Elysa’s conjured globe exploded and light erupted through the chamber, filling every inch of the temple with the moon’s silvered glow.

My magic flared in answer. Drawn to the surface of my skin, it luxuriated in the light, begging to dance free. And though I knew I should keep it leashed, should do nothing to detract from Elysa’s moment, the flood and flow of magic around me was a Siren’s call.

Careful to loosen only the barest tendril, I let a rosy luminance filter through my index finger. Let the magic radiate out from that tiny point to sweep free over the crowd.

Then it hit something oily and dark and wrong with such a suddenness that I staggered back.

Solara’s hand wrapped around my elbow, her concern flowing down the bond. Aurora?

But before I could answer, before I could call the magic back, pain slammed into my skull, hammering within my head until black spots swirled in my vision. Nausea washed over me and my knees buckled.

But something had indeed changed within the room. Nobles nearby shifted. Troubled murmurs rang out.

Aurora, Solara said, the timbre of her concern evolving into fear. Do you feel that?

Elysa’s voice joined hers, barely heard over the pain drumming through my nerves. What is this? What’s happening? I swear if those bloody Myridians are ruining my night, I’ll kill them myself.

Then the first scream cut through the room.

Chaos followed.

“Gods—she’s dead!” someone cried.

Elysa’s grip on her power slipped as shock rolled down the bond. The chamber was plunged into night.

People scrambled for the exit, pushing each other, climbing over the fallen, driven to a frenzy by those screams and the sudden darkness.

Caught in the crowd, I was blinded by both the dark and the excruciating pounding at my temples. A shoulder hit my own with enough force to numb my arm. I cried out, holding the momentarily useless limb to my chest. I grabbed for Solara with my uninjured hand, but she was gone, knocked away from me by the panicked crowd.

The screams took on a different pitch—fear turning to pain as the frantic pushing and jostling became a bedlam of crushing bodies.

An elbow connected with my face, and I fell. Stars joined the black spots in my vision. I pushed to my knees, trying to protect my face and head, when the heel of a booted foot crushed my hand.

A knee struck the side of my jaw. I tried to rise to my feet but was knocked down again by another body in the swarm.

The taste of iron washed over my tongue. The crowd was crushing me.

Again, I tried to stand. Again, a panicked body connected with mine. A foot drove into my stomach and I doubled over, unable to move.

I was going to die. Trampled to death, I was going to die.

Strong hands found me. Grasped me under the arms like a small child and pulled me to my feet. My hands found a masculine chest in the darkness. The relief was so overwhelming, that tears stung my eyes. Varian.

A hand wrapped around my waist and he pulled me against him as I found my feet. But my knees faltered, unable to bear my weight. I would have fallen again, but he was quicker. He kept one hand at my waist and scooped the other behind my knees until I was cradled in his arms.

The darkness around us grew absolute and cold seeped in, despite the bodies pressed against us. I held on tight as a familiar night-drenched wind whipped around me and the temple fell away behind us.

As we traveled through the darkness, I knew my savior was not my mate-to-be, but the sworn enemy of my people.

When the world righted itself, Aidon and I stood in the open square, nearly the same place we’d stood earlier. While the square was now almost empty, chaos reigned at the mouth of Temple Row as people clamored to escape the rotunda.

Carefully, Aidon lowered me to the ground, a bracing hand on my back. The blinding pain that had filled my head a moment ago was gone. Had vanished the moment Aidon used his strange power to flee the temple. Despite that, my whole body ached.

A cool hand brushed back hair pulled loose from my braid as he studied my mouth. “You’re hurt.”

I took a deep, calming breath. My fingers traced the swollen corner of my lip and my hand came away red, the taste of salt and metal still on my tongue. “The inside of my cheek is cut, but I’m fine.”

He didn’t look convinced. “Can you heal yourself?”

“It doesn’t work like that.”

His mouth opened—

“Get your hands off her!” Varian’s voice rang like steel.

I half-turned and found him rushing from the direction of the temple, Imperials at his heel. His gaze burned like the heart of a flame, flashing to the hand Aidon still held at the small of my back.

I took a step away.

Aidon let me go, though he stayed firmly rooted at my side. “Well, how good of you to join us, old friend. I’d begun to worry that you’d been trampled by the crowd. Oh . . . wait . . .”—a cold smirk twisted his lips. “That wasn’t you, it was your dear almost-fiancee here. How silly of me.”

Varian paled. “Gods,” he said, taking in my battered appearance. “Are you alright?”

He closed the space between us, and his hands were suddenly on my face. Blood dripped from my mouth onto his thumb.

I shook off his touch. “I’m fine. Aidon got me out.”

His jaw tightened. He stood in stubborn silence for a moment before speaking. “Then I suppose I owe you my thanks.”

“Don’t bother,” Aidon said, voice low and dark. “I owed her a debt.” The smallest bow, then. “The scales are balanced, Princess. I hope I’ve banished any regrets you had.”

My chest tightened. “Aidon—”

Before I could get another word out, he took a strange, sideways step and was gone.

Varian took me by the arm and turned me forcibly to face him. His gaze moved over me. When he realized there was little damage, he calmed, but his features were still set in a grim mask. “You called him Aidon. Not my lord. Not Aidoneus or Myridian. Aidon.”

“I’m happy to see your priorities are in order. He saved me, Varian. I was nearly killed in that chaos and you weren’t there.”

He watched me for a long time before finally softening. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Where have you been? Why were you Elysa’s escort tonight? There is an entire city full of males who could have done it.”

“And you lecture me about my priorities? My father asked me to do it. But you’re jealous of Elysa. Elysa. After what just happened, that’s what’s on your mind?”

My cheeks flamed. He was right. I was being utterly ridiculous. But still . . . “You didn’t answer my first question.”

“I was dealing with our Myridian problem, all right? I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

Dealing with Aidon. Ice trickled into my veins. Aidon’s words from the olive grove hit me. Ask your beloved about Megaris. Ask him what his armies did there and at Drifton and the Needle. Then you can speak to me about death.

“Varian, what happened during the war?”

He tensed. “This is hardly the time.”

“I don’t care. What happened?”

That familiar vein began ticking violently at his temple, but, jaw tight, he answered, “He sunk nearly our entire fleet. Thousands died.”

“But—”

“Do you know what that power of his is, Aurora?”

Death and darkness and cold. I waited for the fear to find me—for a shiver to run down my spine and adrenaline to pump its butterfly wings through my stomach. It didn’t come.

When I didn’t answer, he pressed on. “Do you know where he goes when he takes that little shortcut between worlds?”

The memory bubbled up to the surface of my mind—whirling, whirling, whirling through the Hall of the Dead. Music, eerily dissonant played. Just as I’d heard when Aidon carried me from the olive grove.

“The Underworld, my darling. He just Shadow Walked with you, didn’t he? That’s how he got you out of the temple. He just carried you straight through Hades’ realm.”

Finally, the fear slipped into my heart.

I allowed Varian to pull me close—to wrap strong, warm arms around me. But I didn’t find the familiar comfort of his enveloping scent. With my cheek pressed over his heart, the perfume of cloying roses stood like a wall between us.