The ancient runes glow like fire beneath my feet.

Cracks spider out across the stone as I press my palms to the altar, magic thrumming through every thread of my veins. The power answers—wild and terrible and old. It knows what I’m doing. What I’m giving.

It doesn’t care.

The seal is breaking. The wards are failing. And the thing clawing its way into our world is already breathing through the cracks.

So I give it everything.

My blood. My magic. My soul.

A scream rips from my throat as the spell takes hold, anchoring itself to me like shackles. The surge is indescribable—light and shadow pouring through my body, holy and horrific. I can feel the Hollow Twin fighting it, laughing as I tear myself apart to hold the line. Self-sacrifice, she whispers, smug. So dramatic.

But she doesn’t try to stop me.

Because this time, we agree.

“Stormbird!”

The voice cuts through the roar like lightning.

Alec.

I don’t turn.

If I see him, I’ll falter.

The runes blaze brighter. The creature shrieks as it’s pulled backward into the void, bound once more by a spell fueled not by ancient stone, but by the breaking of a living soul.

My soul.

Something inside me gives way.

The magic pulses once—twice—and then it releases. The circle snaps shut, and the air falls still.

So do I.

My knees buckle. The world tilts. And then hands—his hands—catch me before I hit the stone.

“No, no, no—Aria—stay with me,” Alec breathes, cradling me like I’m made of glass. “What did you do?”

I blink up at him, and everything is distant now. His voice. The panic in his eyes. The golden flare of his magic trying to knit me back together.

“I stopped it,” I whisper. “That’s what matters.”

He shakes his head, voice cracking. “Not like this. You didn’t have to do it like this.”

My fingers find his, weak and barely holding on. I’m too tired to cry. Too tired to be afraid. All that’s left is quiet.

And him.

He pulls me close, his arms wrapped around me, grounding me even as I drift further from the pain.

The battlefield still burns beyond us. The sky is broken. The magic still hums beneath the ground.

But in his arms, it’s calm.

Warm.

Safe.

Amidst the chaos, I fade away peacefully in his arms.