“Ha, you wish!” she sings, gleefully mocking. “I can see it in your eyes. You can’t do it. No matter how much you think I deserve it, no matter how much you try to convince yourself of that, you’re too soft. So what makes you think it’ll be any different this time around?”

Because now you’re dangerous—and not just to yourself, but to everyone else as well. This time is different, entirely different. As you’re about to see…

Curling my fingers so tightly my knuckles instantly blanch, I steal a second to center myself, find my balance, and replenish my light—just as Ava taught me to do—while keeping my hand low and steady, my gaze fixed on hers, my mind cleared of all extraneous thoughts, face cleared of all extraneous feelings—as Damen recently coached.

The key is to give nothing away, he claimed, to move quickly, with purpose. To get the deed done before she has the chance to ever see it coming—won’t even realize what hit her ’til it’s way past too late.

Until her body has disintegrated and her soul’s moved on to that bleak, dreary place.

Refusing her even the slightest opportunity to make a move or fight back.

A lesson learned on a long-ago battlefield that I never thought would apply to my life.

But even though Damen warned me against it, I can’t keep from apologizing. Can’t stop the words forgive me from coursing from my mind to hers. Seeing her respond in the flash of pity that tempers her gaze before it’s quickly diminished by the usual mix of hate and disdain.

Her fist rising—aiming for me—but it’s too late. Mine’s already in motion, moving forward, in full swing. Slamming right into her solar plexus, sending her reeling—spinning—shattering—headed straight into the infinite abyss.

The Shadowland.

The eternal home for lost souls.