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here.”
    “Don’t mention it.”
    Ana walked over to Scott. “Scott, how could you let this happen?”
    Scott carefully pulled away from Nick, leaving the Daywalker rocking slowly back and forth. Then he turned to face Jeremy.
     

C HAPTER 4
     
    Scott shifted form. His bones and muscles flowed like liquid as he forced his hands into the shape he knew could inflict the most damage, growing red scales and long, curved claws.
    “Sentinel Harkness,” Scott said through clenched teeth, “seeing as you all but tried to murder my dyad brother, I am completely within my rights to rip your head off in revenge, Lost Brother or not. Can you give me any reason why I shouldn’t?”
    Jeremy took a step backward. “It wasn’t like that.”
    “Then what was it like?” demanded Ana.
    “It was what he needed,” Jeremy said unapologetically.
    “What the hell do you know about what he needs?”
    “Everything,” Jeremy replied with absolute confidence.
    Scott scowled at him. “You have sixty seconds to explain that statement, Sentinel.”
    “I invoked power to see the truth. When he touched the focus at the same time as I did, something happened. Time slowed down, and I could see everything around me.”
    “An akashic event,” said Ana, her eyes narrowing. “The Light granted you a vision.”
    “That’s right. It let me see him.” Jeremy stepped to the side, bringing Nick back into his direct view. “All of him. His entire life stretched out before me, and I saw everything. Every thought, every emotion, all his secrets, all the things he’s kept even from you both.” He turned back to Scott. “He was losing it. You may have thought your intervention helped before, but he was in a death spiral, slipping deeper and deeper into despair, wallowing in the darkness of what Luscian did to him. You were closest to him. You must have seen the signs.”
    Scott was silent. Nick made the only sound—a quiet weeping.
    Then Ana spoke. “That doesn’t explain what you did.”
    “He needed something to believe in,” said Jeremy, “something to sustain him when the rest of you were gone. Honor and duty were the only things keeping him going. So I released my hold on the power and gave it away.”
    Scott snarled, his teeth lengthening into razor-sharp fangs. “You gave the power to him after stripping away the constraints of your intent! You never let that kind of energy run free without restriction. Never! Nothing can stand against it. What were you thinking, passing him a Pure Draw? Unfiltered power of that magnitude destroys everything it touches.”
    “It had to be pure,” said Jeremy. “Otherwise it wouldn’t have been enough. If he survived, he would have an eternal memory of perfect and everlasting light to keep him alive.”
    “How was he supposed to survive that?” Ana demanded. “Nothing from our reality can coexist with what lives beyond the Gates. Nothing at all.”
    “He is Soulkiller’s Bane,” argued Jeremy. “If anyone could have lived through it, it would have been him.”
    “So you did it on purpose, knowing he would almost certainly die,” said Ana.
    Scott flexed his claws. “Your sixty seconds are up, Sentinel. I hope you weren’t too attached to your head.”
    “Enough,” said a tired voice behind them. They turned to see Nick struggling to his feet and wiping at the bloodied tear tracks on his face. “Leave him alone.”
    “Nick, you can’t be serious,” said Ana. “He tried to kill you.”
    “But he didn’t.” Nick walked past the two Sentinels to stand directly in front of Jeremy. “I heard you say what you did and that you thought I needed it, but you never said why you bothered. Why take the risk? You must have known Scott would kill you if I didn’t make it.”
    “I was fully prepared never to leave this room.” Jeremy’s eyes returned to the bomb before he swung around to face Nick again. “You saved my life. You thought I was a pathetic, self-deluded zealot, ready to