Her shoulders and arms were bare of her snakes. Blood ran from a deep gash upon her forehead. The scent of smoke and death wafted from her form like a breeze.

Silver gently clasped and lowered Aster’s hand when she reached for her face to inspect her injury. “I’m fine.” And I knew before she said it, her crimson gaze unmoving from me. “The towers have fallen.”

Aster stumbled back, her hand clapping over the pained sound that left her mouth. Her gray eyes met mine, filled with the horror of heartbreak.

Every instinct screamed to gather her within my arms and soothe.

But Silver had come to me for a reason.

I stepped into a pair of leather pants that were folded and waiting upon the drawers for the morning, uncaring that Silver had seen us both naked. It mattered not when she was here with such news. News I’d foolishly thought I’d never be delivered.

For three years, we’d not heard a word from Wistensia, and we hadn’t wanted any.

“He is asking for you.”

Aster remained stone-still in the corner of the room. Her fear and anguish smothered, even if she chose not to voice it.

Mercifully, Silver was not referring to my heart. She was referring to me.

I pulled on a tunic and grabbed my dagger, then slipped past the sorceress to fetch my swords.

She appeared before me and placed a hand on my arm. Her red eyes shined with urgency. “You won’t be needing them, but you must hurry.”

“No,” Aster called, following. “Silver, he can’t go back…”

I sucked in a breath through my nose and nodded to Silver.

Then I slid my dagger into the holster within my sleeve and turned back to meet my mate. I framed her face and kissed her. “I’m not leaving you, and when I am forced to, it will not be for them,” I vowed to her lips.

Aster swallowed, her eyes closing.

Tears still escaped as I pressed my lips to her forehead and inhaled her.

Silver took Aster’s arm when I released her, and she directed her to the armchair. A discreet nod from the sorceress said she would not allow my mate to warp from the cottage. She had the power to make sure she couldn’t follow.

I’d promised to never return to the isle—had thought I would never have to.

But there was no quelling the pull I couldn’t name, and so I let it drag me back one last time.

Fire choked the mountain hillside I arrived on.

It rose toward the dark sky from the highest windows of the only remaining tower. The other towers were nothing more than debris that covered the mountains and drowned them in plumes of smoke.