Eleni opened her eyes. She looked miserable as she swiped tears from her cheeks, which only made my betrayal that more convincing. If it wasn’t for her, I might still be under Nulan’s control. “Maya, please,” she begged, her voice barely above a whisper. “Fight it.”

I made sure to keep my face clear of emotions. I had to pretend that I didn’t care. “Stop making this harder than it needs to be.”

“It’s just as I promised, my lord,” Nulan said, eagerly. “My control over the girl is absolute.”

“We shall see, Tyana.” The Lord of Shadows flourished his long, spiny hand at one of his generals. “Give the guardian your prod. Let her prove her loyalty or die where she stands.” He turned to me with his glowing eyes. “Punish Eleni for her disobedience.”

I swallowed my fear as the general—a darkbringer with a bull face and flared nostrils—removed the blue metal prod from a clip at his waist and offered it to me. I snatched it out of his hand like I was ready to get this over with. “You’re always messing up, Eleni,” I said, stalking over to where she was still next to Nulan. “Just like when we opened gateways at that garbage dump and yours utterly failed.”

I held my breath, desperately hoping she remembered the time our gateways had intersected. For a brief moment, there had been a bubble of spinning god symbols. If we couldn’t trap the Lord of Shadows outside of the universe, maybe we could trap him in a slice of space inside it. Maybe it would work, or maybe it wouldn’t, but we had to try something.

Eleni frowned at me, and I could tell she was trying to work it out. I pressed the prod to the metal collar around her neck and looked into her eyes. Remember, Eleni, please. “It seems we’re at a crossroads, Sister, an intersection,” I spat. Please remember. “Your time is up.”

As I reared the prod back, a buzz of electricity vibrated up my arm. Someone slammed into me. I hit the stage hard, and the crowd erupted into chaos. The Lord of Shadows was on the move, his writhing ribbons spinning and twisting.

Eleni was being pulled off the stage, dragged backward by invisible hands. Eli! But before they could escape, Nulan sprang to action. She lifted her hand and blew fairy dust. Eli was in ghost mode, but the fairy dust highlighted his outline next to Eleni. One of the darkbringer generals tackled Eli, and they fell off the stage into the crowd. No, no, no. This wasn’t going at all how I had planned.