“Lor?” Zerra says with a breathy laugh. “That silly girl?” The way she says it makes me want to commit an act of violence. Maybe upend this whole table, food and dishes and all. Except that seems too mild a reaction.

I want to splatter blood on these walls.

She stands up and slowly prowls towards me. Still, I keep my gaze on her face. I don’t know what game she’s playing, but I have no interest in it. Even if I weren’t already in love with Lor, this woman reminds me far too much of a snake slithering through oily grass.

Zerra stops in front of me, and the triumphant look on her face suggests she’s about to deliver a crushing blow.

And that she’s planning to enjoy it.

The last coherent moments with Lor come crashing back to me in a memory that sinks in my stomach like a stone. My father thanking me for helping him and telling him where to find her. But he was lying. Trying to rip us apart. But what if she believed him?

The last thing I remember is a bright red flash. Lor’s magic? I dig further into my memory. I hear her voice, and I hear her crying. What happened?

Zerra watches me with a simpering smile as I meet her gaze.

“Did you just figure it out?” she asks, and though I’m not entirely sure what she means yet, my ribs seize with fear.

“You’re here because of your mate. She’s the one who killed you.”

CHAPTER 14

LOR

ALLUVION—THE CRYSTAL PALACE

That night, a storm rolls in. I sit on my bed, watching lightning streak across the sky and listening to water crash upon the rocks. Wind howls through the castle, like ghosts slipping through the cracks.

This feels like something unnatural. Something conjured from magic. More evidence of the land suffering and Zerra weakening, but I’m still not sure what any of it really means.

It also complicates things for me. I had planned to wait in my room until just before midnight, reasoning that most of the palace would be asleep. But the ferocity of this phenomenon means everyone is on alert. With any luck, they’ll be too focused to pay much attention to me, but I’m praying this doesn’t mean Bain will stand me up. By the time the sun rises tomorrow, it will be my final day to save Nadir.

An oily green bubble expands in my stomach at the thought. I thought I died already when I lost him once, but losing him again would turn me from a violent scream into a whisper.