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Chapter 40

Aaliyah

T he bashing sound of a door cracking open against a wall shot me awake.

I was in a daze, my entire body freezing as I fought to understand what was happening. The first thing that came to mind was Ascension, and I looked around as I searched the room for Castillion. I would have sworn I heard his laugh, seen his eyes hiding in the dark corners of the room, but as consciousness came, and the glass walls of my cell faded, I realized where I was.

I got off the bed, darting into the living room. My eyes clouded, my body still lumbering from sleep, but I'd never forget what I saw in that moment.

The blood that covered Eirik and the black hardwood, the copper-tinted hair of Prince as his eyes rolled back, and he went limp. Eirik barely caught him before lowering him to the floor, screaming something I couldn't hear.

I spent several long seconds wondering if he was breathing, waiting for his chest to rise … only it never did.

I took a hesitant step forward as Fallon and Adrian rushed by me, their voices a blur of screams and panic. I could only see Prince. Copper hair muddied by white, silver eyes lost to the Void. The flash of cold and the transparent skin of his ghost. I used to find such comfort in it, would seek it out, but now that he was alive, seeing him dead again made me sick . Another brush, another emotion in the air as my mind swore it was Prince.

He was gone again. Dead.

His ghost stared back at me, shocked eyes enough to rip my heart into shreds. I turned to the side, retching, vomiting on the floor as true hysteria had me bowing over, cold hands barely keeping me up as I sobbed. What the fuck was happening?

Prince flashed once, twice, forcing me to look at him as he desperately tried to show me something I was too lost in my own head to see. His hands came up, palms against one another, before he gently pulled them apart. It took longer than it should have for me to recognize the sign.

Rend .

Prince was Rending.

I sobbed as I moved to his body, landing on my knees by his side. I didn't touch him, didn't dare to, just watched his ghost, counting the seconds on the clock.

Well over five minutes passed before his soul snapped back, hitting his body with a jolt. I was already moving, pulling his head into my lap as he shot up, gasping and coughing, blood splattering his shirt before his eyes rolled back again. He didn't breathe, but I felt his heartbeat as I reached out, pressing my hand to his chest.

Was this what he'd seen? What Eliza had dealt with for six months? It was terrifying.

"He's Rending ," I whispered, so the others would know, too.

It wasn't much, but they relaxed, enough to take a breath.

Adrian and Fallon were haggard, still in the clothes they'd fallen asleep in, hair matted with sleep and sex. Eirik looked like he'd seen a ghost, and I wondered where Osiris was for only a moment before the door flew open again. He shot inside, dragging behind him a snarling Magelav, who snapped and lashed out.

"What's happening to him?" Osiris asked, letting go of the Sorceri's arm, practically throwing them at Nero as he turned a furious glare on them. They grumbled but still crouched on Prince's other side with a seething hiss.

But they didn't turn away, just grunted as they studied him, brushing a hand against his face, then down to the mark at his wrist. Burning sand filled the air, mixing with boggy water.

"Out of time," Mags whispered, shaking their head. "The bandage is gone, the wound reopened."

Their hands unfolded, a brush of their power filling the air. It was like a fog, broken in the way it crawled through the room. My breath slowed, my heartbeat following it as time seemed to drag.

"Mags, how many times do I have to tell you? Don't talk in fucking riddles," Prince said, his voice hoarse. He was sprawled across my lap, leaning his nose into my stomach as he took a settling breath. He tensed, grunting as he tried to shift, but the pain of the Rend kept him still as his muscles contracted. "People are going to think you're weird."

He tried again, this time with my help as he moved to a seated position. He shook, his breathing becoming more labored. His eyes rolled back, his body tensing as he released a strangled cry, only for his soul to be ripped out again. He looked at me, in shock the same as I was, that transparent frame that used to be such a point of comfort now only bringing dread. He lifted his hand, bumping it against his chest two times, his ring and pinky finger down.

"Are the Rends going to kill him?" I asked, unable to look away as he grimaced.

Mags didn't move for a moment, looking between us with an empty gaze that spoke to the ties they had to us, to Prince.

"I only fixed him for a time. Temporary. His soul is fragmented. Not meant to break. To be reformed . Too many memories holding him together, not enough time to bring them all back," Mags said finally. They tipped their head up and sniffed, their face twisting in disgust. "Not much longer now."

It felt like the air drained out of the room, as I curled over Prince. I just got him back, and now he was dying. Of all the things that were happening, this needed to be wrong. Prince was fine. I brought him back.

You brought him back broken.

My body snapped taut at the thought.

"Worry about yourself, Reaper girl. Even those of royal blood can't escape Mortui carmen ," Mags mused, laying their focus entirely on me. I'd gone pale, my lips suddenly cold, my hands numb where I still touched Prince.

I hadn't saved Prince. I'd done something wrong when I'd first touched him. I knew it. I didn't know how to Reaper, and Prince was paying the price for it now. His soul snapped back, a wrecked breath freeing itself from his lungs as his eyes shot open. I held his head, shaking.

I gritted my teeth, not letting go of Prince as I looked Magelav in the eye. "How can we fix it?"

A body was suddenly on my other side, one I recognized as Eirik as his heat seeped into my skin, and the rumble in his chest helped to soothe me. I hadn't realized I was crying, not until his hands cupped my face, gentle fingers wiping away the tears.

"Same way it begins," Mags said. "With a memory."

For a second, I was back in my grave, crawling my way out of the dirt, gasping for breath, unsure of even my name. That was what I'd been hunting for this entire time. Wasn't it? A past that clung to me like a mold, a life that should never have happened.

To live, we had to remember, and the thought of reliving those moments … haunted me. But if this was what it took for us to survive, then I'd do it.

"And you can make us remember it? All of it?" I asked.

Fallon was the one who broke in, sucking in a hard breath that seemed to steal the warmth of the room.

Mags shrugged, pushing the black hair away from their clouded eyes. "Mags knows many things, but it's too soon. Everything tips the scales. You must wait, the both of you."

Prince shivered, blood sliding down from his nose as he opened his eyes again. That startling silver was clouded with pain as he reached up to brush it away. He wasn't even looking at me, as much as through me, when he shuddered again.

Another pull.

"How much longer does he have?" I asked, counting down the seconds as he stayed outside his body.

I couldn't see as much as feel the tether that was tying him to his spirit. Like it was ingrained, the same one that kept me tied to myself when I Rended. Even Red took notice, fluttering around Prince's monochrome head, as if checking on him.

"Depends on the soul. Hours … no more than days," Magelav whispered. "Must make it to the night post First Rights."

They didn't need to say anything else.

"That's it. That's all you have?" Fallon asked. "What fucking use are you if you can't fix him?"

"I will fix him if he survives," Mags said, the noncommittal shrug they finished with like a nail in the coffin. They turned, leaving us to whatever fate would follow. "Until then, it's up to him."