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He stands with his arms lax, looking lost but not helpless as he clutches that impressive inferno in his right hand. This must be his power. Amser coils inside my consciousness, curious about Finn but also wary. It whispers to me, Laphia: The Eternal Flame. The Phoenix.
My eyes widen.
“He was never worth your tears,” Elias retorts under his breath, only loud enough for me to hear. It surprises me that he recognizes Finn just from our brief conversations about him. I knew he was listening intently, even when his face disguised it.
I glance over to my assassin. His white hair is messy from the fight, strands hanging over his forehead. “No, he wasn’t,” I mutter. I stare blankly at Finn. “How did you know it was him?”
Elias grunts. “I’m Fernestia’s top assassin. I can find anyone by their description alone. You misjudge my perceptiveness and attention to detail.”
Finn realizes the fight is as good as over and drops his blade into the snow; it sizzles as the fire extinguishes. He reaches his hand out to me desperately as he finally finds words. “Terra. Terra, you’re okay… You—” He examines me with weary eyes. “You’re alive.”
An easy grin spreads across my lips. “No thanks to you.”
He visibly flinches and his brows pull together with fierce torment.
I don’t let him have a moment of reprieve. “You know, I was hunted down in the forest after we went our separate ways. I was stabbed by an assassin, only saved by the Shadow in my veins and a fickle thing called fate. I died that night, Finn. The Terra you knew is dead.”
His mouth opens and closes a few times in an attempt to say anything that could matter, but of course, he can’t. Nothing matters anymore. Our ties are severed. I just needed to see him one last time to realize that.
“Terra.” Raine’s voice startles me and I turn to meet him. “Let’s go back.” He holds his hand out for me and I take it. Elias’s brows lower into his usual scowl as I step into Raine’s arms.
Finn watches us, unblinking. His rugged beauty is as haunting as ever, and I struggle to pull my eyes away from his amber gaze.
“Give me someone else,” Elias demands and the headmaster responds to him but I’m already too far away to make it out. Raine escorts me back to the front doors of Alkrose but the scent of fresh blood draws my eyes back to the fighting.
I turn in time to watch a spray of blood pulse from some girl’s neck. Her eyes are wide; I see so much of myself in them. Elias killed her without a second thought. It could’ve been me if not for my Shadow being Elias’s fated mate.
Raine and I silently watch from afar.
Arthur breaks away from the circle and walks toward us. Was this the matter he was talking about attending to? I hadn’t noticed him until now, but then again there are too many people in the crowd to pick apart.
“What are you two doing down here? I told you I would come and get you.” He rubs his face, dark circles evident under his eyes. Despite his scolding, he perks up when he looks at me. “Terra, you look brilliant in your new cloak. Glad to see you’ve cleaned up.”
I offer him a short nod. I hadn’t noticed Raine was dressed in his new clothing until Arthur mentioned it. He looks so much better. His dark hair is wet from our shower, black tactical gear tight against his muscles and the beautiful white cloak clasped around his shoulders. Raine notices me taking him in and smiles.
“It doesn’t feel like our entire world just ended, does it?” he says grimly. “Playing academy in the woods feels like an easy getaway. Do you think we’re children who will just forget the past?” Raine pins Arthur with a cold, steely glare.
Arthur considers Raine before cracking open the journal he’s holding. He flips through a few pages and stops, takes in what the page offers, and then closes it. “Of course I don’t. You are hosting power that far exceeds anything you could possibly fathom. We simply aim to show you the world that can exist once the Shadowless are eradicated. Unfortunately, your options are to die with them or become one of us. But we both know your time is limited, Raine.”
Raine gnashes his teeth but doesn’t respond. Arthur said the words so matter-of-factly, his gray eyes devoid of emotion.
“Now, please return to the Nova House until I retrieve you for the banquet. Unless, of course, you’d prefer to get on the headmaster’s bad side.” Arthur crosses his arms and stares at us expectantly. I share a look with Raine before we both retreat toward Alkrose’s main doors.
We don’t talk until we reach the Nova House common room. Raine startles me when he finally speaks, his voice raspy and deep.
“So that was the guy from your village, I’m guessing?”
I look up at him and find soft curiosity in his eyes. “Yeah. I thought I’d be—” I pause, struggling to find the words to convey the emptiness inside me.
“Relieved?”
I shift on my feet, looking down at the dark tiles. “Yeah. Something other than what I’m experiencing now.” My fingers tangle in my cloak over my heart.
Raine watches me from beneath dark lashes. “Arthur is right. We aren’t who we were before the Shadows. So it makes sense that you don’t feel the same. I’ve only just merged with mine and I already feel so… altered.” He touches his forehead delicately, wincing at the brush of his own fingers against his skin.
“Does it hurt?” I ask carefully.
Raine’s different. His Shadow is vicious within him—he said so himself on the stairwell in Barkovah.
