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‘Did anyone check for marks on her body? Runes, sigils, anything abnormal or out of place?’ he asked, and I shook my head.

‘We barely got her alone. How could we get her naked? Besides, I wouldn’t even know what to look for. I mean, I could check for a fresh wound, but I’ve never seen Lilliana naked.’

‘I have.’ Irsha looked at Lily, whose eyes were still glazed and unseeing.

‘Let’s give them some privacy. Blade, be gentle. If you need help, call me,’ I said, and for the first time since we’d entered the bath chamber, he smiled.

‘I know how to undress my woman, Trouble.’

We left him to his task, and moments later, Irsha called out. The moment I slipped inside, his shoulders were tense, Lily’s exposed chest hidden behind his trembling body.

‘Look at what he did to her.’ He pointed, his voice raw, then his finger snapped back into a white-knuckled fist. Silver runes, barely visible against the pale, lifeless skin, covered her body. I reached out, but before my fingers made contact, an intense cold stopped me.

‘I don’t know what this is. We need to call Alaric,’ I said. Irsha’s jaw tightened, but he nodded.

‘Do whatever you have to. She must be freed. Lily wouldn’t want to live like this.’ My mind agreed with him, but my instincts screamed this was more than the Dark Fae could handle.

Alaric and Annika came in together. One look at Lily’s chest and the conduit mage paled. For a moment, I worried she would faint. Her hands shook as she clasped Alaric’s forearm.

‘Please tell me it’s not that one,’ she pleaded.

‘I’m sorry, Domina. This was done by a Mind Walker, but she hasn’t been fully bound.’ The Dark Fae came closer, his fingers hovering over Lilliana’s skin despite Irsha’s glare. ‘There are symbols I don’t recognise, but I’m intimately familiar with the core of this curse.’

The tension was so intense I struggled to breathe.

‘How do we break it?’ Irsha asked.

‘By fulfilling the curse task, being freed by Arachne’s will, or… dying.’ He turned to Riordan. ‘This is a Blood binding. You can’t free her mind as long as the tether exists.’

‘You just gave me the perfect excuse to remove her husband’s head. Not that I need one.’ Irsha was seething, but it couldn’t be that simple.

‘The tether would still exist, leaving her tied to a corpse. Trust me, you do not want that,’ the fae said. His words turned the situation from desperate to downright hopeless. Worse, we had maybe an hour before Reynard returned with the rest of the guests.

‘But if she died, the tether would vanish and Riordan could remove the spell?’

‘Roksana…’ The warning in Irsha’s voice didn’t stop me.

‘Theoretically, yes, but necromancy doesn’t restore the person. Once you’re dead, only an empty corpse can return,’ Alaric answered.

‘But you can hold the Veil for a moment, yes. I saw people drowned under the ice. They returned.’ I saw it once, just once as a child, but today I was desperate.

‘In theory, yes, but—’ he said, and I didn’t let him finish.

‘Then we’ll test this theory. I have poisons that can stop her heart for long enough to sever the tether. Then I can purge it and restart her heart.’ My own heart raced at the thought, my legs wobbling and threatening to give way. Still it was a viable solution, even if conjured out of desperation.

‘Test? On her? Theory isn’t going to cut it if you’re going to kill Lily. There must be another way.’ Irsha’s hand tightened on my friend’s shoulders, and he pulled her away from me.

I understood Irsha’s fear, but it hurt he thought I’d do something so reckless if there were any other choice.

‘If you know any other way, tell me, Irsha.’ I stepped forward, cornering him. ‘What would Lily want? What would she say?’

His face paled and pinched. After a moment’s silence, he finally answered.

‘She’d tell you to get on with it. That she trusts you,’ he mumbled in resignation. Irsha stood up and took Lily’s hand. ‘Fine, let’s do it.’

We filed into the bedroom like some sort of disturbed funeral procession. I told myself, over and over, I could do this, that it wasn’t the first time I’d purged poison from someone who was one step across the Veil. I had control of my vivamancy, so if I could recreate Tova’s hand, I could bring Lily back. Despite all of this, fear hollowed me out. This was Lily. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I failed her.

‘Lay her on the bed. Irsha, stay with her. Annika, please leave. I don’t want you near poison or my vivamancy,’ I insisted, and my sister-in-law raised an eyebrow.