The world was all fire and steel.

Sparks rained from the ceiling as the stone archway cracked overhead. Alec’s hand was on my arm, dragging me backward, but the roar in my ears wasn’t just the battle—it was the Hollow Twin pacing inside me, tasting the blood in the air.

“Aria—” His voice was sharp, urgent. “We need to move—now!”

I wrenched free. “If we run, the gate falls. And when it falls, everything out there comes through.”

Behind him, through the splintered doorway, I could see it—the shimmer of the barrier, already rippling like water before a storm. The enemy pressed against it like a tide, their shadows stretching long and hungry across the floor.

He stepped closer, jaw clenched. “Then we hold it together until help comes.”

I almost laughed. Help wasn’t coming. Not here. Not for this. The crack in the ward was widening by the second, threads of magic snapping like frayed rope.

“Alec,” I said, softer now. “Get out.”

His brows drew together, reading something in my voice. “No.”

I didn’t give him time to argue. My magic surged, violent and bright, pushing him back toward the far exit. The Hollow Twin clawed at my ribs, begging to be set free.

“You think you can take this alone?” he shouted over the chaos.

“No,” I said. My hands were already on the stones of the seal, pouring everything I had into it. “I know I can’t. But I can hold it long enough for you to get clear.”

His face went pale, and I knew he understood.

The barrier screamed like glass under pressure. The ground trembled. My magic burned, stripping away flesh and breath and thought. Somewhere, I heard him yelling my name, the sound tearing at something deep inside me.

And that was the moment that I realized it wasn’t ever the plan for me to make it out alive.