so deadly. He shoved away from Cas, letting him collapse against the wall for support before pivoting back to Mara.

“You need to kill the svik . You’re the only one who can.” Evrardin’s hand tentatively reached out and caressed her cheek, her black eyes finding his. Her hair began to darken now, the black swirls sliding along her skin just as Cas’ did.

“That will break part of the connection?” she stated more as a question, her head pounding, making it hard to think. Her eyes flashed to Acastus who gave her a knowing look while his hand massaged his bruised neck. “No,” she answered herself. “The Sun Warriors will still have their connection to the Veil through us.” She gestured between her body and Acastus. “They’ll still be invincible.”

Ev shook his head in frustration and Mara began coughing again, clutching her stomach in pain. Blood trickled between her teeth and Evrardin’s fist turned white by his side.

“Then I’ll kill Acastus,” Ev spat.

She frowned, reaching out for one of his tightened hands and held it in hers, the blood smearing on his palm.

“That won’t work,” Cas called from behind.

Lord Cofsi shouted from the main doors, his voice echoing into the cathedral. “I can’t hold them back much longer.” Mara wondered how long the lord had been standing there.

The building shook, stones crumbling, the top of the cathedral with its grand paintings, chipping and tumbling in on itself.

Cofsi locked the doors with his sword before sprinting to the dais where the party of three mirrored one another.

“Mara must do it,” Cofsi said flatly.

All eyes shifted to him, but Cas was the one who spoke next. “The Dusk Lord is right. Only Mara can kill me and the svik both. And if she kills me—” Acastus took a weak step closer and Ev shifted his chest and blocked the princess. “If she kills me, her connection to the Sun Court will sever ties. She will no longer serve as the conductor for the Veil.”

“And the Sun Warriors will cease to live… in a manner of speaking,” Cofsi added.

“What about the svik ?” Evrardin added. The platform shook, cracks splitting the floor. Evrardin grabbed Mara in his arms and held her steady.

Mara shoved him away, snatching his sword, his hand releasing it with ease from the surprise, and stormed to the side doors.

“Mara!”

She was going to kill the damn svik and end this shit once and for all.