I leaned against the closed door and, in the darkness, fought to keep the tears at bay. Swallowing, I slowly straightened and moved away from the door, then stopped. Hearing a noise, I turned too late as a strong arm trapped my arms to my side. A gloved hand covered my mouth.

“Don’t struggle,” a voice said in my ear. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

I tried to twist out of the man’s grasp, using my elbow like a battering ram against his ribs and throwing my weight back against him at the same time. But he had anticipated that, and he grabbed me again. We hit the ground together with bruising force. He was the first to recover from the impact, pinning me to the floor. If only I could reach the knife strapped to my thigh . . .

I searched desperately for a hint of bare skin, but the man was dressed in black clothing from head to foot, with only a small oval opening for his chin, mouth, nose, and eyes. That nose was thin and sharp.

His mouth curled into a grin as I struggled against him. “As you can see, I’ve been preparing for our reunion for some time.”

“Asa!” came my muffled exclamation. How was he already inside Nyx? And why had he come alone?

“How do you know that name?” he hissed. He shifted his hand slightly so I could reply.

“It belongs to you, doesn’t it?” I still fought him. “You can’t have been preparing for long. This room is completely surrounded.”

He held onto me more tightly. “I know. A pity the guards didn’t think to check your wardrobe.”

“How did you get into the house?”

“I have my ways.” His voice was icy. “But don’t be afraid, Miss Winter. I’m not planning on smuggling you out of here. You would not go quietly, and I would prefer that you come to me willingly.” His eyes sparked dangerously. “Tonight, I only want to talk. But if I release you, you cannot scream or call for help.”

I stilled. Would it be too much to hope that Asa, like his younger brother, had reconsidered his involvement with Lord Draven? Perhaps he had even come to help us.

A colder man never lived . . .

I finally nodded, and he released me and drew back. I sat up as he remained where he was, in a half crouch, within lunging distance if I tried to scream.

“I’ll light a lantern,” I said, glancing at my dressing table.

“No need,” Asa informed me, and he clapped his hands twice. An amber sphere appeared between his palms, immediately filling the room with a soft, warm glow. Despite the obvious threat, that he could kill me with the smallest movement of his hands, I gazed at the sphere, mesmerized by the beauty of the deadly flames to which he was somehow immune.

I felt emboldened to ask, “Do you control the color?”

He nodded, the ball hovering easily above one hand. “Now to business, Miss Winter, or shall I call you Sephone?”

Looking at him, I realized that he was as wary of me as I was of him. Had I injured him permanently the last time we’d met? He drew back his hood, and I saw a hint of longish red-blond hair, the color of sparks. Apart from that, he didn’t look much like Spartan.

“How are you in Nyx already?”

“We have been for some time. In fact, all of us are here already.”

“All but the men we killed,” I said. “And the woman.”

A muscle spasmed in his jaw. “I could make you pay for that.”

“If you wanted us, you should have come after us yourself.”

“I had other matters to attend to. Nevertheless, I am here now. And I’m sure you know why I have come.”

“Of course.” I tried to keep my voice even. Tempted as I was to scream, I didn’t dare. “To kidnap me.”

“Kidnap you?” He cocked his head. “Nay, little Sephone. I came to offer you a deal. A deal which, I believe, was offered to you once before. I earnestly suggest you take it.”

He spoke as condescendingly as his father, even though he was not much older than I was. “What are you talking about?”

“My father’s army advances as we speak. They will be here sooner than you think, and in the meantime, my men and I have been instructed to cause as much havoc as we can. Lord Grennor has a noble plan to save his city, but should you be willing, it will not be necessary.”

“Willing to do what?” I asked, beginning to shiver.

“To come with me.” He glanced around the room, raising the glowing orb as he did so. “I know Lord Adamo gave the Reliquary into your keeping. Surrender yourself, along with the relic, and I will spare this city and everyone in it. I will not harm a single man, woman, or child. Not a one.”

My insides were distinctly queasy now. “For what purpose? I can’t wield the Reliquary. Not on my own. I’m not strong enough.”

He laughed. “It isn’t only for that that my father wants you. You see, Sephone . . . he has given you to me.”

I paled as I understood his meaning. I had hoped that Spartan had been mistaken in his assessment earlier, but now . . . I hastily got to my feet and retreated several steps.

“Nay. I would rather die.”

Asa’s lips curled as he stood. “You cannot argue against destiny, Sephone. We are both powerful alters. Well-matched in that respect, if not in any other. In time, we shall come to accept one another.” Perhaps he found the prospect as distasteful as I did. He drew near and loomed over me. “Love or other forms of attachment, I think, must remain an impossibility for both of us. You have your object of affection, and I have mine. But your consolation will be all the lives you’ve saved by sacrificing your own, just as my consolation must be the fulfillment of my father’s plans.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “You’re a free man, Asa. Why would you let him make a monster out of you?”

His eyes flickered. “Because that is what I am, Sephone. And that is what you are. Do you really not understand that yet?”

My throat tightened and strangled my lungs. The ultimatum he offered me was the same as the one Cutter had given. Come with me, or I will kill your friends. He already knew, of course, what I would do. That wasn’t the painful part. What was unbearable was the way he spoke about it all, as if he knew my chance at love and an ordinary life was doomed, just as his apparently was.

Understand this, girl. We are cursed, as cursed as we are gifted. Cursed to know the deepest secrets of mankind but to forever live in the shadows . . . That is the lot of a mem, Persephone Winter. To always be alone. Even in the middle of a crowd . . .

“If I agree to come with you,” I couldn’t think what else to say, “how do I know you’ll keep your word? That you won’t destroy this city anyway?”

“Interesting, that you would speak of keeping one’s word, after what you did to me when last we met.” His lip curled again.

“Would you have done differently?” When he was silent, I went on, “There’s also the matter of your father’s retribution.”

“I’m an ignis, Sephone,” he reminded me. “A powerful alter in my own right. And, as of recently, I am my father’s heir. On those two counts alone, you will be safe. Neither I nor my father will harm you, I promise, so long as you come to me willingly. And just think of all the benefits of our alliance. Lord Adamo and Cassius Vera will go free. As will your newfound family.” His tone held a tinge of scorn.

My heart pinched at those last few words. I took a deep breath. “You didn’t answer my question. Why should I trust you?”

“Because I’ve been watching you closely for months, Sephone. Several times, I could have stolen you away as the merchant did. But I’m not so underhanded, and despite what you might think of me, I have no desire to see you suffer. That is why I’m offering you a choice, a chance to choose your own destiny. I don’t want to see this city burn—not if there is another way. I came here tonight because I believed you might share that desire.”

I closed my eyes. If only he knew I was dying, for I might not live long enough to share in the future his father had planned for us. But perhaps he already knew that. Perhaps he really was giving me a way out.

Images swirled in my head, images of Dorian dying in my arms from a knife wound to the back, and Cass engulfed in violet flames. Bear and Bas murdered by Lord Draven’s men . . .

This is it, a voice said in my head. This is how you can repay your debt to Dorian. It was an easy exchange, so long as I forgot the taste of freedom. So long as I gave up my chance to be loved.

It isn’t fair, said another voice. You just found your family, and now you have to leave them again?

I thought of how my parents had appeared that morning at breakfast. My mother, nervously placing dishes in front of me and then whisking them away as soon as I was done. Of course, she had no idea what I liked to eat, and she hadn’t thought to ask.

My father, sitting in his armchair staring into the fire, a pipe clutched in his fingers but upside down, so that the tobacco had tumbled out onto the ground.

I had heard them, once, talking together in the stairwell. “Do you remember her, Odis?” my mother had whispered. “Even a little?”

“Fragments,” my father had replied hoarsely. “Only pieces. Oh, Damae, what have we done?”

Their obvious remorse had moved me deeply, but I had still wept that night into my pillow. What if the past, once lost, was lost forever?

And then there was Brinsley . . .

As far as they know now, Odis and Dam only ever had one child. And that was me . . .

“I’ll do it,” I said dully as Asa leaned closer to catch my answer.

His teeth gleamed, and the globe in his hand turned the color of molten silver. “A wise choice, Sephone. As you said before, I cannot take you from here tonight. We would be seen, and though I can easily defend myself, I have no wish to hurt your family or friends. But come to me tomorrow at this address”—he pushed a piece of paper into my gloved hand—“and I will make sure not a single hand or weapon is raised against this city and its inhabitants.” He glanced at the door, then my gloves. “I’m assuming you can handle your guards?”

I nodded miserably. “Of course.” I hoped it would be a stranger on duty, and not Bas or Bear. Or worse, Dorian or Cass.

“I’ll need your word this time,” warned Asa. “That you won’t make a fool out of me again. Though I think you know the consequences if you don’t hold to our agreement.”

The oath felt leaden on my tongue. “I promise I won’t try to escape. I swear it on my own life.”

Asa’s palm bunched into a fist, and the silver sphere winked out of existence, leaving us in almost complete darkness. His low voice drifted to me from near the door. “Then until tomorrow, Sephone.”

And he slipped from the room.

I stumbled to the dressing table to light a lantern. My fingers fumbled with the match; I nearly dropped it twice. When the wick was finally burning, I sank into the chair, wishing I’d allowed Dorian to talk me into having Jewel in my room. She, at least, might have fought for me to stay.

The snow blossoms that had adorned my hair for the festival still sat atop the small table, mostly wilted now, next to a small mound of pins. I tossed the scrap of paper beside them and peeled off my gloves, reaching for a fresh piece of paper and a pen. My thoughts swirled, but not a single one made it onto the paper.

It had all been for naught. My escape from Cutter, Dorian’s quest, the finding of my family . . . my refusal of Cass’s suggestion that I go with him to Marianthe. Even if I had been tempted by the idea—even if I had considered it, briefly—there was no point. If I left with Cass, thousands of innocent people would die.

But if I surrendered to Asa . . .

Fortunately, I had already gazed inside the ignis’s mind, enough to know that he wasn’t an exact replica of his father. I had suspected that he was in love with another woman, based on what I’d seen in his mind outside Idaea. I recalled my words to Dorian.

I’m guessing that Lord Draven holds something over him. Something he cannot afford to lose.

What about the woman? Was she even alive, or had Lord Draven had her killed?

At the very least, Asa wasn’t cruel, only cold. But still, the thought of being shackled to him for the remainder of my life made me shake uncontrollably. To be at his mercy in every way . . . I squeezed my eyes shut and gripped my necklace. Could I do as Lord Draven wanted, and bring a child into the world who would be just as much a slave as I was? A child who would become a conduit for Lord Draven’s ambitions?

Nausea rising, I went and rummaged in my satchel, which Dorian had brought to me along with the rest of my few possessions. I found the vial Spartan had given me and the tiny bottle Dorian had obtained from Lord Faro’s cellar. Slowly, painfully, I set the vial aside.

Grabbing the only snow blossom that was still largely intact and going to my bed, I collapsed on the mattress and uncorked the bottle, taking a small sniff. The mixture certainly smelled like snow blossoms. I stroked the rippled glass surface with the pad of my thumb, studying the sketch of the flower.

Faro’s servant had been right. It was a perfect match.

Closing my eyes, I tilted my head back and tipped the contents of the bottle down my throat. It was barely a mouthful, so I swirled the liquid around before swallowing. Perfume saturated my nose, thick and heady, and I glimpsed a blossom tree at the beginning of spring, its delicate branches laden with flowers. They looked so real that, for a moment, I thought I could reach out and stroke the white petals and feel the velvety softness. But then the liquid vanished down my throat, only a pleasant, buttery warmth lingering in its wake. There was no doubt: the mem who had preserved this memory was highly skilled.

Still, I struggled against a gnawing disappointment. I stroked the slightly wilted flower in my hand, noting the delicate pink-and-yellow stamens. I had only to lift it to my nose to smell the real fragrance: rich and woodsy, but a wilder, more extravagant scent than the one that had been trapped in the glass bottle. The potion was as much like the real thing as a description of a kiss in a fairy tale resembles a caress from an actual lover.

The old veteran had been right. And so was Cass.

I tossed both the blossom and the bottle onto the floor and plunged my face into the pillow, wishing I could sink into the mattress forever. Cass’s statement about my parents ricocheted between my ears, jabbing painfully at my exposed heart.

They are barely aware of your existence . . .

Tears ran down my cheeks, turning the pillow to a sopping mess. I cried until the familiar emptiness washed over me. A soul-crushing, weary resignation. For the first time, I welcomed the feeling. If I could stay numb like this forever, perhaps I could trick my mind into submission. There would be no question of happiness or unhappiness, no reaction to the painfully slow passing of time. It would be like putting a body—or a mind—into stasis.

Slowly, carefully, I sealed off every memory I had of my family, Bas and Bear, Spartan, and Cass. And finally, Dorian and Jewel.

“Get up, Sephone. Get up.” Forcing myself to stand, I gathered up the blossom and the bottle and returned them to the dressing table beside Spartan’s vial. Unclasping Dorian’s necklace, I arranged it and the bottle side by side, feeling heavier rather than lighter at the sight of the gold wedding bands. I retrieved my arm cuffs from my satchel and placed them next to the necklace. The heads of the serpents appeared to wink maliciously in the lantern light.

Finally, I reached for the pen again. There were three letters to write: one to Cass, to explain why I could not go with him to Marianthe. Another to my family, to thank them for everything they’d done for me and for trying to remember. And the last to Dorian, to . . .

To say goodbye.

More tears appeared, but I managed through them. Only when I signed my name at the bottom of the last letter did I think of Regis, who had taught me how to read and write, who had abandoned me to Cutter. And then the tears fell again, partially smudging the ink.

I finally returned to the mattress and tried to get a few hours of restless sleep, not even bothering to crawl beneath the sheets. When I woke again, my face felt stiff and sore, and my hip ached from where it had struck the floor earlier.

I dressed in traveling clothes: warm woolen pants and tall boots with thick socks, followed by a loose shirt, long tunic, and a cloak with a fur-lined hood. Last of all, I slid on one of my gloves, leaving the hand-shaped burn on my right arm exposed. Had Asa realized yet that I would soon have access to his most precious memories and secrets? The moment he saw my chest, and the webbing, he would know mine.

Shuddering at that train of thought, I tucked the second glove into my pocket, retrieved the satchel that now contained only the Reliquary, and turned toward the door. I decided against a final look at the room my parents had given me.

Slipping into the hallway, I wondered how Asa had gained entrance to the house. Possibly, he’d taken advantage of the changing of the guard. How long had he hidden in my wardrobe, waiting for me? Had he overheard my exchange with Dorian . . . seen us embrace? Seen me pursue him, oblivious to Jewel at my heels and Cass calling after me?

You have your object of affection, and I have mine . . .

A guard was patrolling the darkened hallway, but he only nodded briefly at me as I started down the stairs. He knew, after all, that I was generally an early riser. The kitchen and living areas were empty—it was still a couple of hours before dawn—but I had only gone a few paces before Jewel appeared at the bottom of the staircase.

“Jewel,” I breathed, and she ran to me. Putting down my satchel, I knelt before the wolf. As I embraced her, she placed her head on my shoulder, releasing a small whine as she nuzzled my neck. I sank my fingers deep into her fur, wishing she could understand me. And why I had to go.

“I’m sorry,” I murmured. “Asa Karthick came to me and offered me a deal. If I leave with him, this city will be spared.” I choked down a sob. “Your master will live, Lady Jewel. As will everyone else. So, you see, I have to go.”

I released her, and she focused her glittering blue eyes on me. Almost as if she really had understood . . . but not completely, for she was only an animal. Taking up my satchel again, I stood and had almost made it to the door of the kitchen when she suddenly seemed to sense that I was leaving forever. She bounded forward, but I moved quickly through the kitchen door and closed it after me. I slid the bolt into its hole just as I felt the soft thud of her body hitting the door. As clever and magically enhanced as Jewel was, a wolf couldn’t manage a lock.

“Miss Winter?”

I spun as a guard emerged from the shadows. I thought quickly. There wouldn’t be the element of surprise I’d hoped for, but perhaps I could put him at ease.

“Aye,” I said in a friendly voice, striding confidently toward him. “I was wondering—”

“Miss Winter, I can’t let you leave the house. Lord Adamo instructed me to—”

My gift licked through my veins, hungry for release. Since the man’s hand was gloved, I reached up to his neck. He stiffened as my hand touched his skin, reacting to the icy cold. But barely two seconds later, his eyes had glazed over, and he slid to the ground like a melted puddle of snow, then was still.

I heaved a sigh.

In the next room was another guard—apparently, Dorian had been rather thorough. This one was bigger, but he wore no gloves, and in the split second I caught hold of his hand, his eyes widened. Then he was asleep, and I did my best to ease him to the ground.

I’m sorry, Dorian. This is for your own good.

The door had been fitted with so many locks and chains that it was a full minute before I gained entry to the street outside. I was greeted with a foul-smelling wind, like the ones that used to torment Nulla, and quickly covered my hair with my hood. I’d memorized the address Asa had given me before burning the paper, and I replayed it in my head in an attempt to drown out everything else.

The street was easy enough to find. My mother had forced Brinsley to give me a tour of Nyx on my third day, and I knew it wasn’t far. Barely ten minutes’ walk in the direction of the western city walls—less if I walked briskly. But my night of poor sleep had caught up with me, along with the recent outlay of energy. If I came across any more guards, they would not be so easily overcome.

The city was quiet. Too quiet. There should have been people beginning to bustle about their day, servants starting the daily chores, and miners heading off to work. I glanced around nervously as the wind whistled through the side streets. Could it be a trap?

What use would Asa have for a trap? You’ve already agreed to surrender to him. He probably has men watching you right now.

Feeling oddly comforted by the thought, I readjusted my satchel strap and continued onward. The wind shrieked so loudly that I didn’t hear the boots that pounded just behind me until it was too late. For the second time in twelve hours, I was grabbed from behind, but this time I was lifted off my feet.

“Asa!” I struggled. “You don’t have to—”

But instead of putting me down, I was dragged into the closest alleyway. At least five men had gathered around me, and my head pounded so fiercely that my vision blurred.

None of the men was Asa. Had he been so afraid I would run away that he sent some of his alters to make sure I arrived?

“What are you doing?” I demanded. “I already agreed to surrender to your master, Asa.”

A tall man peered into my eyes beneath his heavy hood, but it was too dark to see his face. Nevertheless, something about him seemed familiar. “We don’t work for Asa Karthick.”

My heart froze. “Then who are you?”

“Not your enemy,” came the reply—deep, male, and unfamiliar. “But neither would you call me your friend.”

Silvertongue? But if it was him, I would have recognized his voice. It was impossible to forget.

My body acted entirely on instinct. Lunging forward, I raised my gloveless hand, reaching for the man’s exposed skin.

A gloved hand slammed over my mouth, and I immediately recognized the heavy scent—the same drug that had been used on me back in Nulla. Helmswort. My eyes watered and I wanted to retch. At the same time, I felt the clarity in my mind dissolving, and my gift draining away like water into cracked earth. They hadn’t wasted time on a lower dose—I would be unconscious in minutes, maybe even seconds. For the time being, it was impossible to move my limbs. I was almost completely paralyzed.

Unseen hands placed me on the ground, hooded faces hovering above mine. Someone eased the satchel from my shoulder and set it beside my head.

“Don’t be afraid, Miss Winter,” the male voice said. “We do not intend to harm you.”

It was just as Asa had reassured me the night before.

At the thought of Asa, I groaned. “Nay.” If it wasn’t Asa who’d abducted me, then Asa would assume I hadn’t upheld our bargain. An obvious conclusion, since I’d already reneged on my promises once where he was concerned. He would attack Nyx with the other alters, and everyone would be in danger.

I tried to sit up, but my body had forgotten how to move. The only parts of me that could were my hands and fingers. It was too far to the sheath where I kept my dagger, but one of the men was standing close to me, and I could see a pale band of skin above his ankle. I inched my hand along the cobbles—

“I don’t think so,” another voice said mildly, and a boot came down on top of my right wrist, followed by a sickening crunch. I screamed—or at least I tried to, for my lungs seemed to have forgotten how to take in air.

Tears streamed silently down my cheeks, and there was a chorus of low laughs. One man laughed louder than the rest.

“It seems as if our little nightingale has broken a wing.”

Any remaining breath vacated my chest. I peered through a haze at the man whose boot still trapped my wrist. He was grinning widely.

“Brin?”

“Little sister,” came the mocking reply. “You’re up rather early this morning.”

“B-Brin,” I stammered, knowing what I was seeing but refusing to believe it. “Brin, you must help me. I have to find Asa Karthick, or the city will—”

His boot pressed harder, and pain splintered my vision. I tasted bile.

There was a scuffle at the mouth of the alley, followed by a grunt of pain. A large body was dragged over beside mine. I caught a glimpse of terrified eyes and spittle-flecked cheeks. It was one of Lady Xia’s men, who’d evidently been tracking me at a distance. A voice spoke coldly from above us.

“Kill him.” It was the first man who’d spoken—the hooded man.

Warm red drops sprayed my face. Horrified, I turned my head away. Or, at least I tried to. When I couldn’t even do that, I closed my eyes and reached for my gift. There was nothing there, not even the slightest flicker. I could no longer feel my fingers, but the pain in my right wrist was excruciating.

My brother’s laughter drifted over me, and I opened my eyes to find the hooded man kneeling beside me. I still couldn’t see his face, but his outline was clearly visible.

“Stop fighting the drug, Miss Winter. You’re in pain. Your own brother has betrayed you to me. You may as well embrace the darkness.”

I only stared at him.

At last, I knew where I had seen him before. The first time was the night Cass had been beaten. I’d assumed the hooded man was only a memory splinter—a figment of a traumatized imagination. But then I’d seen him again in Idaea, where he had taken on Asa’s men single-handedly, saving Dorian’s life and allowing us all to go free.

I hadn’t known his identity, though I’d assumed he was a friend. But now—

He reached out and closed my eyes with gloveless fingers. Not even that casual brush of his skin gave me entrance into his mind. “Sleep, Persephone Winter.”

“Dorian,” I whimpered.

“You cannot save him now.”

Despite my agony at the uncertainty of Dorian’s fate, my last thought was of the Garden on the Mountain . . . and the man who had stood there among his vines.

When the time comes, you have only to call for me, and I will come to you . . .

But I couldn’t speak.

I couldn’t do anything.

And then everything went black.