Linking with Sarielle was effortless.

Their magic twined together in a rush that cascaded down over Cyrene. Now in control of her powers, she didn’t have the overwhelming punch to the gut that she’d first had when linking with Avoca. But this was utterly different. A power so ancient and otherworldly yet somehow familiar. Sarielle’s entire being was energy, and they harnessed it together.

Cyrene had only just closed her eyes when she felt the tug of her spirit ripping from the earthly plane. She’d done this only once before, but it felt natural. Sarielle guided her and grounded her. They moved as one.

She stood in that in-between place—half in this world, half in the spiritual plane. All she had to do was step through the divide and into the spiritual realm, and she could call Serafina to her. Confront the things that she had said to Cyrene the last time they met.

And yet, she hesitated.

Go. I will be here when you return, soul sister.

“What if everything she said was false?” Cyrene asked.

You’ll know what to do.

Cyrene sighed, not at all sure what to do, and then stepped through the divide.

She opened her eyes to the Nit Decus castle. She shuddered. The last time she’d been here was her fear test where everyone she knew and loved died. No. This wasn’t where she wanted to meet Serafina. She needed somewhere else. Somewhere she felt safe.

The scenery changed, and then suddenly, she was standing on the palace grounds in Eleysia. Grounds that no longer existed in her world. But, from her memory, the island was pristine. A glorious memory of a now-demolished world.

“Serafina?” she said softly.

Her appearance was instantaneous. She wasn’t just a thin phantom version of herself. Instead, she was strong and clear. A mirror image of Cyrene’s looks with dark hair and blue eyes and a simple red dress. Gone were the tears and hysteria and guilt. She looked once more like the Domina Cyrene had always envisioned.

“Hello, Cyrene,” Serafina said with a ghost of a smile. “I wasn’t sure if you would return.”

“Nor was I.”

“That seems fair.” Serafina surveyed their surroundings. She walked along the pathway with an almost reverence. “Eleysia’s palace was always my favorite as well. Though Byern was home. This was freedom.”

Cyrene hated and loved how much that mirrored her own thinking.

“You’re angry with me,” Serafina said.

“I have reason to be.”

“You do. And I am sorry for that. I never meant to hurt you.”

“Irrelevant,” Cyrene said curtly.

Serafina nodded once and looked away. “I’m guessing that you’re not here for apologies. So, I’ll cut to the chase. Do you have your dragon?”

“Yes. We’re linked and speaking to you now. We’re safe from the darkness, but it’s coming.”

“You can sense it?” she asked.

“She found me.”

Serafina stilled and paled. “How?”

“When Sarielle and I were bound, I was at my weakest, and she slipped into my dreams. She beckoned me to come to her.”

“You can’t do that!” Serafina said. “Never go to her!”

“Well, I wasn’t planning on it,” Cyrene said with a sigh. “All I’ve heard from you and Vera is that she’s evil. But she’s my enemy as much as Kael, and I know nothing about her, except one story. That she is the Creator’s sister, the goddess of destruction, the Destroyer. She created the evil creatures of this world. And influenced the events that happened two thousand years ago that brought the fall of magic. What do you know of her? How do I stop her?”

Serafina sighed and stared down at her hands. “That is all true. As far as I know…no one can stop her. She’s a goddess.”

“But you do know more about her.”

Serafina nodded. “Yes. You’re…not going to like this part of my story either. But I’ll show you, if you will let me. We’re safe here, in this connection now, to speak about her.”

“Show me.”

The world dematerialized.

In its place were mountains heavy with snow and a young girl striding purposely down a narrow path. She was covered from head to toe in furs. Her steps were sure. Her eyes confident.

With Serafina at her side, Cyrene was walking behind her. She felt nothing, but Serafina had altered their appearance for the cold, layering them like the girl.

“What is this place?” Cyrene asked.

“The Haeven Mountains.”

Cyrene frowned. “Who would go into the Haeven Mountains? They’re inhospitable.”

“I would.” Sera nodded her head toward the girl. “That’s me. Much younger and willing to do anything to save my love. I showed you the spell that Viktor and I cast to bind ourselves together. The horrid act we committed to drain his first child’s blood magic and infuse Viktor with a dose of magic that neither of us had any idea would be an addictive elixir. But…I didn’t tell you how I’d found the ability.”

It began to dawn on Cyrene. “You got it from the goddess?”

“I wasn’t aware she was a goddess then, but yes. Viktor and I wanted to find a way to be together forever. We were naive, and magic tore us apart. The fact that I had it, that he didn’t, that I wouldn’t give it up. Not to mention, the prejudices against humans without magic. The Dremylons were one of the wealthiest and most influential in Byern, but they were nothing compared to the Doma.”

Cyrene nodded. Much as it was in Alandria. “I understand that dynamic.”

“I knew about the binding ceremony. I knew it could only happen between magical users. So, I sought a way for him to have magic. And that thread led me here.”

Serafina gestured to a vision of her younger self. She stepped through a small crack that was hardly even visible from their vantage point. They followed, sneaking into a dark cave. The younger Serafina held a Doma Fire in her hand. Her confidence slipped only a hair as she scurried deeper into the cave and stopped before a rock wall. As Cyrene got closer, she realized it was a small door that had been sealed closed.

“Hello?” the young Sera called to the door. “I was told…well, I was in search of someone who could help me. I want to bind myself to someone without magic. I was told that you could do that.”

There was no answer. Sera glanced around, clearly wondering if she had gone to the wrong place or if someone had just been having a jest.

Then, out of the darkness was a voice Cyrene had heard in her darkest dreams.

“I can help you with that, child.”

Cyrene shivered, and Serafina put a hand on her shoulder.

“Wonderful! How do I do it?”

“It is not easily done,” the voice said.

“I am strong. I can do it.”

Serafina frowned down at her younger self. Cyrene wondered what she thought of this cocky attitude that had done her in so long ago.

“I see that you are. I have what you seek. It might extract a price.”

The younger Serafina eased forward another step. “I will pay it.”

“I was certain that you would.”

“So…you’ll help me?”

The darkness didn’t respond. But a black book appeared before Serafina along with two gold coins. Serafina bent down and picked them up. She asked what they were, but Cyrene already knew what they were. It was the dark book that Kael had shown her back in Byern. And the coins…she had used them to portal. The Destroyer had given one to her in her dream and beckoned her.

Serafina waved her hand then, and the vision disappeared. They were standing once more in Eleysia without their furs.

“She gave me the unholy book to give Viktor blood magic and the coins for us to see each other. She said there was a price, and when I never had to pay it, I believed I was safe. But it turned out that the price was death, and the way I had to pay it was in blood. The price was a curse passed down to my ancestors for generations. To watch them be ruined over and over because of me.”

Cyrene frowned. That must have been impossible. To love someone so much that you would do anything to save them. Yet saving them would inevitably mean you would watch them suffer for eternity.

“She also requested that, if all went as planned…I would release her.”

Cyrene gaped. “You didn’t do that, did you?”

“No. Even young and naive, I knew that this person was locked up for a reason. I said I would try…and when I didn’t, she gave up on me and went to Viktor. Poisoned his already-malleable mind with words of power. She planted the seed for him to supplant the Doma and claim Byern for his own.”

“Why did you help him do it?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t know that’s what he truly wanted. I thought he wanted equality, and I believed that he deserved that.”

Cyrene hissed through her teeth. Wasn’t that what she was fighting for? Equality between humans and magical users. A way to live a free life.

“History repeating itself,” she muttered.

“I’ll show you.”

Suddenly, Cyrene was standing inside the Nit Decus castle in a chamber she had been in with Serafina once before. The round chamber for the Doma court. But, when she’d seen it through Serafina’s eyes, she had been going through her Presenting and joining their ranks. Now, Serafina was older and serving as the revered Domina—the strongest and best among them. She wore all white with a glittering diamond hanging low between her breasts. The room was full to bursting. Every Doma of every color imaginable was spread out around the chamber.

“Silence,” Domina Serafina said into the room.

Everyone quieted to a hush. She hadn’t even raised her voice.

Cyrene glanced at Serafina now, and she nodded her head back to her other self. “Watch.”

“Brothers and sisters, I called you all here together to discuss a delicate matter. As many of you know, I have been rallying for better conditions for the humans for a long time. The Doma guard presence in the markets deters shoplifting but also trade. The unnecessary persecution of those we claim to govern. The prejudice against those without magic. They are not second-class citizens in Byern. We are not in a tiered system. We are one. We should act as one.”

No one spoke. Not in agreement or against. The Domina had spoken.

“I have brought forth an emissary of the human populace to propose a plan moving forward.”

She gestured forward, and then Viktor Dremylon stepped into the room. That brought titters of disapproval from much of the crowd and court. Serafina never drew her eyes from Viktor. The tension between them was palpable. Surely, everyone else saw it.

Viktor swept his green cloak backward and faced the court. He had the same dark hair and blue-gray eyes of the Dremylon boys she’d known and loved and hated. The same confidence and allure and charm.

“Thank you so much for allowing me to come before you today. I do not want much of your time. What I want is a place at your table.” He made eye contact with every member of the court. “I am not below you. Magic and non-magical users can live harmoniously. We can have humans on the guard and humans on the court and humans ruling alongside you. We should have these things. There is a place for us here. It is the fair and just thing to do.”

Instead of the cheer Viktor clearly thought that he would get…laughter followed. His cheeks turned a nasty shade of red, and a scowl covered his face. He clenched his fists, darkness licking at his wrists in a way that Cyrene was accustomed to.

But Serafina sighed and wiped the memory away. “That was the beginning of the end. I should have seen it for what it was then. He was furious, but I believed it was still possible. I didn’t know he had decided on another way.”

“He’d already decided then to go to the goddess?”

Serafina shook her head. “She came to me in a dream and demanded that I release her, as I had promised. But I had never said those words. She was manic when I refused her. After that, she abandoned my dreams. Viktor became more and more withdrawn, but I assumed he was still on the same path as me. It wasn’t until everything had gone so wrong…when her evil creatures flooded my castle and he slaughtered my court that I realized why she’d abandoned me.”

“She’d left you for him, who was easier to influence.”

“Yes. And then it was too late. I was named consort and sealed away. He came to me for advice and console. I think I was the only one who ever really understood him. In those months before he found Anne, I pitied him. He had everything yet no one and nothing. But I also felt it was the least of what he deserved.”

“Still, you didn’t stop him?”

Serafina shook her head. “I couldn’t do it.” She stared at her feet. “But the goddess is growing strong again. Blood magic is her forte. We need to take out her influence at the root, which means ending Kael Dremylon where he stands, before she continues her work through him, as she did with Viktor.”

“You think she’s already reached out to him?” Cyrene asked.

Serafina nodded. “Yes.”

Cyrene frowned. She hated the idea but believed Sera must be right. “She’s come to me. She has to have gone to him. Maybe she didn’t know which of us would turn. I have used blood magic after all, too.”

Serafina nodded reluctantly. “I think so. I hate to ask you to be stronger than me. But please…do what I couldn’t.”

“You really loved Viktor?” Cyrene asked. “Even in the end?”

A tear slipped down her cheek. “Even at the end.”

Cyrene imagined the sight of Kael handing her a weapon to kill Dean within her dream. The feel of holding that blade out to him. The image of what it would be like to end his life. She hadn’t been able to do it. Not even in a dream. In that way, she understood Serafina. She didn’t agree with Serafina. She could have saved the world a lot of suffering by doing the right thing. But she was trying to do it now. It had to count for something.

“I am sorry, Cyrene,” Serafina said.

“I know,” she said.

Cyrene pulled her into a hug. It wasn’t forgiveness. Not yet. But she would get there. And, in the meantime…she’d do the right thing.