Chapter Seventy-Three

Nesta's battle with Bellius reaches a critical moment when she crosses the magical line and appears defeated. Cassian arrives and kills Bellius to save her, but he has been enslaved by Briallyn, who now controls him through the Crown. As Cassian embraces Nesta—his mate—he is forced against his will to threaten her life while trapped in Briallyn's magical control.

Nesta fights Bellius in brutal hand-to-hand combat, with him gradually wearing her down and herding her toward an archway marked by a line she drew in the earth. After a particularly devastating blow to her face, Nesta falls backward across the line, and the mountain shudders at her crossing. Bellius advances with a knife, intending to slit her throat, and Nesta despairs, believing she will die alone at his hands. Thunder cracks across the mountain and Cassian appears, his wings unfurled. With a single blade strike, he opens Bellius's throat so deeply that the male dies choking on his own blood. Cassian offers Nesta his hand to help her up—a gesture consistent with how he has always supported her—and pulls her into an embrace. However, Nesta quickly realizes something is terribly wrong. Cassian, though internally screaming and begging her to kill him or fight back, is not in control of his own body or words. He threatens to slit her throat while holding her so tightly her bones shift. An old, withered voice emerges from behind them: Briallyn, wearing the Crown, reveals that she has enslaved Cassian completely and he cannot disobey her commands. Cassian's arms loosen only at Briallyn's silent instruction, turning Nesta to face the queen.