The forest of Amoria swallowed them. A few of Thomas’s guards trailed behind. Most had scattered after word of the Empress’s death. Duty was thin as mist with Thomas in charge around this remote territory. Aurora and Karl had an hour’s head start.

“How do we know we’re even on the right path? They could be anywhere by now.”

“I can scan my surroundings,” Thomas explained. “Your mother can do it too, but on a god-like scale. Samantha and Aurora are battling up ahead.”

As if to confirm, a large explosion shook the earth. Thomas dodged and shielded Amy as an eruption of earth and trees blasted out haphazardly.

Amy pushed away to burst into the scene. The forest exploded into war.

Thomas’s guards crashed into Samantha’s soldiers, but they were outnumbered, swallowed in chaos. Flashes of fire and water hissed into steam. Dead men from Karl and Julius’s earlier reinforcements already littered the ground, their wounds glowing faintly with Samantha’s light. The woods roared like thunder.

Thomas’ soldiers jumped into the battle. Thomas joined to support and protect them.

And ahead, Karl, Julius, and Aurora looked exhausted while Samantha twirled like a ballerina, smiling.

Karl’s waves surged outward in violent bursts to the left, while Julius’s fire carved arcs towards Samantha’s men on the right.

And while they held off the soldiers, Aurora and Samantha circled on the muddy ground in the center.

Aurora panted, clutching her arm, as her light struck toward her foe. Samantha simply danced away, each of her strikes driving Aurora back, gritting her teeth.

Outward, fire and flood moved in brutal rhythm, but Karl faltered, his eyes dragging toward Samantha and Aurora.

Samantha locked eyes with him and laughed, high and shrill.

“Karlllllllllllllll,” she sang. “Stand with me, my sweet. Help me overthrow her. I’ll give you what she never could — the empire, the throne. You can tear it down for your darling people, or build it back into something shinier, something all your own.”

Karl snarled, but his waves sloshed uselessly. He paused, eyes narrowed, flicking his glare toward Aurora.

Julius’s fire lashed in protest, voice hoarse. “Karl! Babe! Don’t listen to her! You saw what she did to the people. Don’t trust her! You’ll become her slave!”

Samantha’s smile only sharpened, hand brushing off Julius. “Pish posh. Karl, you know nothing bad will happen to you. We have history. My dear, do you remember what happened the last time you left me for her and Milo? Your mother died. They played you like a pawn — bound you, bartered you, tossed you across the board. Tell me, has she ever seen you as anything but a pretty little weapon?”

Aurora grunted as she dodged Samantha’s attacks.

“And you?” Julius yelled, eyes furious. “You’re saying you don’t want the throne? That you won’t use him as a pawn too? What exactly is it that you want from him?”

Samantha chuckled, amused. “You’re thinking too tiny, sweet Julius,” she purred, eyelashes batting at Karl. “I want genuine friendship — and companionship. Besides, the throne? Cute. I want Sunji. Across the sea. That’s my prize. Help me, Karl, and you become a savior. The true start of freedom.”

Julius shook his head, fury blazing. “She can’t be trusted. Karl, you know this!”

Karl didn’t answer, but his waters shivered, betraying his unrest. His lips curled, eyes raging.

And Amy saw it coming. His gaze left Samantha, drifting back to Aurora. His eyes weren’t filled with loyalty, not even with hate. Just a hollow stillness, like water before it collapses into a wave. He was tired. His magic stilled, dew trembling in the air, waiting. Water held its breath and Amy felt the decision before his hands moved.

The muscles on her neck tightened as he lifted his arms. Puddles vanished. Dew, mist, even the sweat off soldiers rushed to him. Then came the pull, the lake deeper in the forest answered his call. The ground shuddered. As he summoned a large wave, blue sparks crackled at his fingertips. The tide coiled around him, alive, before he flung it in a brutal arc at Aurora.

“Karl! No!” Julius roared, fire flaring wild as he hurled himself between them. Steam blasted upward where flame and wave collided, but Julius was still hurled away, hitting a thick oak with a thud.

Through the fog, Samantha moved swiftly. Her radiance shone until she stood over Aurora, who also stumbled from Karl’s onslaught. Samantha smiled at Karl, as though she’d been waiting years for this.

“Good boy,” she murmured, her voice full of possession.

Karl flinched at the words. “Milo,” he spat. “How are you planning on reviving him?”

Samantha’s laugh rolled low, then cut into a sharp shrill. “Milo, Milo, Milo. Still scared of his shadow, babe? When I bring him back, he won’t be your tormentor. He’ll be mine. My pet. My prize. Yours, too, if you join me.”

Karl’s brows furrowed. “Milo,” he rolled the name slowly. “Kneeling. Begging,” A dangerous glint entered his eyes, full of the need for revenge. He eyed Samantha’s god-like sparks that crackled about her. A power that could keep Milo in check. The thought amused him. The throne was no longer what interested him the most.

“Karl,” Aurora stammered, as he turned toward her, his blue sparks crackling.

Aurora’s light was dying when Samantha posed to strike. She was too tired to defend.

Amy’s breath tore loose. “No!” Her hand flew out in defense of her mother. Frost erupted from her palm toward Samantha.

And the blow landed. Samantha shrieked as Amy’s ice spread across her shoulder, light pushing against dark until the world buckled.

And for Amy and Samantha, darkness surged.

The hunger hit Amy first. Not for food, but for Aurora. Her mind whispered she had nothing, that Aurora had everything. A lie, Amy screamed at herself. This wasn’t her hunger, wasn’t her thoughts But the envy slid deeper, sharp and choking, hate curling around her lungs until she couldn’t breathe!

Shattered visions slammed into both of them: Samantha as a child, starving in a shimmering city, kneeling in front of a noble, ignored, dismissed, forgotten. Then Milo, offering her a new path toward power. For a moment, he gave her attention, filled a need. Then left.

Eventually, envy twisted into obsession, obsession into rage. Aurora’s face loomed again and again, not as she was, but as Samantha imagined her—smiling with the man who was hers.

And then there was Amy.

Aurora’s smile pierced Amy’s chest, not her mother’s, but Samantha’s imagined one. For a moment Amy wanted her gone. She wanted it so badly she nearly screamed. Then she ripped free, shuddering.

She staggered, choking on Samantha’s hunger. She desperately thought of Kristo over and over again until the world snapped back. Dirt under her feet. Flames hissing in steam. Soldier’s yells. Roots cracking beneath battle.

And for a second, Samantha glared at her incredulously as she too returned to the present.

“What the fuck dear?”

But while memories had slammed through them, the battle around them had not stopped.

Thomas staggered next to her, still fighting. She looked up to see fire slamming toward her. She recognized him as one of the men who fought against Kristo at Sunji.

Aurora was busy too, defending herself against Karl.

In the chaos, it would have been the end for Amy if not for fire that flared above her. Libbet cut Amy’s assailant down. She shot Amy a glare before turning back to the fight.

Princessa followed a step slower, her face taut with conflict. Their eyes met for a breath. An apology flickered as fast as it vanished.

This time Princessa didn’t run away from the situation. But Amy remained frozen.

These weren’t her friends. But right now, inside the frenzy, they stood on the same side. As allies, sharing a sense of camaraderie.

Across the field, Thomas gave the smallest nod and smile.

Amy inhaled, the air sharp and cold. Kristo might be gone, but good people like Thomas weren’t. They were all around her, if she looked for them. She would find them, fight with them, protect them. And let the evil voices, the whispers of Cerceras, rot away. She knew that she would stand tall, no matter what came her way, no longer afraid.

Across the yelling, Karl’s voice cut clear.

“Libbet, Princessa!” Karl snapped. “Stop!”

Libbet and Princessa ceased fighting to listen.

“This is our final battle. Everything we’ve been doing for a decade is for now.” He stepped forward, hand extended. “Help me defeat Aurora and the empire will fall. Stand with me.”