"Alaric?"

Lila wasn’t sure what she had just witnessed. So she turned to the others to confirm if they had seen it too.

Not surprising, Taryn and Hannah had the same bewildered expression as her.

Alaric then blinked, his eyes returning to that familiar, striking blue, and he sucked in a sharp breath, like someone who had been held underwater and had finally broken the surface.

"I saw them," he said with a rough voice.

Then again, more firmly this time, like he needed them to understand, "I saw them."

"Saw who?" Lila asked, though she already had an inkling.

"Asher and Violet," Alaric said, awe and relief flooding his expression. "We’re bound as one. Our circle is complete. Although..." his brows pulled together slightly, his focus drifting as if he were listening to something far away. "Asher is more bound to her than the rest of us."

Taryn exchanged a knowing look with Lila. "They’re tied telepathically now. All of them."

Alaric said. "Asher wants us to find the Queen and handle things here. He’ll keep Violet safe."

"You mean the same Asher who hurt—" Lila started, her tone rising with lingering distrust.

Taryn cut her off. "If he’s finally mated with Violet, then she’s safest with him. You know that." His voice dropped a bit. "And you also know what comes after. We shouldn’t interfere unless we want him ripping our heads off."

He didn’t need to say it outright. The mating frenzy.

Alaric flushed red, confirming it without words. Then he looked around, his expression hardening as he took in the devastation around them.

"Where’s the Queen?" he asked.

Before anyone could answer, a shout cut through the air. One of Baron’s Fae came out of nowhere, hurling a massive blast of fire straight at them.

Lila reacted quickly, her hand slicing through the air as she stripped the oxygen from the flame. The fire sputtered violently and collapsed into nothing before it could reach them.

The Fae prepared to attack again but Alaric made his move. This time, he didn’t call the sky or summon lightning. He didn’t need to.

Alaric could feel the change. The completed bond had done something to him, and now, he was stronger.

Every living being carries energy, human or supernatural. Electrical signals firing through nerves, controlling movement, and heartbeat. And now, he could feel them.

He had dreamt of reaching heights like this with his ability, and now it had finally come to pass.

Not just the Fae, he could feel it in everyone. The tiny electrical currents that kept their bodies alive. Lila. Taryn. Hannah.

Each of them. If he just tugged a little, he could manipulate them all without breaking a sweat.

The thought was intoxicating, tempting and dangerous. For a moment, it thrilled him, then he forced himself to focus back on the enemy.

Alaric reached out, instinctively with his ability and found the electrical impulses running through the Fae’s nervous system. He grabbed hold of the signals and pulled.

The Fae froze mid-motion.

A strangled sound tore from his throat as his body convulsed, his muscles seizing violently as the signals misfired all at once.

His hand flew to his chest, it was pumping so fast it wanted to burst from his chest.

But Alaric tightened his hold, pulling harder until the rhythm broke.

The Fae gasped, blood spilling from his mouth as his body failed him from the inside out. Then he fell, dead before he hit the ground.

Silence fell in the sacred groove.

When Alaric turned back, he found Lila, Taryn, and Hannah staring at him wide-eyed, shocked. Not just that, there was a new kind of fear in their gaze. Alaric Storm was a different kind of predator now.

Alaric glanced at his hand, flexing his fingers slightly as if testing the new sensation humming beneath his skin.

"Leveled up," he said callously, like his transformation was completely normal.

Before any of them could move on, the air rippled. Alaric felt the shift, his body already shifting into a defensive stance, lightning flashing in his iris as his senses locked onto the disturbance.

Then Annequin stepped out of thin air.

Queen Seraphira was draped against her, barely conscious.

"Baron’s killing her!" Annequin shouted.

Lila rushed forward and shoved Annequin hard, ripping the Queen from her grasp. "Get your damn hands off her, you betrayer!"

The Queen tried to speak, her lips parting, but instead, a cry of pain fell from her throat. Her body folded inward, trembling.

"Alaric!" Lila yelled, panic breaking through her anger.

Alaric caught the Queen before she collapsed completely. He lifted her carefully, his jaw tightening.

"Find Zuru," he ordered.

But Annequin said to them, "If you mean the Queen’s healer, Baron had her killed already."

Silence hit them like a blow.

"He knew your plan," she continued. "Every step of it. So he made sure there would be no one left to save her."

Lila’s head snapped toward her, fury blazing in her eyes. "You mean the plan you helped him ruin."

Her power billowed without warning. The ground trembled, and the air thickened as Lila lashed out, sending a blast of wind and earth straight at Annequin.

But Annequin was already gone. She reappeared a few steps away, untouched, her expression unreadable.

"You’re wasting your energy," she said calmly.

Lila didn’t stop, releasing another strike, and again, Annequin slipped through it like smoke.

"Asher was the one who told me to align with Baron," Annequin revealed at last with a note of frustration. "He wasn’t satisfied with your poorly fashioned plans against Baron. So he came to me and ordered me to. That way, I could get close, gain leverage and turn the tide. Baron needed an ally and he fell easily when I pitched in my offer to him."

Lila froze for half a second, disbelief running across her face.

"If you didn’t have my help," Annequin continued, her gaze sweeping across them, "do you really think you would still be alive right now?"

"That doesn’t absolve you," Lila snapped. "If you think this is enough to redeem yourself, then you’re more delusional than I thought."

Before the tension could snap, Taryn stepped in.

"Enough," he said barked, placing himself between them. "She made her own moves, yes. But she also saved us."

Lila didn’t respond, her chest rising and falling with restrained anger. Behind them, Alaric tightened his hold on the Queen.

"There’s still a way," he said, his voice cutting through the tension.

All eyes turned to him.

"Zuru documented the transfusion process," he continued. "Everything we need is there. A compatible body and the spell."

Lila’s eyes widened suddenly as realization struck.

"A priestess," she said quickly. "A priestess is powerful enough to handle the spell. And we had several present for the trial."

Her gaze swept across the sacred Grove except it was nearly empty. Most of the Fae had fled for their lives.

"We just need to find one," she said, more to herself now, urgency in her voice. "Before it’s too late."

"I guess one of us would have to be quick enough." Annequin’s voice carried a quiet challenge.

Lila turned, and their eyes locked in a long, silent stare. Neither yielding nor trusting, however, she needed as much help as she could.

"We’d see then."

Lila took off unlike Annequin who simply vanished. To think she had such an ability and had been hiding it. Lila just couldn’t trust her.

"We’re headed to Zuru’s workshop." Alaric informed Taryn and Hannah who nodded in unison.

They fell in line behind him. Although no one came out to attack them again, none of them relaxed. Around them, the palace was in chaos.

Fae ran in every direction—some fleeing, desperate to escape, while others stayed behind, trying to heal and keep their injured kin alive.

They reached Zuru’s workshop. Alaric stepped in first and froze. For a split second, his mind refused to process what he was seeing.

Zuru’s body was pinned to the wall.

A sword was driven straight through her stomach, the blade embedding deep into the stone behind her. Her head hung forward, her body slumped unnaturally around the weapon that held her in place.

Beside him, Taryn let out a low, guttural sound, something between a curse and a growl, spoken in the Fae tongue.

He stepped forward, gripping the sword, and pulled it free in one swift motion. Zuru’s body dropped into his arms, and he lowered her carefully to the ground.

Then he bowed his head and began to murmur prayer for her soul to find peace.

Alaric looked away, a tightness forming in his chest. He and Zuru had worked together and she didn’t deserve this. None of them did. But there was no time to linger on that.

He carefully laid Queen Seraphira onto the worktable, and stopped.

The queen was pale as hell and she was no longer breathing.

Fuck. Realization dawned on him.

The Queen of the Free Fae was dead.