The world was too quiet.

Too still.

Too wrong.

Aria hadn’t moved from the ritual circle. The bloodstains on the stone hadn’t faded, and the scent of scorched magic still clung to the air. Her knees were bruised from kneeling too long, her throat raw from screaming Caleb’s name.

But he hadn’t come back.

He had leapt into the collapsing circle to stop Mara. To protect her. To save Elena.

And he was gone.

Elena was alive—barely—resting in the sanctuary under Solene’s watchful ...