In a blur of motion, Nova stepped out of the spring—and at alpha speed, she was gone from view.
Then—snap—the portal closed.
A blur appeared in the center of the infirmary. Nova.
Elias yelled.
"Gods, Nova!"
He nearly dropped the tray of vials in his hands—but they didn't hit the ground.
Nova flicked her wrist. The vials righted themselves mid-air and landed perfectly back onto the tray. Not a single drop spilled.
Another flick—quick, effortless—and everyone's clothing and hair dried instantly. Even the bedding beneath Cael and Aeron dried, wrinkle-free.
A warm wave of gold magic settled over the room, gliding over Aeron, Elle, Marra, and Cael like a soft cloak.
Clean. Controlled. Unrelenting.
Jax felt it—that wave of gold that dried the room, saved the vials, steadied the space. It hadn't come from her. It had come from him.
She had used his magic to do it, which meant she was out of her own.
"Nova," Fin said gently, shifting his tone, trying something that might reach her. "Why don't you lie down. You're not well—I feel it."
He took a slow step forward, careful not to alarm her. Like easing up to a wounded animal. Like she wouldn't notice.
She noticed.
Fin's boots locked to the floor as if the air around him had solidified. His hand froze an inch from reaching her. Muscles strained against an invisible wall that did not flex.
Jax lunged next. Instinct. Panic. Possession. His hand shot out for her arm.
But, he did not reach her either. His body stopped mid-stride, every line of muscle engaged, teeth gritted, and shoulders trembling from the force of resistance.
Whatever force was still working through her caught them like children reaching for something they weren't supposed to touch.
Fin's eyes flashed white again in anger, and Jax's eyes flared sapphire in perfect, furious harmony. To be fair, neither man had ever been denied the right to touch Nova. She had pushed Fin away once when she was sick and once when she was angry, and he ignored her both times and held her anyway. And Jax, who had been restraining himself for two long weeks, had never once been pushed from her before that. He had always been able to touch her, hold her, steady her. She never stopped him.
This was a first.
Nova didn't respond or acknowledge either. Her eyes were glowing a bright gold, channeled from Fin's magic. Even as upset as Fin was, he liked that he could feel his magic coursing through her and the fact she drew his magic so instinctually.
But he also wanted to touch her, and that desire overrode everything else. He pushed again, harder, ready to break bone if it meant breaking through.
Nothing.
Then realization hit him with cold precision. The power holding him and Jax in place was his.
His magic.
She was using his own force against him, shaping it, wielding it, commanding it as if it belonged to her entirely.
He and Jax looked at each other, wide-eyed, mouths slightly open in disbelief. Neither said a word. They didn't have to. Their expressions said it all: What the hell is happening right now?
Across the room, Elias finally got his bearings. He moved to Cael's side—who had been watching the whole scene unfold with his mouth open like someone watching a goddamned prophecy come true.
Elias checked vitals, clipped lines into place, hooked up the IVs like he was trying very hard to pretend none of this was absolutely insane.
Meanwhile, his assistants began drawing blood from Elle with quick efficiency.
Nova flicked her hand again—sharp, effortless.
Two tonics shot out of Elias's office like arrows. Not a single drop spilled. One landed gently on the table beside Marra. The other, next to Elle.
Fin and Jax stopped struggling for a moment and blinked, trying to recalibrate what reality was.
Marra and Elle, however, didn't miss a beat.
The moment the tonic landed, Marra picked it up and helped Aeron drink—no pause, no question. Aeron's color visibly returned almost instantly.
As soon as Elle's blood was drawn, she grabbed the second tonic and pressed it to Cael's lips. He drank without hesitation.
And just like that, both men began to stabilize.
The girls were in sync.
The boys were still confused.
Aeron stared at Nova, his expression shifting rapidly—shock, curiosity, calculation. His mindlink spread to everyone like a ripple.
Aeron:Who are you?
She regarded him for a long moment, her head tilting in a slow, measured arc, as if deciding whether he was worth the breath required to answer.
"At least you recognize the limits of your understanding," she said, voice cool and precise. "The knowledge that kept you breathing is hers. I would have only preserved what mattered. Your souls."
Aeron:Seraphine?
Nova grinned. Chilling. Controlled.
"No."
Nova spoke with a chilling grin, her eyes flaring an even deeper gold—radiant, searing, unnatural. The temperature shifted again, colder, tighter. Yet Marra and Elle remained completely still, not alarmed in the slightest, as if they'd seen this before—or already knew it.
Aeron's brow furrowed as he searched through every possibility. His voice moved through the link, steady and low.
Aeron:Selene Moonveil?
Nova inclined her head slightly, eyes never leaving his.
"Her mother is a descendant, named in my honor."
Aeron did not move, but the slight flick in his eyes was enough.
He understood.
He feared he understood correctly.
The temperature plunged. Ice threaded the air. Outside, the world dimmed as if the sun had been smothered or night had been forced into existence. Every torch in the infirmary erupted at once, flooding the room with an bright white light.
No one breathed.
Nova smiled. A quiet, precise smile. A threat in the shape of grace.
"She is carved in my image. Not merely blood, but creation. Essence." Her gaze swept the room as if cataloging weaknesses.
"I stand before you summoned by bond, called upon with desperation for her mentor's life, your life. And the soul of the mate of one she holds dear."
A pause, a sharper smile. "A favor. Nothing more."
She turned toward Cael with chilling slowness, her eyes brightening until they resembled molten metal.
"Your Beta only lives because she insisted on it," she said.
"I would have preserved only his soul."
She turned her gaze slowly to Cael, eyes sharp.
"Fortunate for him," she finished, her cold.
Her gaze swept back to Aeron.
"The knowledge required to save your flesh was hers." A faint lift of her chin, regal, cold. "I executed."
Fin and Jax strained uselessly against her hold, muscles shaking, jaws locked, both reduced to statues trembling under her borrowed power.
Nova spoke again, her voice resonant, calm—but heavy with restrained fury.
"You can imagine my displeasure," she said, gaze fixed on Fin alone. "When did she lose the child?"
Fin's soul answered, before he even realized it happened. This voice was different from his own, detached. "Three days ago."
Marra's eyes flooded. Hearing it again hit her like a stone—one she knew far too well. Her own loss echoed through her in that moment.
Elle's hand followed, covering her lips.
The pain in Jax's eyes spoke louder than words. Regret. Guilt. Grief. All of it flashed across his face like a confession he didn't have the strength to say aloud.
"Elias, her blood still carries remnants of the poison. She will require more of the antidote," Nova said evenly.
"Yes," Elias replied at once, his throat tight. "I'll make sure she's cared for." The color had drained entirely from his face.
"Before she lost consciousness, she did not have the chance to tell you," Nova continued, tone flat and clinical. "Administer a health tonic with crushed myrris root and blightless fern. Chopped. Raw."
"Yes, Luna," Elias said softly, the title slipping from him again before he realized he'd spoken it.
Nova did not acknowledge the title or his response.
She turned to Aeron, her voice composed yet edged with displeasure.
"Another matter of concern lies within her magic. It is bound. Were you aware of this?"
Aeron:No, I was not… by deliberate interference or delayed activation through fate?
"There is an artificial obstruction," she said. "Artificial. Deliberate. In this form I cannot yet name the hand that placed it. Contact with her fated mate—regardless of her awareness of the bond—should have broken it entirely. Instead, it produced only a partial unlock."
Aeron's response came through the link. He absorbed this without flinching. His mind moved quickly. steady and resolute.
Aeron: Then we will identify the cause and remove it.
She offered him the slightest nod, a gesture of approval so rare it felt like a benediction.
"You have managed what little access she possessed. Better than most would have. Better than I expected."
She then shifted her gaze to Elle. "This one, however, has now become fully unbound."
Aeron's tone was inquisitive, though tinged with understanding.
Aeron:I sensed it. The result of fate?
Nova's expression remained unreadable as her gaze lingered on Elle.
"Her binding fractured the moment her fated soul stood on the brink of erasure. Not death—obliteration. That threat was sufficient to sever the restraint entirely. She acted on instinct, untrained and unprepared, yet she reached him… and pulled him back. A rare outcome."
"Fortunate for him." She said coldly, eyes on Cael.
Her gaze lingered back to Elle, cool and measured.
"She will need training as soon as you're able." She added.
Aeron: Noted, consider it done.
"As for these two," Nova said, her gaze sliding toward Fin and Jax, both of whom looked like someone had punted their souls across the courtyard. "Neither has mastered even the barest degree of control. They will attend every training session. The Alpha's precision is on par with a toddler swinging a sword, and the Gamma's is only slightly less catastrophic. Put them with her."
Fin exhaled sharply, the sound sharp and irritated.
Nova let out a faint, amused laugh. "How predictable. The most powerful are always the least disciplined."
Aeron's mouth twitched, a knowing grin slipping through despite the tension.
Nova's eyes returned to Fin and Jax, gold flashing like a blade catching sunlight.
"Now, back to you both," she said, voice cooling again. "Her soul is fractured. Are you aware."
And before either man could think, their souls answered for them, voices layered with a resonance not their own.
"Yes."
"Are you aware," Nova said, each word edged with quiet contempt, "that every time she channels her power, it cuts through her like a blade. At its current rate, she has less than two full moons. Perhaps one."
Fin and Jax answered in unison, their voices stripped of identity.
"Yes. It will be fixed."
Nova inclined her head—once. A gesture devoid of praise.
"Yes. It will."
She turned to Marra, her tone smooth and precise, like a knife sliding into place.
"She has formed a hypothesis. It is correct."
Her gaze shifted to Aeron next.
"You will not intervene. Remain where you are."
Aeron understood instantly. The flicker in his eyes confirmed it. He nodded.
Nova returned her attention to Fin and Jax, her voice hardening into absolute command.
"Your Colonel is in the courtyard with every warrior at the summit. You will go to them now. Several have inhaled the black rain. Your magic will locate the corruption and pull it out. Walk through the ranks. Do not linger. Do not question. Cleanse."
Both men straightened instinctively, spines locking into the posture of soldiers before a higher power.
Nova's eyes fluttered shut.
A heartbeat later, her knees buckled. She collapsed to the floor—just as the bindings holding Jax and Fin dissolved.