Chapter 28
The city fractures around us in stuttering flashes of neon and shadow, each pulse of light hammering deeper into my skull. Kane’s silhouette stays eerily rigid behind the wheel, his hands white-knuckled against the leather.
“You’re shaking.” His eyes find mine in the rearview mirror. “You sure those healers checked you properly?”
I rest my forehead against the chilled leather seat, fighting to stabilize the world as it lurches sideways. Sweat slicks my hairline, despite the frost settling in my bones. “I’m fine. Just need to lie down for a bit.”
But something’s wrong. The nausea builds, thick and caustic, curling low in my gut and clawing its way up. My ruby pulses against my throat, its usual warmth turning sharp and erratic. The city lights overhead splinter into blinding prisms, each flicker knifing behind my eyes.
Kane keeps checking the mirror, jaw locked. “Dom’s gonna murder me if you drop dead in this car.” He tries to laugh, but it comes out broken. “And I have a lot to live for, so maybe stay conscious, yeah?”
My mouth floods with something vile. I barely manage to turn my head before thick black liquid pours out. It hits the floor with a wet splatter, and the air turns foul with rot and metal.
“Shit.” Panic edges into Kane’s voice. The accelerator kicks harder beneath his foot, and the blur of the city sharpens into streaks of motion. “That’s not normal blood.”
Another jolt, the car veers, nausea spikes, and more of the same bile rises.
“Fuck,” Kane mutters. “Raze would’ve handled this. He always knew what to do.”
“Raze.” The name shreds something in my throat. “Kane, I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t . . . if I hadn’t told him to leave us alone . . .” My chest convulses with grief. Tears burn hot and fast, mixing with blood I can’t seem to stop swallowing. “He’d still be here.”
“Don’t.” Kane’s voice cracks. “This wasn’t on you, Aria.”
But it was. It always is. The magic inside me buckles and flares, lighting up the car’s enchanted panels with erratic sparks. The seat is unyielding beneath me, the world beyond it smudged and unstable.
“Remember,” I rasp, words dragging from my lungs, “how he always said I only brought him coffee to bribe him?” I try to laugh but it comes out wet. “Told me I was a tiny demon, feeding my guard dog.”
Kane tightens his grip again, and there’s something aching in the way he huffs a quiet breath. “You did have a habit of showing up with snacks right before causing absolute chaos.”
“He knew,” I whisper, more blood sliding from my nose. I can’t stop the next laugh. “Every time I brought him those cinnamon rolls from that place in Crown Heights, he’d look at me and go, ‘Alright, who do I need to intimidate today?’”
“To be fair,” Kane mutters, and there’s the faintest spark of amusement beneath the grief, “you had a real gift for pissing off the wrong people. And Raze . . .” His voice thickens.
“He had a soft spot for you. You remember that asshole at the summer gala? The one who wouldn’t take no for an answer? ”
“Raze didn’t even . . .” My vision blurs with fresh tears. “Didn’t even ask questions. Just saw my face and suddenly the guy was leaving with a broken wrist.” Another wave of black liquid spills past my lips. “He said it was an accident. Said the guy tripped.”
“You had us both wrapped around your finger,” Kane says hoarsely. “Still do. Bringing coffee, asking about our day, actually giving a damn.” He swallows. “Not many people in this world bothered to see us as more than Kian’s attack hounds.”
“He deserved better than me getting him killed.” The memory fractures as more poison burns through my veins. “He died alone, Kane. In a hallway. Because I wanted one fucking moment—”
“Stop.” His voice hardens. “You can’t do this right now. Focus on breathing.”
But the past doesn’t listen. It barrels forward, tearing through me. Raze teaching Dom how to bandage cuts without leaving scars. Raze keeping extra healing potions in his jacket, just in case. Raze’s laugh echoing through the mansion halls.
My head slips against the window, and I’m not in the car anymore.
I’m eight. We’re lying in the grass behind Darkmoor Industries, hiding from another soul-killing lecture about magical ethics. Rowe’s beside me, arms folded beneath his head, face turned toward the sun.
Starlings wheel overhead in tight formations, their wings catching light like scattered jewels. One particularly bold bird dive-bombs straight through the building’s protective wards, setting off sparkles of disrupted magic.
“Did you see that?” I jolt upright. “Right through Alexander’s precious security system!”
“Aria . . .” Rowe sighs, exasperated but amused. “You sound way too happy about vulnerabilities in my father’s systems.”
“But they’re so brave!” Another starling swoops past, its wings stirring the air against my cheek. “They don’t care about all these stupid rules and boundaries.”
“Like someone else I know.” Rowe rolls onto his side to face me, eyes gleaming. “Always looking for ways to cause trouble.”
“I do not!”
“You absolutely do.” He grins. “You’re tiny. Bold. Uncontrollable. Just like . . .”
His expression shifts, lit with inspiration.
“Don’t you dare—”
“Too late, Starling. It fits.”
I launch at him. “You absolute bastard.”
He laughs, catching my arms before I can do any damage.
“I hate you,” I huff, breathless with laughter.
“Hate you too,” he murmurs. And somehow, even then, it doesn’t sound like hate at all.
“Aria.” Kane’s voice cuts in, distant and sharp. “Who are you talking to?”
But I’m already somewhere else, older now.
Fourteen. Training in the Darkmoors’ private gym, sweat slicking my back, pain radiating from my ankle as it rolls sideways on a defensive maneuver. The mat tilts, but Rowe is there, catching me before I fall.
“Easy, Starling,” he murmurs, and something in my chest catches at the way the nickname has changed. Grown softer, sacred.
“I’m not that tiny anymore,” I say, and somewhere far away, Kane curses.
“Stay with me,” he calls out. “Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not real.”
But the memory surges anyway.
The guardian gala. Crystal chandeliers spinning overhead as Rowe’s hands steady my waist. The orchestra swells, and his fingers tighten at my spine, drawing me closer until the space between us disappears.
“Yes, someone like me, Starling.” His voice wraps around the nickname, a caress in every syllable, and something molten unfurls in my chest. The chandeliers fracture overhead, scattering light across his features as he leans down.
A thumb brushes my bottom lip, the touch sending a sharp tremor down my spine as music swells around us, blurred and velvet-soft, and his forehead rests against mine with a breath that quivers between us.
Then his lips find mine, and the world stops spinning. The kiss is gentle at first, reverent, as if I might vanish if he breathes too hard, but I lean in, and it changes. Rowe’s hands tangle in my hair as the heat builds between us, as though I’m the answer to a question he’s never dared to ask.
I taste champagne and something that feels like destiny, but . . . something’s wrong.
The edges of the memory blur and twist. There’s a reason we can’t—a reason I shouldn’t—but his hands are branding against my skin, and I can’t remember why this isn’t right.
“Rowe,” I choke out, seeing him still on his knees, surrounded by Alexander’s men now. The image burns behind my eyes. “They were hurting him. Kane, they were—”
“He’ll be fine. The medical team—”
“No.” The word dissolves into another coughing fit that leaves me gasping.
A new memory crashes through.
Fifteen now, standing with Rowe on the roof.
Moonlight catches in his dark-blond hair as he leans in, and the air between us is thick with everything unspoken.
My heart hammers as his hand finds my waist, thumb tracing patterns that burn through silk, but as I move to bridge the space, he turns away.
“We can’t,” he whispers, and something delicate inside me fractures. We never quite fixed it. A week later, Dom storms into my life like wildfire, and I let myself be consumed by his chaos instead of tethered by Rowe’s light.
“Aria?” Kane’s voice sharpens with fresh panic. “Aria, can you hear me?”
I give the barest nod as we approach Founders’ Crest, my ruby flaring erratically at my throat. The wards tonight feel different, heavy and probing, as if trying to decipher something that no longer makes sense.
Alarms shriek to life. Red light washes the checkpoint in warning pulses, and through my blurred vision, I watch the enforcers sprint forward, weapons half-drawn.
“What do you mean ‘unidentified’?” Kane roars, unfolding from the driver’s seat with lethal calm. Even in my haze, I see the guards flinch. “It’s Aria fucking Ellis. Check your systems again.”
“Sir, the wards,” The lead enforcer steps forward, “they’re not recognizing her magical signature. We need to—”
“You need to look at this.” Kane produces a badge from inside his jacket. “Then you need to think very carefully about what happens when Kian Blackwood learns his son’s fiancée bled out at the gates because of your ‘protocols.’”
The enforcer blanches as he examines the badge. “We still need to—”
“To what?” Kane’s voice turns to ice. “To watch her die while you file forms? Look at her.”
The enforcer peers through the window and his eyes widen. My lips are stained with black blood, the ruby at my throat flickering like a dying star.
“Override it,” he barks. “Manually. Now.”
Kane slides back into the seat beside me, jaw clenched. “Hold on,” he mutters, barely audible. There’s a tremor in his voice he doesn’t quite hide. “Just a little longer. Someone in that cursed house will know what to do.”
The wards press against our skin, dense with intent, hovering on the edge of tearing or letting us through.
Another pulse of agony lurches through me. The car wavers and Dom appears beside me, his smile gentle as he reaches for my face. “It’s okay, love. I’ve got you.”
But when I blink, blood streams from his mouth, his eyes, everywhere. The hallucination fractures and loops, twisting tighter with every breath.
“No,” I whimper, reaching for him. “Please. Not again. I can’t watch you bleed again.”
The car screeches to a stop. I’m weightless for a heartbeat before Kane lifts me. His breathing rasps against my temple, ragged with strain. I catch fragments of the Blackwood estate’s stone walls towering above us.
A familiar scent cuts through the haze. Leather. Spice. Amber. My heart stutters.
“Dom?” The word is barely a breath.
A voice slices through the fog, frantic and raw. “Give her to me.”
Kane hesitates, arms tightening. “I don’t know what’s happening. Her blood—”
“Now.” The command is feral.
As Kane transfers me into new arms, I force my eyes open. I see Rowe. His features are soft with concern, just like they always were.
“Rowe?”
The arms holding me go rigid. “No.” The voice that answers cracks with something dangerous. “Look at me again, love. Really look.”
I blink hard, and Rowe’s gentle features dissolve. Dom’s emerges in its place, jaw clenched, brows drawn in fury and fear. His eyes are blown wide, nearly black with panic.
“Dom,” I whisper, dragging shaking fingers along the sharp line of his jaw. “You’re really here. I—”
Another cough tears through me, painting his white shirt with blood.
“Always,” he whispers, crushing me against his chest until I can feel his heart thundering against my cheek. “Only me. Remember that.”
I manage a weak smile. “Pretty.”
“Stay back,” Dom snaps as Kane moves to follow, his grip never loosening.
“I want to know if she’ll—”
“She’ll be fine. You can go.”
Movement blurs around me as Dom whispers against my hair. “Stay with me, love. Please. I’ll fix this. I’ll fix everything.”
Bright lights suddenly assault my vision, and a low chuckle cuts through the air. “I see you’ve received my gift.”
“Fix her.” Dom’s voice cracks. “Father, please. She can’t die.”
“This is what happens when she disobeys,” Kian muses, his tone distant. “I warned there would be consequences from that little display of defiance.”
Pain suddenly tears through my body as if something’s trying to claw its way out from inside. My magic writhes beneath my skin, feeling wrong, foreign, like it’s being ripped away piece by piece.
“Fascinating.” Kian’s voice floats somewhere above. “Her magical essence is almost—”
“Look at her! Father, I swear if she—”
“—should have learned to obey—”
“I’ll give you anything! Whatever price you—”
“—such a willful creature—”
The agony crests into something new and ancient as magic tears itself from my bones. My body fractures. The world splits into colorless shards. Time folds.
“—hold her still—”
“You’re killing her!”
“Set her down.” Kian’s command pierces through the fog.
“Stay awake,” someone begs. “Aria, please—”
But darkness rises, velvet-soft and beckoning, wrapping around me with the intimacy of an old friend. The pain recedes, and it threatens to consume me. This time, I don’t fight it. I let it take me.
And something in the void opens its eyes.