Page 204 of A Queen This Fierce and Deadly

“I don’t think it’s the memories of your life that you see when you die. I think it’s the people you’ll miss the most. The people who made your life worth living. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you see the one person you would defy the fates and stay for—if you could.”

Lorian was right. Because even though I was doing this for Pris and everyone else, it was Demos’s face that flashed in front of my eyes and stayed as I clenched my teeth and forced my hands to hold tight as my palms began burning, until my eyes watered and my lungs ached with a suppressed sob.

And then I heard him. The roar Demos unleashed echoed across the battlefield. “Asinia!”

“It brought up a lot of memories.”His voice playedthrough my mind.“Memories of being helpless when I lost the people I loved.”

I hated myself for doing this to him again.

But he would live. And it was enough.

And then I was the one screaming as the burning in my palms spread throughout my entire body.

Every living creature between me and the mirror disintegrated.

My vision turned white.

MADINIA

A bright white light shone around Asinia, directed straight at the mirror.

Anyone who had power left to use joined her, along with Lorian, Brevan, and Galon, who channeled the power from their amulets. Jamic swayed on his feet, while Tor continued to slice at Regner, providing a distraction.

My vision speckled, my mind struggling to comprehend what I was seeing.

Anyone who had been standing between Asinia and the mirror was…

Gone.

Regner’s soldiers ran for their lives.

Prisca was running too.

Lorian’s expression was agonized as he watched her, but he couldn’t stop. Couldn’t remove his power from the mirror.

Prisca’s face crumpled. And then she began screaming as if she were being gutted. Because her best friend—the friend she had sacrificed so much for…

Asinia slumped to the ground, her eyes open and empty, skin drained of color.

The mirror shattered.

Demos dropped to his knees at her side. “Sin.” His voice broke, and he rocked her, a howl leaving his throat.

Prisca wouldn’t stop screaming.

And then Tibris was there, tears rolling down his cheeks as he shook his head.

Grabbing Prisca’s shoulders, I shook her. Just footspans from the mirror, Regner stood, face purple, his eyes filled with fury as he roared at one of his generals.

“Now, Prisca.”

My voice was harsh, the words thick around the lump in my throat. Her bloodshot eyes found the wreckage of the mirror. And then they cut to me.

For the first time, I was truly afraid of the hybrid queen.

“Youknew,” she hissed.

“Asinia chose,” I snapped. “And the longer you wait, the higher the chance that sacrifice is worth nothing. So, kill our enemy and end this war, Your Majesty.”

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