Rhys lurched forward. It was almost embarrassing how easily he wrestled the knife out of my hand and pinned me to the ground. My back flat against a rock, I stared up into his black eyes.

His blade pressed against my neck.

My skin broke.

A trickle of blood ran down my neck.

I’ve pushed him too far.

He’s going to do it.

Regret consumed me as he pushed the blade even harder against my flesh. How could I have been so selfish? I have more than just myself to think about. Kiev is half of me.

I should have just run…

I began to struggle harder against him.

He lifted himself off me abruptly.

I thought for a moment that I’d managed to kick him in a painful place, but he was showing no signs of pain as he stood over me. Looking down at me through hooded eyelids, he raised his dagger again. Fearing he was about to hurl it through my chest, I rolled over on my side.

But I didn’t need to.

He brought the dagger down against his right wrist, then his left, slashing through his arteries.

Casting one last, lingering glance down at me, he displayed raw emotions for the first time. Frustration. Longing. Perhaps even regret.

Then our gaze was ripped apart as he leapt across the rocks and dove into the ocean.

Breathless, I scrambled to my feet and hurried to the spot where he had just disappeared. The waves were tinged red with his blood. But he was showing no sign of surfacing.

This part of the ocean was teeming with sharks. It would not be long before they claimed him.

Despite myself, tears welled in my eyes and spilled down my cheeks. My vision blurred as I stared at the churning water.

And so it ends.

The life of a man who could have had everything, yet in the end chose nothing.

Goodbye, old friend.

Chapter 31: Rose

“There she is!” I shouted as Mona clambered over the rocks toward us. She looked exhausted, cuts and bruises covering her body.

Kiev was the first to rush over to her. “What happened to you? Are you okay?”

I was surprised to see that her eyes were watery. She swallowed hard. “I’m fine.”

“Have you seen Rhys?”

“Yes,” she said. “We… will not be seeing him again.”

“He’s dead?” I asked, gaping at her.

“Yes. He took his own life.”

We all fell into hushed silence.

“I always knew there was a screw missing with him,” Micah said after several moments.

Mona bit her lip, a pained expression on her face. “There was something missing, that’s for sure.”

“So,” my mother said. “Now what? Ashley is still waiting around the side of the castle with the humans we managed to free. Some of them are in a bad state. They need medical attention.”

We all looked around the battleground, scorched from my father’s flames and strewn with blood and bodies.

What we had just accomplished still hadn’t sunk in. We’d spent so long fighting to end these enemies and thwart their various plans, for it to come to an end… it seemed surreal.

“There is a gate within this castle, as most of you should know,” Mona said. “We can travel through it back to the human realm.”

I exchanged a glance with Caleb. “Uh,” he began, “I’m not sure that will work.”

“Why not?” Mona asked.

“When a group of us came here to rescue humans days ago, we destroyed the other side of the castle. Or rather, the dragons did. If we pass through the gate, we’ll meet a colossal pile of rubble.”

Mona turned to Corrine and Ibrahim. “Why don’t the two of you go through and clear out a path? I’m sure you could manage that.”

Ibrahim raised a brow. “We’re talking about an entire collapsed castle. Yes, I’m sure Corrine and I can create a path through to the surface, but it will take time.”

“That’s fine,” Mona said calmly. “I still have some unfinished business.”

“What’s that?” my father asked.

Mona glanced at Kiev. “Magnus,” she replied. “I left him at the bottom of a river. I need to go free him.” Then her deep blue eyes turned on me. “Rose, I would like you to accompany me. If their boundary is back up, there’s no way I’d be able to blast through in this weak state. The witches of The Sanctuary have many reasons to dislike me, so I can’t even be sure they’d let me in if I went alone. You, on the other hand, have their respect.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Ibrahim and I will get started then,” Corrine said, catching her husband’s hand and walking with him toward the entrance of the castle.

I embraced Caleb, and then hugged my parents and grandfather, before catching Mona’s arm. I had grown so used to being transported places with magic by now, it felt as normal for me to hurtle through the air at lightning speed as it was for a human to hop on a bus.

The battleground disappeared and a few seconds later, Mona and I were standing alone on a beautiful beach outside The Sanctuary.

“So we’re going to have to attract someone’s attention again,” I said.

“Yeah,” Mona said, already looking toward the boundary.

As we neared the trees lining the beach, it was clear that we would not have nearly as much trouble this time. I guessed because of the black witches breaking in, more witches and warlocks were on guard. Within a matter of seconds I’d already spotted a warlock prowling around in the forest. A young, handsome warlock with long blond hair.