His cheeks were shallow, the bones protruding from his skin, his eyes sunken. Dex had seen people in such a state before, long ago when he’d visited A’Exal, a gas planet whose citizens were plagued with horrific side effects from exposure to the atmosphere. Valen looked like the very worst-afflicted of those poor people—on the verge of death.

And yet he still moved forward, his face revealing no pain, as he stopped before the girls.

Valen held up his hands. For a moment, they shook. His whole body trembled, and his eyes seemed to roll back into his head. But then the shaking ceased, his body stilled and his eyes opened once again.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. There was no sound but the wind, howling as it whipped through the space between the two groups.

Then, one by one, each of the girls slumped to the ground.

Andi took a step forward, but Dex placed his invisible hand on her shoulder. “Not yet,” he whispered, a mere breath in her ear.

As quickly as they’d fallen, the girls began to rouse, as if coming out of a deep sleep. It was much the same as it had been when the dead rose during the Ucatoria Ball—only this time, when the girls woke...

Dex saw it in their eyes.

They were themselves again.

CHAPTER 35

LIRA

When Lira was younger, she’d once gone to the ocean with her family.

She remembered being transfixed by the peaks of frothing waves, curling and dipping until they crested and met the angry, churning surface below. Again and again, they did this powerful dance, making her fearful to swim in their wake, afraid of being swept away.

But then Lon dipped beneath the surging water, gliding under the surface before emerging with a bright smile on his face. Seeing her twin do it with such ease gave her the confidence to follow his lead.

So she dived, breaking through the water like a bullet.

Her body had hummed at the contact.

Every inkling of doubt she’d had on land evaporated, and when she surfaced, she felt a clarity unlike anything she’d ever felt. Like a slate wiped clean.

Lira was experiencing the same feeling now.

It was as if her mind had suddenly been swept clean after being stuffed with gauze. With each blink, her brain cleared more and more.

One moment, she was serving her queen, and the next, she wasn’t. Just like that, as if a tethered spring had been snapped, her mind was her own again.

Lira gasped, her knees buckling as her gaze collided with Andi’s just a few yards away.

“Andi?” Gilly whispered, her green eyes wide. Breck, too, looked as if she had seen a ghost, her hand plastered against her mouth.

Even from this distance, she could see tears spring into Andi’s eyes.