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Elation at seeing Nitya propelled Farah forward before her mind took control and halted her feet. Disquiet settled in her stomach like a heavy stone. That was Nitya’s face staring back at her, but her sister had changed in so many ways that Farah barely recognized her.

Her red hair was cut to her jaw and parted dramatically to the right side. A portion of the left side was shaved to show off her ear. Silver piercings ran from Nitya’s lobe all the way up to the point, where a tiny dagger protruded, linked with a chain to a piercing below it. A thick silver filigree choker adorned with diamonds and small pearls dangling around the bottom edge wrapped her neck, and rings adorned each of her long fingers.

Heavy kajal lined Nitya’s eyes, drawing attention to them. Just as her all-white ensemble stood out against Mortham’s dreary colors. Her long-sleeved jacket brushed the floor and hung open to reveal a scooped-neck shirt that stopped just below her ample breasts. The pants were high-waisted and tapered to her ankles to show off white boots with very high heels.

Nitya had always been beautiful, but her new look was provocative and assertive. The dreamer was gone. Someone else now stood before Farah , and she didn’t know who this person was. But whoever this Nitya was, she was here by design. And then her words finally penetrated.

“ Ah ,” Nitya said with a small grin. “ You’ve finally figured it out. Not as dim as I always believed you were.”

Farah had so many questions. They clogged her throat, leaving her speechless as she stared.

Nitya released a dramatic sigh. “ You’re here because I allowed it. I’m the reason you were granted entry to Mortham .”

“ What ?” Farah whispered. She couldn’t have heard that right.

“ Please . Do you really think I wouldn’t know the DIA would try to send someone undercover? And they didn’t even try to recruit a Dark . They sent you . I was fine with it. I had Golshan and Amarjeet stay with you, not because I worried you might find something but for an entirely different reason.”

Farah’s stomach soured. She breathed through her mouth in an attempt to keep from getting sick. This couldn’t be happening.

“ I almost had you, too,” Nitya continued. “ I saw what you did to the human. How easy it was for you. You were nearly mine. I only needed one more day. But then the explosion happened and changed everything.”

This was all just a nightmare. Nitya would never turn against her family. Farah would wake up any moment now.

Nitya’s green eyes looked her up and down. “ You fought valiantly against the truth of this place. You kept your hands relatively clean for months, considering. But I saw you. The real you. Stop denying it. Quit fighting it. Things will get so much easier if you do.”

“ Is that what you did?” Farah demanded.

“ It is. Is that so hard to believe?”

Farah couldn’t catch her breath. Nothing seemed real, felt real. “ You wouldn’t have left me.”

“ Of everyone, you knew how much I hated it there. I told you I would leave one day.”

She had, but Farah hadn’t believed her. Not really.

Nitya shrugged. “ I didn’t say anything because you would’ve tried to stop me. Bigger and better things were waiting for me. Take a look around, little sis. I run Mortham .”

“ This is why you left?” Farah asked in disbelief. “ This …evil?”

“ You don’t see the bigger picture.”

“ I see the heartache experienced by those who’ve lost loved ones. I’ve seen the horrors of the enslaved firsthand. So , don’t you dare tell me I don’t see the big picture.”

One side of Nitya’s lips curled into a smile. “ You’ve only seen bits. If you knew the truth, you’d believe just as I do.”

“ How can you say that? People are dying. Families have been ripped apart. And for what? Profit ? Power ?”

“ You’ll find out soon enough.”

Alarms started ringing in Farah’s head. Her mind cleared enough for her to remember she wasn’t alone. Where were Dain , Jai , and Arya ? They must think the intel was worth it if they weren’t attacking. Unless …they couldn’t.

Nitya had Rohan . But where?

Farah could see no other guards behind Nitya . There might be Dark lurking in the shadows, but she was focused on her sister.

Nitya chuckled. “ If you’re waiting for the two Dark who came with you to help, don’t bother. They’ve been detained.”

Two ? One of them must have gotten away.

Or worse, they were working with Nitya .

“ What have you done with Rohan ?” Farah demanded.

“ I wondered when we would get to him. Come ,” Nitya said and turned on her heel to stride down the hall.

Farah didn’t want to go, but she had to find Rohan . She glanced behind her, hoping to see something to confirm that Arya , Dain , or Jai had escaped capture. But there was no movement. She was well and truly alone. Just as she had been for the months she was undercover.

This felt different, though. And not only because of Nitya . Farah had grown…if not comfortable, then accustomed to danger. That had ramped up considerably. It was almost like a cloud of doom hung over her, waiting to bring everything to a tragic and disastrous end.

Nitya’s heels clicked on the stone floor, echoing off the walls. Farah didn’t make a sound as she trailed behind her, just as she had for most of her life. Big sister leading little. How had it come to this? What had gone so terribly wrong to bring Nitya to Mortham ?

The more Farah thought about it, the more she wasn’t sure she wanted details. It was bad enough that the image of her sister was forever altered. After everything she had done to find Nitya and return home with her. Her heart squeezed at the thought of their parents. They could never know the truth. It would kill them. They believed Nitya was dead, and that’s how Farah would leave it. It was how she should’ve left it all along, just as her parents had begged her to.

Nitya came to a halt before a door on the right. She watched Farah approach. Only when Farah reached her did she finally open the door. Farah tried to prepare herself as she slowly turned to look inside. The moment she saw Rohan bound to a chair with his chin to his chest, she wanted to run to him. Somehow , Farah kept her feet rooted and her face devoid of expression. But she was screaming his name inside, begging him to look at her.

“ It took some doing, but we figured out that he was the one who caused the explosion.” Nitya leaned against the doorjamb and crossed her arms over her chest as she observed Rohan . “ Brazen for a human. I didn’t think they had it in them.”

“ He’s searching for his sister.”

Nitya’s head swung to her. “ We got that out of him, too. Finally . He could barely talk by then, but you know how persuasive we can be.”

Farah kept her eyes on her sister. If she looked at Rohan again, she might not be able to hold back her devastation or outrage. It would be pointless to attempt to bargain for his life. They had him, and they weren’t letting him go. Her , either. But why wasn’t she locked in a room and being tortured, too?

It could only mean one thing: Nitya wanted something.

Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good. And no matter what Nitya demanded, it wouldn’t change the situation. It might prolong the inevitable, but Farah knew what the outcome would be.

“ This is when you ask what I want,” Nitya said.

Farah leaned her shoulder on the other side of the doorjamb and crossed her arms over her chest, mimicking her sister. It used to infuriate Nitya when they were younger. She wanted to know what it would do now.

Nitya’s eyes narrowed slightly, but she didn’t take the bait. “ Still the same old Farah .”

“ A lot has changed since you left.”

“ Not that much,” Nitya replied icily.

Farah hid her smile. She had gotten to her. “ I won’t bother asking for Rohan or the Dark to be spared. You won’t release them.”

“ You’re right. I won’t. They’re mine now.”

“ What do you want?”

Nitya dropped her arms and turned to face her as she leaned back against the doorjamb. “ Durga .”

“ Excuse me?” Surely , Farah had heard her wrong.

“ Oh , don’t look so shocked. I’m not asking you to kill her.”

That didn’t make Farah feel any better. “ What do you want me to do, then?”

“ You , sister, are now a double agent. You’re going to feed Durga the information I want her to know while giving me everything she tells you. And before you refuse, let me make something very clear. The two Dark Elves and the human can have easy lives. Or they can be…hard. I won’t kill them. Instead , I’ll make them suffer. Endlessly . Day after day until they are nothing but shells.”

Farah could feel her heart beating against her ribs. This whole thing was a ghastly situation, and there was no clear way out of it. She couldn’t do anything to free her friends—or herself. She doubted she would even be able to discreetly alert Durga . Savita had warned her that Durga was being watched. Which meant Farah was completely on her own with enemies in every direction. Lives rested upon her shoulders.

It was too much. Durga should’ve known Farah wasn’t ready for undercover work. And that was the rub. Durga had known. Farah was the one who’d said she was going regardless. Durga had merely relented and then given her a crash course, but even decades of training wouldn’t have helped Farah in this situation. Because there was no good resolution. No matter what she decided, people would get hurt. It was the opposite of what she had intended.

There had to be a way out. She just needed time to find it. Which meant agreeing to Nitya’s demands. “ Fine .”

“ I’m not done,” her sister replied.

Of course, there would be more. It wasn’t enough that Nitya had already asked for the impossible.

“ You’re going to track down another DIA agent named Ravi and his human lover, Yasmin . They and one of the Dark Elves I just captured are responsible for the closure of Shaldorn . I want Ravi , Yasmin , and the other Dark .”

Nitya purposefully left off the name of the other Dark Elf . It was a test. Her sister wanted her to state the missing Dark’s name, but Farah wouldn’t be drawn into that, just in case she said the wrong one. If there was a chance that Nitya hadn’t taken Dain or Arya and whoever it was wasn’t a double agent, Farah needed to give them whatever opportunities she could to free themselves and possibly get help.

“ You demand a lot,” Farah said.

Nitya shrugged. “ Apparently , you have an in with the Dark .”

“ And you don’t? You live with them. Besides , I thought the Masters ’ reach was lengthy?”

“ There have been some minor setbacks. I’m righting those.”

“ You mean you want me to do that while you take the credit.”

Nitya chuckled and shook her head. “ Little sis has found her backbone.”

Farah had found much more than that, but it wasn’t time to show Nitya that quite yet.

“ I’m going to take credit. It’s my plan. I captured you, the human, and the two Dark . And I’ve made sure you have no alternative but to do as I say.”

“ Nay .”

Nitya’s face hardened as she straightened. “ Excuse me?”

“ You heard me. I’m not doing any of it. You’re going to hurt my friends no matter what I do. Even if I somehow accomplish everything you require, there will always be something more you want. It’ll never end. So , I’m removing myself from the equation.”