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F lames simmered around Cora. She could feel them more than see them, their heat scalding her hands, her cheeks. As for where she was, she didn’t know. A smoky haze clouded her vision, smothering her senses. Finally, a pinprick of darkness stood stark within her murky surroundings. She darted toward it. It grew with every step she took until it widened around her, forming a hallway. The smoke cleared, but the flames remained. Still, it was just the heat of them. A hint of gold flickering up the walls. No matter how she tried to focus on those flames, all she saw was reflected light.

Sweat beaded her brow and dampened her nightdress. She rushed farther down the hall, turning her attention right and left for any sign of where she was.

Then she felt it. A sickening unease. A deep and hollow knowing that something wasn’t right. She’d felt this way before, night after night, haunted by dark hallways. That was when she recognized the walls around her. Walls that had graced countless nightmares. Her dreams of Ridine, of the night she’d been condemned by her brother and banished from the castle by Morkai, had once been so pervasive she’d needed a sleeping tonic. That dream had run its course after she’d returned to Ridine and reclaimed her role as princess. Yet nightmares hadn’t ceased plaguing her. After last summer, her mind had gained new fuel for dark tableaus. Her brother’s visage fused with the body of a Roizan had visited her darkest dreams regularly.

While her nightmares always wrenched her heart, they no longer terrified her as badly as they once had. She could recognize that she was dreaming far faster, detach herself from her fear.

She halted her steps, acknowledging that this too was just a dream. A new manifestation but a dream nonetheless. Releasing a slow sigh, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on her true body, on the bed she was nestled in. The heat of the flames distracted her, pulling her mind back into the realm of the nightmare.

Then a voice.

“We meet again, Aveline.”

Cora clenched her jaw, hatred boiling her blood. She opened her eyes. Duke Morkai stood before her, hands in his pockets, posture at ease despite the light of the flames still dancing up the walls. They turned his dark suit a flickering orange, illuminated the underside of his jaw.

Her fury continued to rise at the sight of him, but she felt no fear. Even here, in the bounds of this nightmare, she knew Morkai was dead. Teryn had witnessed the mage’s soul being consumed by light. It had devoured all that was left of him.

This was merely a facet of Cora’s mind, nothing more.

This she could face.

“If only we could meet again,” she said through her teeth, “just so I could see your expression when I told you you were wrong.”

“Wrong?” He arched his brow.

“You were too confident in your own findings. You didn’t even question them when the answer was a kingdom away. You chose the wrong girl. Tormented the wrong girl. You failed in every way.”

His lips widened into a cruel grin. “Did I?”

In a flash of movement, Morkai’s arm shot out to the side, toward one of the shadowed walls. As he drew the arm back to him, he pulled a figure along with him.

Mareleau.

It was like he’d dragged her from the shadows. He shoved her forward, and she stumbled to the ground at Morkai’s feet. As she lifted her head, her eyes found Cora’s. She reached for Cora, but the sorcerer’s hand closed around her throat from behind. He hauled her roughly toward him until her back slammed into his front. He wound his arm over her middle, caging her against him.

“Did I torment the wrong girl, Aveline?” Morkai taunted. “Perhaps I should remedy that.”

Mareleau’s eyes were wide and frightened, pleading with Cora. “Help me,” she got out before his fingers, impossibly long now, tightened further around her throat.

Cora let out a strangled cry. She may have escaped her fear before, but now it grew tenfold, spiking her pulse at the sight of her friend. She tried to remind herself this was a dream, but this was the first time someone other than her—someone alive, someone she cared for—was in danger in one of her nightmares. It battled reason and logic until all that was left was terror.

“Let her go!” Cora shouted.

“Will you take her place then?” Morkai asked. “Will you suffer what she suffers? Will you allow me the pleasure of strangling the life from your lungs in her stead?”

Cora opened her mouth but couldn’t make a sound. The answer should be yes. The answer should be…

It should be…

“You said I chose the wrong girl.” Morkai thrust Mareleau away from him, closer to Cora, but his fingers remained around her throat, ever extending until they took the shape of claws. One pointed tip dug into the flesh at the base of her throat, drawing a line of blood.

“Stop,” Cora said.

“Make up your mind, Aveline. Who should I have targeted? Who should I have hurt? Her? Or you?”

“Neither.”

“Oh, but you must choose. Which of you shall burn?”

The scent of burning hair flooded her nostrils, and Cora noticed the ends of Mareleau’s pale strands blackening. The light of the flames grew higher, their heat almost unbearable, but still she couldn’t see them.

Another claw sank into Mareleau’s neck. She whimpered, fighting against his hold. “Should it have been her all along?” Morkai said. “Should I have cursed her? Framed her for murder? Drove her into the forest?”

“No!” Cora shouted.

“Would you trade places with her then? Here? Now?”

Again, Cora couldn’t bring herself to take Mareleau’s place. Why? Why couldn’t she do the right thing?

But…was it the right thing?

The dark resentment she’d felt earlier sparked in her chest.

I don’t need to suffer in her place.

I never deserved to .

“Say it out loud,” Morkai said, his voice a taunting hiss. “Confess the darkness in your heart or it will burn you from the inside.”

“No,” she said through her teeth. “That’s not me. Those thoughts aren’t mine. I would never wish my pain on someone else.”

“Then why won’t you take her pain away? Why won’t you willingly take her place?”

“That’s different. This isn’t real. You aren’t real.”

“I am the shadow you won’t acknowledge. I am the ember you wish you could smother.”

“I don’t care what you think you are. Just let her go.”

Morkai’s gaze darkened into a glare. “I’m disappointed in you.” With that he released Mareleau’s throat and thrust her into Cora. Cora pulled her friend close, lungs heaving with relief, but as her arms closed around Mareleau, the other woman collapsed into ash. Tremors racked Cora’s body as she stared at her soot-covered hands. At the pile of ash that was once her friend.

Finally, she saw the source of the flames.

They were coming from her all along.

Cora woke with a sharp cry but stifled the sound as she blinked into darkness. Her chilly room was a balm on her sweat-soaked skin, and for several long moments she simply lay there, listening to the beat of her heart, the pulse of her breaths, until both settled to a more natural rhythm. Once she could rise from her bed without shaking, she crossed the floor to her window. Pulling back the long velvet drape, she found an inky night sky muted by the frost coating the window.

As she stared out at the dark scenery, she willed her mind to sharpen, to fully separate from the dream. Once it did, she realized what day it was. Or soon would be.

The day of her wedding.

That calmed her down, aided in clearing her mind.

She couldn’t have been asleep for long, considering the lack of light on the horizon, paired with how late she’d gone to bed. She should get back to sleep if she wanted to be rested for the grand event. She was already sleep-deprived as it was. Over the last few days, sleep had become second to spending time with Mareleau and Noah. Though her friend had Larylis and Helena to support her and give her chances to rest amidst the chaos of having a newborn, Cora wanted to be there too. Since Mareleau was rumored to have left Ridine, she was forced to remain in her suite, something that drove her half out of her mind. The least Cora could do was spend time with her.

Images from her nightmare shot through her mind. Of Mareleau’s horrified expression. Of the blood trailing down her throat as the sorcerer dug claws into her neck.

Are you all right? Valorre’s question cut through the memories, dispersing them.

She calmed once more as she connected to her unicorn friend’s consciousness. He wasn’t as near as he normally was, but he was still within range to communicate. Yes , she conveyed back to him.

The blood mage can’t hurt you , Valorre reminded her. He’s gone. He’ll never come back .

I know , she said. He was right, yet she hated that Morkai could still haunt her like this. Worse was the dread that was her constant companion—the knowledge that while Morkai may be gone, his father remained. Everything that had happened to Cora, to her friends, to her kingdom, Darius had begun. He may not have asked his son to try to harness fae magic in the human realm, but he’d sent him on a mission to find El’Ara. That mission had led to all the knowledge had Morkai discovered. To Emylia. To the prophecy. To Lela.

To Cora.

Fiery rage burned in her heart. It reminded her too much of her dream, but she wouldn’t give in to those terrible visions again. Sleep called to her, but she dreaded returning to the nightmare. And there was one place she could count on to make her feel bold. Brave. Accomplished. To remind her of just how strong she was. With resolve in her heart, she donned her robe and strode from her room. The halls were empty this late at night, save for the guards patrolling them. They acknowledged her with deep bows as she brushed past.

She left the keep and entered the wing of the castle she sought. One that rarely saw visitors. Then up a dim staircase she climbed, to a tower that once held so much darkness. Moonlight greeted her as she entered the North Tower Library, bathing the circular room in a pale glow. It fell upon the clean flagstone floor, the freshly polished tables, the bundles of herbs and flowers that hung to dry from the rafters.

Satisfaction flooded Cora. This room had belonged to Morkai, but no longer held an ounce of his influence. Cleaning the library had taken much of her focus over the last several months, as every item had to be energetically purified before it could be burned or buried. Just weeks ago, her task had been completed at last. The room belonged to her now.

She could have sealed it off and never set foot in it again, but she’d decided to do the opposite, invading it with her own energy. Her own magic. Here she could fully be a witch, honoring the practices the Forest People had instilled in her. Not that she had many chances to truly practice magic these days. Yet taking over this room, using it to dry herbs, to collect stones, leaves, sticks—anything that caught her fancy while out on forest rides with Valorre—was enough. It was proof that she’d bested Morkai, in life, in death, and after.

She breathed in deeply, allowing her pride to grow. “I defeated you,” she said to the room, her voice devoid of quaver. “You may haunt my dreams, but you’re gone.”

No darkness echoed back. No shadows flickered in reply. There was merely peace here.

Her muscles uncoiled and she strolled along the perimeter of the room. She’d had it fully refurbished with a new couch, a single bookcase, and a few small tables and nightstands. She stopped at the nearest nightstand, its surface decorated with an array of crystals she’d found by a stream nearby. They were arranged in a circular pattern around several crisscrossed sticks. Together they formed a talisman for protection. She smiled down at her work, but her grin faltered as her gaze fell just beneath the tabletop, to the narrow drawer there. Gingerly, she slid it open.

Moonlight glinted off a cuff made from two elongated talons, as dark as obsidian. It was the magic-suppressing collar. She hadn’t known what to do with it after she’d found it in her pocket upon returning from the meadow last summer. It was a dangerous object, one the Elvyn had used to stifle her magic. Yet it had also saved her and her friends in a couple of ways. When she’d used it on Teryn, he’d been able to temporarily wrest control of his body from Morkai. When she’d used it on the crystal, she’d been able to break the stone, freeing Teryn’s ethera. Unlike Morkai’s belongings, it didn’t hold any dark energy, so she couldn’t bear to destroy it.

Instead, she kept it here, hidden yet revered. Hated yet treasured.

Beneath it lay the only thing of Morkai’s she hadn’t destroyed.

His book of blood weavings.

It was perhaps the most dangerous item of all, yet she’d never found a way to burn it. She’d cleared its residual energy, but the horrific tapestries and spells remained. At least they were only blueprints. The only active blood weaving—the one that had killed Lurel—had already run its course.

There was one more reason she’d kept the book instead of burying it with the other dangerous, undestroyable items: the niggling sense that maybe one day they’d need the information in that book.

It had already come in handy once, when Teryn had glimpsed the blueprint that had rendered Morkai’s crystal unbreakable. Teryn had reversed that tapestry, gaining freedom for himself and Emylia. He’d used blood magic, a forbidden Art, but he’d done it for good.

Maybe that was where Cora’s most secret motivation lay.

In hopes that someday they might figure out how to reverse the blood weaving Morkai had used to curse her.

Slamming the drawer shut, she lifted her chin and reminded herself all she’d survived. All she’d conquered. And all she still had to look forward to.

Her wedding.

Teryn.

Once the sun rose, it would finally be time to marry the man she loved. She’d been waiting months for their reunion, yet she’d hardly seen her fiancé lately. They’d opened their hearts, shared their love, taken pleasure in each other’s bodies for the first time…and then their lives had been interrupted by Noah’s birth. They’d slept separately ever since, following the rules of propriety and honoring Cora’s own fatigue.

After her wedding, that would change. She’d done enough for Mareleau. Gods, she’d done enough for her kingdom too.

It was time to focus on herself.

She deserved that.

She wouldn’t let the prophecy or her nightmares cast shadows upon the day she’d been eagerly awaiting. She wouldn’t let guilt or resentment or selflessness keep her from enjoying the one bright spark in her life.

The future may be uncertain, and her foes may be closer than she liked.

But here, now, she’d enjoy the present. The peace, the love, the excitement that awaited her.

For as long as it could last.