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Karma I was crazy enough to think maybe he felt the same.

We looked back at each other again. The same thought ran through our minds.

We could leave him .

After everything he’d done, he deserved it. We owed him nothing. This fate—broken and chained and drained of all magic, left to rot alone, to die again in my flames… was nothing if not karma. Justice.

So why weren’t we bolting?

My chest filled with astonishment at the hesitant empathy gleaming in Jed’s eyes.

In that moment, that hectic, surreal moment, I knew. He’d seen what I had seen in the shadows.

The boy in the white room.

Without a word, only a look, we were both on him.

Solaris remained unresponsive as Jed and I worked together to free him from the brutal chains. He looked fucking dead. Pale, shadow-infested skin. A hundred different bite marks marred his arms and torso. Wings cracked and broken, hanging in an unholy position from his back.

When he fell free, Jed caught him. Held him up. Slapped his cheeks to try and wake him. “Come on, fucker! We need to leave!”

“Leave me,” Solaris croaked.

“Nah. You’re not getting off that easy. Nyx, help me.”

I stood there for a moment, stunned. Jedidiah helping Solaris… It mystified me.

“Nyx!” Jed growled.

I jolted into action, darting under Solaris’s other arm, holding him up as best as I could.

With my free hand, I cleared a path through my flames which had ravaged the entire Gothic hall.

The three of us ventured through the fire. Together.