As Aurora walked toward Samantha, she smiled tightly as the woman spun atop fractured stone, arms lifting as if a thousand invisible eyes were watching her. Fire curled around her ankles like applause and water rose to meet her toes, holding her aloft with reverent precision.

  Aurora clapped in response. Samantha bowed, as a beautiful ballerina balanced on ruin.

  The sound of the claps slowed, insinuating Aurora’s exhaustion.

  Samantha noticed at once, smile widening in return.

  “Oh,” she breathed, delighted. “What’s wrong? No thunder?”

  She spun again as chains of light snapped into existence with a lazy flick of her wrist and lashed outward.

  “My dear,” she asked brightly. “Where’s the c— who burned kingdoms, calling it necessity? With a man who was mine to boot?”

  And Aurora sighed.

  Actually sighed.

  “You’re doing all this,” she said, voice rough, tired, “and that’s your opening?”

  Samantha blinked before laughing harder.

  “Oh, you’re exhausted from everything,” she purred. “That’s even better!”

  Aurora shifted her weight, rolling one shoulder, which was more habit than relief. “I’ve been tired for fifteen years,” she said dryly. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

  Samantha twirled closer, each step precise, lethal, and beautiful. Fire and water followed her like memorized choreography while Aurora stretched toward the sky.

  “You always did that,” Samantha said, smile fading. “Act like this was beneath you, like cruelty bored you.”

  Aurora yawned making Samantha’s smile snap sharp.

  “You still think this is a game?!” Samanta said, smile still tight. “You still think I danced through hell for… for fun?”

  She stopped spinning, magic flaring violently, heat and pressure crashing outward. “No, no, no!!! I did this for him! But what would you know? Look at you! Ugly, old, never remarkable, you never were darling. So…he made a mistake… I mean… he had to! Because why wouldn’t he choose me over you?!”

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  The name didn’t need saying.

  Aurora’s gaze darkened, yawn paused.

  “Milo begged you,” Samantha went on, voice trembling with fury and devotion. “He bled himself hollow holding the world together, and you—” She laughed, unhinged. “Ugly, old you let him die!”

  Aurora closed her eyes for a brief, dangerous moment. When she opened them, there was no denial there.

  “Look,” she said, her tone finally serious. “You think I’m some manipulative witch, but every choice was made by him. Even in the end, he chose how things played out. He chose his ending.”

  Samantha’s smile twitched — before she screamed.

  Fire and water collided as she lunged, chains snapping toward Aurora’s throat. Aurora barely twisted aside, just enough to stay alive.

  Samantha laughed breathlessly.

  “You were supposed to keep him alive!” she shrieked. “That was the deal!”

  Aurora stumbled back, boots scraping against broken stone, eyes furrowing. What…deal?

  “You both were on the brink of defeat. You were…” Samantha continued, circling her, wiping her tears as she composed frightfully. “Fragile. Useful. He couldn’t lose you—not then, not yet. I understand he needed to use you. That’s why --”

  She lifted her hand, revealing the crystal of the ancient goddess, Ysalva. An entity that existed even before humans, who perished alongside the demon Cerceras.

  “I gave you Ysalva’s crystal,” Samantha piped brightly. “My insurance.”

  Aurora swallowed.

  “You were meant to balance him,” Samantha went on. “Anchor him. Keep him human while he tore the world apart. Then discarded you. Came to me.”

  Her smile turned feral.

  “But instead… Instead you let him burn himself out!”

  Aurora cocked her head — and laughed. “You really think I had that kind of control?” she asked. “Over him? Over Milo? Really?”

  Samantha’s smile faded as she struck again.

  Light chains ripped past Aurora’s ear as water slammed into her side hard enough to drive the breath from her lungs. She hit the ground, rolled, barely dragged herself upright as the world pitched and swam.

  Samantha leaned in close, chains tightening.

  “You failed him,” she whispered. “But don’t worry dear. Because now… now I’ll fix it.”

  She pointed at Aurora’s arm, where the crystal should be buried.

  “I’ll kill you,” she said, cheerful again. “Rip the crystal out, and bring him back.”

  Aurora wiped blood from her mouth with the back of her hand.

  “You won’t get what you want,” she warned, her body moving sluggishly without effort or strength. She no longer smiled at Samantha.

  But Samantha beamed back anyway. “Oh, darling. I already have.”

  She launched into the final movement, magic surging, fire and water replaced by light spiraling together in a killing crescendo. The ground cracked beneath Aurora’s feet.

  There was a moment of hesitation as Aurora didn’t unleash her power, but instead, stepped forward. Almost right into the strike.

  Samantha’s eyes widened, the light retreating in surprise, her expression screaming “why won’t you use it?! Why?!”

  Aurora’s head was bowed now, her face hidden.

  Karl shouted somewhere distant. Julius…was nowhere to be seen…. Bennet’s voice vanished beneath the roar.

  Aurora met Samantha’s gaze.

  “Because, Samantha, I don’t want this power. I’ve already paid,” she said quietly.

  Samantha’s grin tightened, though there was pain behind her eyes. “Then… then die.”

  The chains snapped tight.

  Fire scorched the air around Aurora’s face as water crushed inward, heavy as regret. Stone groaned beneath her boots.

  The air screamed that someone was about to die.

  And for the first time in a very long while, Aurora wasn’t sure it wouldn’t be her.