ALEXA,” VERA REPEATED, her voice as honeyed as I remembered it. But now I knew that honey hid a venom more toxic than any predator’s in Antion. I looked away from her, refusing to meet her eyes. “How kind of you to show up here.”

Eljin came to stand next to me, and Vera giggled. She actually giggled. The sound made my stomach turn over. That wasn’t the reaction I’d been expecting.

“Oh, how sweet. You even brought the resident sorcerer to me as well. You’ve been a sneaky one, hiding away where I couldn’t find you.” She lifted an eyebrow and wagged a finger at Eljin.

I stared at Damian, beseeching him with my eyes, silently pleading with him to come back to me. But he looked at me dispassionately, no sign of his former feelings evident in his expression or the stance of his body. His arm was still around Vera, who stood next to him, as though they were now a team. My nightmare came back to me all of a sudden, of the two of them towering over me, watching me fall and fall as they tore apart the entire world around us….

Eljin lifted his hands, and I could feel the pull of magic, as I always did when I was close to a sorcerer using his power, but Vera just laughed again.

“Try all you’d like, sorcerer, but your power is useless against me. I’m impervious to your parlor tricks.”

I turned to stare at Eljin in horror. “Is she telling the truth?”

I watched as his hands began to shake, and yet Vera continued to laugh, completely unaffected.

Finally, Eljin dropped his hands, his eyes wide. “What are you?”

Vera laughed again, the sound as clear as a bell, and yet it scratched down my spine like nails on steel. “Wouldn’t you like to know. You’ll have to pay my king a visit, if you want to find out. But, alas, I don’t think that’s in your future.”

With a cry of frustration, Eljin yanked his sword out of his scabbard. “You might be impervious to sorcery, but no one is immune to steel!” he yelled, and charged at Vera.

“Eljin, no!” I shouted, dashing forward, but it was too late — he was too close to her. She looked directly at Eljin as he raised his sword to bring it down on her head and, with a smile on her face, said, “Halt immediately.”

Eljin froze, his sword still in the air above her.

“You don’t want to hurt me.” Vera smiled at him. “The plan was to keep Alexa alive, but now that Damian has become so … agreeable, I don’t think she’s necessary anymore.” The sweetness of her voice turned deadly cold. “Kill her. Kill Alexa. Now.”

Terror seized my lungs in an ice-cold grip as he spun to face me, his eyes empty above his mask. I’d warned him not to look into her eyes. In his anger, he must have forgotten.

“Damian, help me! Don’t let her do this,” I shouted as Eljin lunged at me.

I jumped back, out of his reach, and lifted my sword to deflect him when he jabbed again, his movements quick and lethal. My blade met the magical shield I’d spent weeks learning how to penetrate in Blevon, and I had to stumble back to avoid getting sliced in half. I was so shocked that he was fighting me, that Vera had taken control of my one ally, that I could barely bring myself to attack back. Instead, I concentrated on deflecting him. I spun away from yet another swipe of his sword. “Eljin, stop! You don’t want to do this! She’s your enemy, not me!”

But instead of responding, he lifted his arm, suddenly choking me with his magic. When my body began to burn with the need for oxygen, I finally realized he wasn’t going to show me any mercy. He’d been commanded to kill me, and he was determined to do just that. I glanced at Damian to find him staring at me, his expression bemused.

He wasn’t going to help me, either. He was going to watch me die.

I had no choice but to stop Eljin. Fighting the spiraling darkness, I lifted my sword and rushed at him. I refused to die. If nothing else — if I couldn’t save Damian — I at least had to get to Jax in time. I had to ignore the fire in my desperate lungs as I swiped my sword at his raised arm. He jumped back to avoid my hit, but in so doing, he lost control of his magic, and the invisible grip on my neck disappeared.

That gasp of air was as exquisite as it was excruciating; oxygen surged back into my body. Without a pause, I attacked again. As hard and furious as I ever had in any sparring match in his father’s castle in Blevon. I knew how to get past his defenses; I’d done it many times before. He was good, but I was better, when it came to sword fighting. It was his sorcery that had given him the advantage in the past, and he had been the one to teach me how to beat him, despite that.

But I’d never intended to hurt him before, and we’d been using wooden swords for the most part. This time was deadly serious, and the sounds of our blades clashing echoed through Damian’s chamber while he stood next to Vera, unmoving, watching us fight.

I jabbed and spun and lunged and ducked as fast and hard as I could, refusing to give him the chance to use his sorcery to fling me back against the wall and knock me unconscious. I had to ignore the blinding pain as the wound in my back tore more and more. Blood dripped, hot and sticky down my spine, soaking my tunic. Over and over, Eljin used his shield to deflect my hits, but I knew how to do this. I knew it. I just had to focus.

I got close, but he was always a split second ahead of me. It had been too long since I’d practiced against him, and I was rusty. If I didn’t beat him soon, he was going to succeed in following her command. I was growing tired — from lack of sleep, from fighting again and again and again, from the pain and loss of blood. This was it. If I didn’t beat him now, I knew I wouldn’t have the strength to continue on, and he would kill me.

I would fail everyone.

Channeling all of my fear and anger, I tried one last time. With a cry of desperation, I spun and attacked, faking right and then lunging left in a lightning-fast move, and finally, finally, he couldn’t get his shield up fast enough. My blade surged toward his body. At the last moment, I checked the direction so that it sliced through his side, instead of his lungs.

He stared at me in shock, the emptiness draining out of his eyes as his sword clanged to the ground. Then he dropped to his knees.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, still standing over him, my body trembling, my voice thick with tears. “I’m so sorry.”

He lifted a shaking hand to his side and stared at the blood on his fingers in shock. “You … you …” His eyes lifted to mine again. “I’m dying.”

“No! You’re not going to die.”

“It would appear that he is, actually,” Vera supplied, sounding amused. “Not exactly the result I was hoping for, but I’ll take it. For now.”

I looked away from my friend to glare at her, remembering at the last second not to meet her eyes. I wanted to charge at her, to kill her right there. Rage churned through my body, hot and urgent. I couldn’t hurt her or Jax would die — I knew that. But in that moment, it didn’t matter anymore. Eljin’s words came back to me: that as much as he loved Jax, we might not have a choice if we wanted to save Damian and Antion.

Maybe Eljin had been right. And because I’d ignored him, now he was dying. She’d hurt so many — and if I didn’t stop her, she’d continue to do so. She’d turned our own men against me; I’d had to kill one and injure others to get here. She’d made me hurt Mateo, Deron — and now Eljin. She’d taken Damian from me, from all of Antion.

Vera had to die.

I’m so sorry, Jax, I thought as I lifted my sword, gripping it with both hands, and rushed at her. I stared at her heart — the place where I was going to embed my sword — instead of her lethal eyes. I swung my sword back and then began to whip it around as I took the last few steps —

And suddenly, it was Damian my sword was about to stab, instead of Vera. With a scream of rage and frustration, I forced myself to halt, barely stopping the forward progression of my sword in time to keep from impaling him on it.

“Why?” I cried out, backing away, staring at him with tears blinding me. He’d jumped in front of my sword — willing to die — to protect her. “How can you forget me so easily? I don’t care how powerful she is — what we had was stronger than this. Wasn’t it?”

I looked at him and clenched my jaw to keep the tears from spilling over. I refused to look weak, to let Vera see just how deeply I was hurt. A strange expression crossed Damian’s face — his eyebrows pulled down low over his eyes as he stared back at me. Then his gaze moved to Eljin, who clutched his side with shaking hands.

“Damian, this isn’t you. Eljin is your friend. And I … I am … I was …” My voice broke, and I swallowed hard, trying to regain control. “You don’t want to let her kill me,” I finally said. “Somewhere in your heart, you have to remember that.”

“Aren’t you trying to hurt us?” The uncertainty in his voice gave me a sudden surge of hope. Maybe there was still a piece of him in there. The strong, unyielding man I knew and loved couldn’t be completely gone. Our only hope was that some part of him remained that I could reach.

“Damian.” Vera’s voice was sharp. She reached for his arm, turning him to face her, staring into his eyes. “You love me. You know you do. You can feel it, right?”

“Don’t look in her eyes!” I yelled, but it was too late.

“I love you,” he repeated.

“Yes, you love me,” Vera practically crowed in triumph. “Damian, this guard is a rebel. She’s trying to overthrow your kingdom. She just tried to kill me. You can’t let her get away with this act of treason.”

“No, I can’t,” he said. “We will have her tried and sentenced tomorrow.”

The exhaustion and devastation were too much; my arm that held my sword trembled. And then Damian lifted his hand. Suddenly, my arm was forced to my side, and I couldn’t move — bound by the sorcery he wielded.

“Please,” I begged, my voice barely above a whisper, struggling against my invisible bonds, “remember me. Remember us. You don’t want to do this.”

“There’s no time for a trial. She’ll find a way to escape, to come and finish what she started. You know how lethal she is. You must kill her. Now.” Vera glanced past him to me, a triumphant smirk on her face.

“Damian, don’t listen to her,” I pleaded desperately as Eljin collapsed onto his side, his eyes rolling in his head as he fought to stay conscious. “You love me, not her. Damian, please.” I had to get Eljin to Lisbet immediately or else he would end up dying.

Damian’s beautiful blue eyes met mine across the space between us and he grimaced, as though his head hurt. His hand faltered, and I felt the sorcery drop away, leaving me free to move again. “I … I love …”

“No. You love me. Look at me,” Vera commanded. “You love me.”

“Fight it, Damian — fight her control. You know it, don’t you? In your heart, you know you love me.” I stepped toward them again, shouting now to be heard over Vera as she reached up and turned his face to hers again, telling him again that he loved her, that I needed to die.

Damian moved back from Vera, shaking his head. Was he fighting her — trying to figure out what was real and imagined? That was the only reason I could think of why he hadn’t followed her order to kill me yet.

“She is a threat, Damian. Kill her now!”

“But, I … I love …”

“Of course he’d be in love with his disgusting, scarred guard,” Vera hissed, her voice no longer holding any pretense of sweetness as she spun to face me. “You think you can stop me? You think your love is strong enough to overcome my power?” She sneered at me, and all the beauty I’d been so jealous of before seemed suddenly stripped away, exposing her true self beneath the alluring facade. “Once you’re gone, it’ll take less than a day before he won’t even remember you existed. I will be his entire world.”

I didn’t dare continue to look at her. Instead, I kept my eyes on Damian, willing him to fight. To remember.

Vera suddenly stepped in front of him, blocking me, and pulled his face to hers, kissing him passionately. He didn’t respond at first, but then he slowly softened, kissing her back.

“Damian, please!”

He didn’t respond, continuing to kiss her until Vera finally broke away, her head still tilted up to his. He stared down at her, right into her eyes.

“Don’t look in her eyes!” I lifted my sword, but before I could rush forward, Vera yelled at him.

“Go to your desk, get your dagger, and kill her! Embed it in her heart and finish this! Kill her, so you can get your brother back!”

Damian immediately spun on his heel and marched over to his desk as though he were a soldier following his general’s command.

“She won’t stop you; she can’t bring herself to hurt you.”

My grip on the hilt of my sword tightened as he grabbed a long dagger lying on top of his desk and turned to face me.

“Damian, you don’t want to do this. If you kill me, Jax will die, too! I made a deal….” My voice broke as he advanced on me, his expression cold. My entire body began to shake, and helpless tears burned in my eyes. “I made a deal to save him.” The tears spilled out, running down my cheeks, but I didn’t care anymore.

“You made a deal with my brother?” Vera laughed, the sound echoing through my mind, burning into my brain as Damian stalked closer, gripping the dagger, preparing to strike me down.

I stared into his face, into his eyes — eyes that had once glowed with love for me but now held nothing but deadly intent — and let my sword drop to the ground beside me. My blade clattered against the stone floor. Vera was right; I couldn’t hurt him. I couldn’t stop him. If he was going to follow her orders, I couldn’t bring myself to fight back, to harm him. I was willing to do almost anything to stop her and her brother, to try and save Antion. But hurting Damian wasn’t one of them.

He stopped right in front of me, so close I could almost feel the heat of him. My entire body shook. I wanted his face to be the last thing I saw before I died. Even if his heart was no longer mine and his eyes held no love for me, they were still his beautiful eyes.

Damian was still the man I loved.

I held perfectly still as he slowly lifted the dagger above his head.

“Damian,” I whispered, wanting him — needing him — to know the truth before I died. I’d been lying to him for too long.

He paused, the dagger still above his head.

“Damian,” I repeated when his arm began to tremble and the dagger dipped down slightly. “You don’t love that woman. You love me.”

“Don’t listen to her! She’s trying to trick you. Kill her!” Vera shouted, making my ears hurt, but I refused to be silent. My only weapons were my words — my love.

“You love me, Damian. I know you do. She can’t take that from you — from us — unless you let her.”

Confusion and pain flickered across his face, but then Vera screamed at him.

“Kill her! Now, Damian! Do it now!”

His expression hardened, and he lifted the dagger higher again, his grip tightening on the hilt. This was it. Vera was going to win.

“I love you!” I shouted over Vera’s screaming. “I love you, Damian! I always have and I always will!”

Damian sucked in a sharp breath and stumbled back a step, as though my declaration had physically slammed him.

“No!” Vera howled. “Kill her now!”

Damian’s eyes narrowed, and my whole body tightened, anticipating my death. He swung the dagger back, but as the blade began to arc back down toward my heart, he suddenly spun on his heel and threw it with perfect aim into Vera’s chest — directly into her heart.

I stared in shock as her eyes widened; crimson blood bloomed around the hilt of the blade, spreading quickly to soak the front of her silken shift. Her mouth opened and then closed wordlessly. She tried to lift a hand to the dagger, but while we watched, the color in her cheeks drained away and her arm fell uselessly to her side. With a choking sound, she dropped to her knees. Blood bubbled out of her mouth as she crumpled to the ground, her eyes open. Unseeing.

She was dead.

My frozen horror gave way to panic that made my entire body shake. Damian turned back to me, and when our eyes met, I nearly collapsed in relief. His eyes were his own again. Her death had released him.

And then his arms were around me, holding me, gathering me into the strength and comfort of his body. “Alexa,” he choked out, burying his face in my hair. “Alexa, what did I do? What did I almost do?” He trembled even as he held me. His arms tightened around me, and I couldn’t keep from crying out in pain. He immediately let go and stepped back. When he saw the blood on the sleeves of his tunic, his eyes flew to mine. “You’re hurt! What happened? We have to get —”

“Damian” — I cut him off, my eyes dropping to where Eljin lay on the ground unmoving — “Eljin needs Lisbet’s help now.”

“Eljin,” Damian repeated, horror blooming on his face as he spun to face his friend.

He rushed to Eljin, with me right behind him. Eljin’s face was ghastly pale above his mask. I dropped to my knees next to him and pulled the mask off, heedless of the scars he tried to hide. He needed to breathe, not to hide the evidence of a war we’d fought so hard to stop.

“Is he … ?”

“He’s alive,” I said, my fingers pressed against his neck. There was a faint pulse. “But not for long if he doesn’t get help.”

“Where is Lisbet?”

“Hiding in the same room as before.”

I glanced up at him, and my heart constricted at the pain on his face. “Go — hurry!”

He gave me one last look, his eyes full of remorse, and then he turned and rushed to the door. Once he’d gone, I turned back to Eljin.

“You can’t die — do you hear me? I didn’t want to hurt you.” I pressed my hands against the wound I’d given him, trying to slow the loss of blood. “I can’t let you die.”

Vera’s body wasn’t far away, but I refused to look at her. To look at her was to admit that she was dead, and what Damian didn’t know yet was that if we lost Eljin, he wouldn’t be the last one to die this day.

Jax was going to die as well.