He has Zora forced to her knees in front of him. His right hand is fisted in her hair, tugging at the skin of her strained forehead. In the other, he holds a knife dripping with fresh blood.

It matches the stain on Zora’s tunic, the one ballooning at her abdomen.

The knife is missing from Zora’s belt.

I don’t think before I lunge, but Farin is quicker, and he drags Zora backward by her hair.

She screams in agony as the blood on her tunic continues to spread.

“Get away from her,” I hiss, but Farin only flashes me an amused grin.

“I’d be happy to,” he says. “I just need you to do something for me.”

The bile in my stomach sours. Why do I get the feeling I know exactly what he wants?

“All you have to do is step aside. And then I won’t have to hurt her any more than she already is,” Farin says.

My head spins, my world turning upside down. One step behind me is Blaise, the woman I’d die for. The woman who was willing to give her life for Zora, back when she thought it was going to be a choice between the two of them.

It’s like there’s an invisible force pulling me between them, and either way I choose, I’ll end up ripped in half, a fragment of myself.

“Nox, just go,” Zora says. “Who knows? If I die, I might just wake up.”

Farin’s grin splits. “Who says I’m going to let you die?”

Rage splits my skull. I don’t think. My limbs pump for me, and I launch myself toward Farin.

At least, he’s my target.

I don’t make it to him.

Because out of the shadows jumps an enormous creature, barreling on its eight legs.

Several things happen at once.

Farin glimpses the creature, just in time to yank Zora out of its way.

The spider’s legs skid on the ground, thrown off by missing its bleeding target.

I don’t have time to pivot before one of its flailing legs collides with my torso, sending me flying backward toward the cave wall.

Except my back never hits the cave wall.

The last thing I see is the spider lunge for Zora, and then the eyelet closes, taking me with it.

CHAPTER 41

BLAISE

I force myself not to look into Asha’s eye as I plunge my teeth into her wrist.

It’s not that I need to taste blood to trigger the bloodlust that enables my compulsion, but it certainly accelerates the process.

She winces, but only barely before the toxins in my fangs numb the pain.

“That’s enough,” Az snaps, swatting me away from Asha’s wrist. Like he’s worried I’ll take too much blood.

I do as he says, unlatching my fangs from her skin and retracting them into my gums. Quickly, as if he’s concerned the wound won’t bind fast enough, he wraps her wrist in white gauze that turns scarlet in an instant.

“Don’t be scared,” I whisper to her, and her trembling settles a bit. I should probably feel guilty for that, for taking away her fear. It’s a reaction she has every right to possess, but guilt isn’t going to get me Nox back, so I dull it with the roar of my desperation.

“Now,” I say, “I’m going to ungag you, but I need you to stay quiet until I tell you what to say.” I reach for the gag, but Az puts out a hand, stopping me.

“Tell her to do as I say before you take it off.”

“How about you relay to me what you want her to say, and I’ll make sure it happens?”

Az shoots me an acidic glare, but he offers me the instructions, apparently not in the mood to argue.

“Okay, Asha,” I breathe. “I’m going to take off your gag, and I want you to tell the Rip to open. And then I want you to call forth the Others, so they know where to flock to.”

Asha’s eye goes wide with fear, but in them I sense no defiance.

It’s a stab to my gut to watch her comply like this.

For Nox, I remind myself. You’re doing this for Nox.

I let myself glance at him. Give myself just a moment to examine his limp body, laid out on the grass like a corpse.

But Nox is not a corpse. And I’m going to get him back.

I turn back to Asha, reminding myself that other than a wound that’s already knitting itself up, she will come to no permanent harm. Az is several awful things, but there’s no doubt in my heart that he adores Asha and would be heartbroken if anything happened to her.

That’s what I tell myself, anyway.

Slowly, I untie the gag, then pull the wet glob of scrunched fabric from her mouth. Asha grasps at her throat in relief, and that pesky guilt raps at the walls of my conscience again.

I’m doing this for Nox.

Just like Asha would do this for Kiran if the situation were reversed.

Would she? the voice inside my head asks.

Well, like Kiran would do for Asha, I suppose. And I know exactly what Kiran would do based on his reaction to the shadow siren.

Az licks his lips. “Tell her to say it.”

“You can tell the Rip to open now,” I prod encouragingly.