Page 122 of Draekora

Sudden understanding washed over Alex at the meaningful look in the old woman’s eyes. The reason she was magically back in the winter clothes she’d worn on hervarrungard, the reason no one had questioned why she’d been found wrapped in a blanket in the cell of an escaped prisoner—an escapedmurderer—was because Lady Mystique had covered for her.

Overwhelmed by the lengths to which the Tia Auran had gone to protect her—or so she presumed, though really, Alex had no way to be sure of the woman’s true motives—all Alex could do was send her a small smile, which was returned, if sadly.

“I only had a chance to examine Roka properly after we all arrived here,” Lady Mystique continued, her voice quiet. Careful. “From what I gather, the diagnosis is… not good.”

“But he’s alive, right?” Alex asked. “I can see him breathing—that means he’s alive.”

“Yes, child, he’s alive,” the woman confirmed softly.

“So, what? He’s just unconscious?” Alex looked at the downcast faces around her. “I don’t get it—he’s a Meyarin. If he’s not dead, then surely whatever this is can be fixed. Why don’t you just force somelaendradown his throat and… encourage him to wake up?”

Lady Mystique shook her head regretfully. “He’s not injured, Alexandra. There are no wounds to heal.”

Alex read into the words she wasn’t saying—if there was nothing wrong with him, then not even a blood-bonding ritual could be used to wake him.

“Then what’swrongwith him?” she demanded.

“He’s in a coma, Alex,” Zain answered quietly. “The gifted human Grimm Helkin did something to shut down his mind and send him into a deep sleep.”

Kyia’s grip on Alex turned painful, but Alex didn’t try and loosen her fingers, relieved to have them as an anchor.

“How do we help him?” she whispered out. “How do we wake him?”

“We kill Aven,” Zain said in a hard, unrelenting voice. “Then those he has Claimed will be free, as will the effects of their gifts.”

“No!” Alex blurted out, her tone shrill. “You can’t do that!” When Zain’s eyes narrowed into slits, she quickly explained, “If you kill Aven, you won’t be freeing those he’s Claimed—you’ll bekillingthem.”

It was Kyia who spoke then, a broken whisper of sound. “What?”

Alex turned to her. “The link between them—if you hurt Aven in any way, that will funnel out to everyone he’s connected to. Ignoring the unspeakable fact that most of your race is now Claimed and would be wiped out in one go, consider the idea that if the bonded humans die, we don’t know what that would mean for their gifts. It could swing either way—with Roka awakening, or with him remaining like this forever.”

Kyia’s already pale face turned so white that Alex worried she’d collapse to the floor. Zain too looked stricken. Lady Mystique merely held Alex’s eyes in support.

“If we can’t kill Aven, then does that mean all hope is lost?” Kyia whispered.

“All hope is never lost,” Alex said firmly, unsure where her confidence was coming from but knowingsomeonehad to offer it to them. “We just have to find a way to free everyone from his bond before we defeat him.”

Said like that, Alex realised how ridiculous it sounded, especially since it was unlikely he would willingly Release any of his captives, which meant they had to hope like crazy that they would find one of Niyx’s revered loopholes before too much damage was done.

“Look,” she said, reading the disbelieving faces around her. “It’s obviously a work in progress. For now, what we have to do is focus on keeping Aven contained long enough for us to figure out how to save them all. He’s going to start going after the mortals soon, as we always knew he would”—the vision of burning cities and screaming people of all races filled her head again and she shook away a shiver—“so we need to do what we can to prepare them for what might be coming.”

Alex’s eyes returned to look down at Roka as a rough plan came to mind. “The humans of Medora have an active military force, and while I know they won’t stand much of a chance against the power of Meya”—and shedidknow that, mostly because she’d seen it—“there are other races on this planet too, right? Shadow Walkers, Flips, Jarnocks… Plenty of other beings who we can rally to our side.”

Zain was shaking his head. “They won’t aid us. Aven presents no threat to them.”

“But he does,” Alex said, knowing from her vision that it was true. “He despises humans most, but his hatred is so strong that his vendetta is against all mortals, spilling out to the other races.”

And all because of me, Alex’s mind whispered, but she swatted her thoughts away, unable to deal with that right now—perhaps never.

“What are you suggesting we do, Alex?” Zain asked, crossing his arms. “Create an army of mortals to defend against him until we can find the means to free those under his command and thus strip him of his power?”

Alex ignored his derisive tone and simply said, “That’s exactly what we’re going to do.” She then looked around the tent that was definitely a far cry from the Meyarin palace and amended, “Or, that’s what I’m going to do. You have to make sure Roka stays safe up here from Aven. Because even if you don’t think he’ll have someone use theValispathto bring him here, that’s not a risk we can afford to take.”

Zain and Kyia stared at her like she was mad. Lady Mystique, however, wore a small, satisfied smile.

“Since we now have a plan,” the old woman said, “I think it’s time for Alexandra to return to the academy.” With her eyes on Alex, she finished, “If my timing is correct, your classmates will soon be arriving back from holidays in preparation for your classes to begin again tomorrow.”

Incredulous, Alex just responded with, “You’re joking, right? I can’t go back to Akarnae—not now!”

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