He wasn’t strong enough to break himself out. He was a prisoner, set to spend eternity in this cold, empty hell.

Not real, Valen told himself. This isn’t real.

Hands grabbed him from behind.

“Get up, you fool boy!”

Valen yelped and scrambled to get away.

“I said, get on your feet! Get a hold of yourself, princeling!”

The world slowly came back into focus, and Valen realized it was Darai kneeling over him, the adviser’s face twisted in rage. Blood trickled down the side of his cheek, and a shard of glass was lodged in his skin, but he was the most welcome sight Valen had ever seen.

“Can you stand?” Darai asked.

Valen nodded, allowing Darai to help him to his feet, shameless in this moment. His back screamed as people sprinted past, trying in vain to escape the Academy grounds. He watched it all with a strange sense of detachment. As if he were not here, as if this were not truly happening.

“You have to calm them,” Darai insisted, ushering Valen back the way they’d come. The transport still sat waiting, the pilot waving his arms as he ushered them over. Someone shoved past them both, nearly knocking them back to the ground. Darai leaned on Valen for support, and a sharp spike of pain slammed into Valen’s ribs. “Can you hear me? I said you have to calm them! Reach into your mind! Compel the crowd to relax, so we can get to safety!”

“I can’t!” Valen said. He was already so weak, his mind so labored from searching for traces of Androma, from commanding so many to find her and Arachnid and bring them forth.

The old man shook him by the shoulders. “You’ve grown soft, lazy in that damned estate. I said, compel them!”

Amid the chaos, Valen sank into his mind. He realized that he’d had the door closed, but now that he’d opened it, he heard another voice, screaming his name.

VALEN! Valen!

Nor! Valen thought back to her, relief flooding through him at the sound of her voice. Are you alright? But when he looked up, he couldn’t find her. He only saw a sea of soldiers—reinforcements arriving from their barracks in the city. He could just make out Breck’s towering form as she moved closer to the back of the stage, likely closing in on Nor.

“I have to get to my sister!” Valen said wildly.

“She’s just as big a fool as you are!” Darai shouted. His eyes were dark, spittle flying from his lips. “You want to help your sister? Then compel these people, before we all get killed in this chaos.”

Valen closed his eyes, readying himself to obey, to calm the storm around him.

Then the first gunshot went off.

CHAPTER 17

LIRA

All her life, Lira had trained for battle.