Maya didn’t sleep at all that night. Her mind wouldn’t stop spinning with thoughts of the High Council—what they might do to her, what they might take from her. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw them seizing the Shard and locking her away somewhere dark and silent.

Jax stayed with her. Neither of them said much; they simply lay there, holding each other. When the first traces of dawn crept through the window, he finally broke the silence.

“I don’t want you to go,” he ...