I kneel next to her. ‘It’s okay, Llinos. It’s okay.’ My voice quivers and tears begin to fall down my cheeks. ‘Just breathe, okay? You don’t need to speak. Just breathe, honey.’

‘Can’t,’ Llin says, a cough wracking her. ‘Can’t breathe.’

The healer’s hands are glowing with a deep amber light, but the frown lines on her forehead only deepen. It’s not working.

‘What did she drink?’ the healer asks.

As Caroline struggles to draw breath, let alone reply, a hollowness spreads through me. There’s only one reason why the healer would ask that question.

‘She’s been poisoned?’ I ask tightly, but the question is rhetorical. I already know the answer. ‘She’s been poisoned.’

Llinos meets my eyes, and I see the resignation there, the acceptance. And it slays me.

‘Help her!’ I bark at the healer.

The foam at Llin’s mouth is no longer green. It has taken on a pinkish hue. Blood is filling her lungs, but the healer has moved her hands away from her chest. As she starts to stand, I grab hold of her.

‘Please. There must be something you can do.’

She shakes her head, eyes sympathetic. ‘It’s in her system. If it was just in her stomach, maybe … but no, I’m sorry. It’s too late. It’s just too late.’

My whole body trembles as I stumble back.

‘No. No, she can’t. It can’t be. You have to do something. You have to.’

The healer presses her lips together but moves her hands back to Llinos’s chest. They pulse with magic for just a moment before she takes them away, visibly tired. ‘I’ve eased her pain and her breathing as best I can. It’ll give you a few moments to say goodbye.’

‘Rose …’ Llinos’s voice is barely a breath, yet it burns through my entire body, causing more tears to stream down my cheeks. ‘It’s okay. It’s … okay.’

‘No. No.’ I drop down next to Llin and wipe my hand across her brow. It’s nearly impossible to see through the blur of tears filling my eyes.

‘You or Benny better win.’ She tries to smile, only for a drop of blood to slip from the corner of her lips. With the slightest movement of her eyes, she looks from me to Caroline, and her smile is true. ‘We found each other again. I knew we would.’

‘Stop speaking like that.’ Caroline’s voice is firm, even as it trembles. ‘You’re okay, okay?’

‘You’re a terrible liar.’ Llin’s smile widens. ‘I love that about you. I love everything about you. I always will.’

‘Stop it. I’m not losing you now.’ Caroline gulps in air between her sobs. ‘Not when we just found each other again. I refuse to lose you, Llin. You hear me? I refuse to. So you’d better sort this out, because I don’t care how tough you think you are, I’m gonna kick your arse if you don’t stop this and get up now. You hear me? You need to get up.’ She tugs at Llinos’s still form, and her voice breaks as she sobs while shudders wrack her body.

‘Llinos! You need to be okay. Get up! Llin!’ Caroline screams, but even as she buries her head in Llin’s chest, my friend’s expression remains fixed. Her smile unchanged. Unmoving. Not even a tremor. Not even a breath.

Kyor’s voice is low. ‘We need to move her somewhere private. You don’t want to do this here. Trust me.’

He’s standing right behind me. I didn’t even realise he’d followed me.

‘Do something.’ Tears stream down my cheeks as I turn to him. ‘Do something. You have magic. You have healers. Do something!’

‘You know I can’t.’ His voice is hollow with pain. ‘We both know that all too well. She’s gone, Rose. I’m so sorry.’

He folds me into his arms in a much too public show of support, and I don’t have the strength to refuse him.

I don’t understand. When I left them, they were laughing. Ready to dance.

The healer’s earlier question resurfaces in my mind. What did she drink?

The wine. I feel sick. I push myself away from Kyor and turn to Caroline. ‘What did Llin drink? Caroline! You need to answer me! Did Llin drink the wine in the glass I gave her?’

Tears stream down her cheeks, and her skin is so pale it’s translucent. When she lifts her head, her eyes are glazed, nothing but hollow pain behind them. ‘She was just drinking wine,’ she says. ‘Just … wine.’

‘The glass I gave her? She drank that too?’

‘I … I … I think so.’

The deathly cold that filled my veins is replaced with an insatiable heat, and a roar in my ears sounds so loud it drowns out all else.

‘He gave me the wine,’ I seethe. ‘That bastard gave me the wine.’ I turn back to Kyor. ‘Holden. He got me the drink, but I gave my glass to Llin. Oh Gods. I gave Llin my glass, and she drank it instead of me.’ I can barely breathe.

Benny is sobbing on the ground as he tries to comfort Caroline. Jonas stands above them, looking lost. And hundreds of guests stare at us.

But there’s only one I’m looking for.

‘Where the fuck is Holden?’ I snarl.

‘Rose?’ It’s Jonas who speaks. ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’

‘Holden. Where the fuck is that prick?’ My gaze rakes across the room. There’s no sign of him.

‘He was here a moment ago,’ Jonas says. ‘He asked me if I’d seen you.’

I bet he did, the son of a bitch. I run for the door.

‘Rose!’ Jonas calls after me. ‘Rose, think about what you’re going to do here!’

‘Fuck that,’ Kyor replies for me. ‘She doesn’t need to think. She needs to do.’

I feel them both, shadows racing behind me as I tear out onto the grounds and spot Holden in the distance, moving quickly, ready to slip through the gate into one of the other arcs. If he gets through there, I’ll lose him, because the rules of the Retterheld forbid me to leave our arc unless it’s to attend a trial. Maybe that’s what he wants, though – for me to be disqualified. Blood rushes in my veins and I push myself to breaking point to reach him before he escapes, but he’s too far ahead.

But then, when he’s only a foot away from the gate, a bolt of lightning blasts the wood and the entire thing goes up in flames. Holden leaps back, and when he turns to see us bearing down on him, he freezes.

I turn to Kyor.

‘He’s all yours,’ he tells me with a nod.

I draw to a stop facing Holden, my breathing heavy. I expected him to run away from us or prepare to fight, but instead he just stands there, his jaw locked and his muscles twitching unnaturally, as if some static force is holding him firmly in place. Kyor has him. Fuck, what terrifying powers that man has. Good thing I’m no longer afraid of him. No longer afraid of anything. He and Zelle have trained me for this moment, and I won’t let either of them down.

My heart pounds against my ribs as I take a step towards the aged commander. My footsteps are steady and my resolve unwavering. I have no weapons on me, but Holden’s ceremonial sword is still there, sheathed at his side. When I reach him, I place my hand on the hilt and withdraw the sword. His lip spasms as if desperate to curl up in a snarl.

‘You murdered her.’ My voice is low, a thunderous rumble that barely even sounds like me. ‘You murdered Llinos.’

‘That’s on you, not me,’ he spits, forcing the words out through his gritted teeth. ‘You’re a Gods-forsaken cockroach, slum rat. If you had only known your place⁠—’

‘Her place?’ Kyor’s voice is a growl beside me as sparks of pure energy surge between his fingers. I have never seen him like this before. So powerful. So dangerous. ‘Her place, Holden, is wherever the fuck she decides it is.’

I appreciate the support, but this moment is mine, not Kyor’s. ‘You said he was all mine, remember?’

His eyes meet mine, and he nods, his hands dropping as I raise the pilfered sword.

‘Rose, stop!’ Jonas’s voice cuts through the silence. ‘Don’t do this! You are not a killer. You don’t want to do this.’

I want to laugh. Even now Jonas underestimates me. Or maybe that’s not it. Maybe he just doesn’t know who I am. I can’t help but scoff as I look him in the eye.