Page 99 of Glass Hearts

Victor’s voice cuts through the haze.

“I didn’t want to kill you,” he says, tone almost pitying. “You could’ve submitted like you were meant to. We gave you a place when no one else would. And you threw it all away… for her.”

Between his hands, power coils—deep violet and pulsing with heat. It hums louder with every breath, searing my vision. Still, I don’t look away.

All I can see is her.

Arabella. Laughing in the castle. Curled up beside me, reading, sunlight in her hair. I never told her. Not properly. Inever told her how much I loved her, how I wanted everything with her. My land, my life, my future.

And I wasted so much time… hiding behind pride, behind fear.

Beside me, Sylas stirs. Trying to rise. He’s shaking, blood pouring from his face, his body barely holding together.

Then, the air changes. Time itself shudders.

Victor’s magic pauses mid-pulse, the swirling mass slowing to a heartbeat throb. A chunk of ceiling stone hangs suspended mid-fall, frozen in the moment between impact and weight.

Jax.

He’s here.

And he’s freezing time for everyone but us. Victor’s eyes flick wide. Not in anger, but in fear. A blur of silver flashes behind Victor.

The arc of my abandoned blade gleams through the smoky light, wielded by the last person I expected. My golden-haired friend barrels forward, teeth bared in a wordless cry, swinging the weapon with both hands.

Steel meets flesh.

Victor’s head snaps back, and then it’s gone, tumbling through the air. The moment it hits the ground, time slams back into place with a deafeningcrack.

A shockwave explodes from his collapsing body, pure force knocking the breath from my lungs and launching me backwards once more. I crashed into a stone pillar. The air ripped from my chest.

My cheek kisses the cold floor. Blood pools beneath me, thick and metallic. Mine.

I groan, blinking against the swirling haze. Vision blurred. Ears ringing.

Swiftly I am turned around. A hand thumps against my chest, firm and searching.

“You alive, windy prince?” Jax’s voice cuts through the ringing, strained but steady. His hands press gently against my ribs, checking for damage.

I grunt in response, unable to find the breath for words.

Around me, the room flickers back into clarity. Sylas is already on one knee, dirt-streaked and bloodied, but breathing. Koi pulls himself up with a grimace, hair matted with soot.

And then footsteps. Dozens of them, rushing toward the corridor. Heavy boots against stone. Reinforcements, finally.

“Boys!” Margie and her husband, Councilman Alec Thibaut, come running for us. Bridgette is right behind them with Smith. She has Arabella’s original bow and arrow poised behind his back.

“Can you please tell this prickly woman to stand down? That I was saving the ungrateful lot of them?” Smith gruffs, his hands still in the air.

Margie hugs Sylas, who is struggling to fully stand. Alec comes to my side, using his healing magic to remedy my injuries. He then helps Sylas, healing him as Margie fills him in on all the injuries she found.

“Bri, release him. They are with us. We need to find Arabella and Grayer,” Koi shouts, tense, still looking back and forth at the bloodied sword in his hands and the head on the floor.

“They are in the Dragon Gardens. Elliah is with them,” Jax says as I finally see Koi’s shoulder relax in a breath.

“Are the other staff and council people safe, Bri?” Sylas asks Bridgette, Margie still holding him up, as Alec Thibaut continues trying to heal his twisted ankle.

“Aye, they are safe. The Baudelaire sisters are still in custody in the dungeons, too.”