Lukas sweeps our gaze over the scene, and I take in the Marfoir scuttling across the cavern’s higher reaches, bone-white spider legs sprouted from their stretched-out forms. Multi-eyed dragons are lined up in formation, corrupted wraith bats hang from outcroppings of stone, and scorpios hunch in neat rows along the cavern’s base, a nightmare army ready to be unleashed.

The scene breaks off and I almost lose my footing as I’m hurled back into my own body on the Vonor balcony, Lukas’s translucent image once more before me.

“My cousin, Or’myr,” I force out as I steady myself, determination reigniting, “he’ll be back any moment. He’s a powerful Mage and geomancer. We’ll get hold of a portal and travel West tonight. Once there, we’ll track you—”

“There’s no more time,” Lukas snarls. “I can’t hold off Vogel’s control much longer. And once he has complete hold of me, he’ll be able to take full hold of you.” Agony slashes across Lukas’s livid features, his eyes taking on a look of such tortured love it scares me. “Elloren, our fasting link has to be destroyed.”

“It can’t be removed!”

His gaze burns into me. “No. It can’t. But there is a way to break the link between us.”

My mind reels. As a female, my fastlines are forever. But the link between us...

Understanding crashes home.

He means breaking it with his death.

“No, Lukas, no,” I cry, my protest feral in its intensity, fire blasting through my lines.

“Stop,” he commands. “As soon as this spell quickens to the point that I can touch you, I need to draw on as much of your power as I can. I’m going to buy you and the Eastern Realm time.” That fierce, pained love enters his gaze once more. “Elloren, you were right all along. There are bigger things to fight for than just power. Bigger things to die for.” His expression shifts, turning dagger-hard. “I’m going to kill Marcus Vogel and take out as much of this hive as I can. And then you’ll be free to finish what I started.”

The terrible reality crushes me like a vise. I can barely breathe against it. He’s already set the wheels in motion by breaking free of Vogel’s imprisonment. Which means he has to stage his attack on Vogel now, before he’s discovered.

Sick panic knifes through my heart. “Lukas...”

“That green wand...” His eyes flick toward the spiraling weapon in my hand. “Vogel wants it. It must have more power than we know. Elloren, keep it away from him—”