[POV: Sofia Lanka]

"Don't you dare die on me, Jack Monroe. You hear me? You stay in this room, you keep your heart beating, and you wait for me. I am not a ghost, and I am not done with you. Alistair, if you let his pulse slip even a fraction of a beat, I will burn the Monroe name into the dirt and you with it. Do you understand me?"

Sofia’s voice was a jagged rasp of iron and grief, echoing through the smoke-filled ruins of the library. Her hands were slick with Jack’s blood, the dark, hot liquid staining her palms and the white silk of her sleeves....