And…Ronen.
The male who had me prying the skin from my muscles to reach. The mere thought of the breath leaving his lungs rattled somethingunfathomable and absolute inside me. A force louder than the urgency screaming at me about Aspen. I would rip the rest of my skin from my body. I would feel the throbbing pain and the blood that oozed down my arms a thousand times over if only it’d save the male who reminded me of home.
And yet, if I chose them, I lost my mom.
Because no one told me I’d been killing her.
Terror burned through me, hotter than the blue fire shielding my body. Terror for my choices. Terror for the scene unfolding before me.
Aspen and Alexei thrashed midair. Red smoke circled their necks, slowly squeezing the life from them.
Below their feet, a flaming blue sphere caged MJ and Oliver. Lilith slammed her power against it, drawing curses from Oliver’s lips.
Rune lay unmoving at the base of the stone slab, her fur streaked with blisters and bloody fluids—an agonizing patchwork beneath drifting wisps of shadow. Above her, in another fire sphere, lay Ronen on his back. His eyes were closed, blood soaking his sleeves and drawn across his face, as if Lilith had attempted a ritual on him.
Aspen was resisting Lilith’s control. He was helping us.
But how long could that last?
Flickers of blue fire fought against the acid-eating smoke wrapped around their necks, keeping Alexei and Aspen barely conscious, barely fighting. Alexei lifted his burned wings, pain twisting his face as he strained to fly away from Lilith’s hold. His choked scream cracked the air—then came a crash like the sky splitting open.
Water slammed into MJ and Oliver’s protective sphere. Scalding steam erupted in a violent hiss, drowning their screams. The whitehaze swallowed Aspen’s and Alexei’s jerking bodies. But not before their neck muscles pulled taut, their faces blistered, and their teeth bared in raw agony. All the while, Lilith laughed, acting untouchable.
Aspen dropped all our fire-spheres, weakened, leaving us exposed to her will.
I knew what I had to do. All my training, practicing, and learning had led me to this.
“Lilith, darling,” I stated, removing my Ember Metal bracelet, “you’re in for a fucking treat.”
I pushed myself off the marble and flung out my hands, throwing my Glory and Hellfire at her shield. Black and white fire met red—and consumed it.
She released Aspen and Alexei as she failed to reinforce her protection, and they dropped to the ground. Alexei cried out as he landed on his wounded wings, and Aspen heaved as if the air had been knocked out of him.
I wrapped my flames around my body and luscelered through the gaping hole in her barrier. She struck with her lightning, hitting my legs. It tickled. It should’ve burned. But my flames absorbed her attack the moment it touched me. A stronger bolt hit my pelvis, pushing me back, then my legs again. She wanted to immobilize me.
She wanted my blood, not my death. Not yet.
I stepped through the rest of her barrier, conjured a fireball, then hurled it at Lilith’s face, knowing full well it wouldn’t connect. I stumbled with the effort. It wasn’t faked, but it did play into my plan.
She sidestepped, sneering, “Cute trick.”
My protective flames sputtered and died, leaving me exposed. She smiled. My face fell. I backed up like I could escape her, and athick vine whipped out, snaring my throat. She yanked me forward like a rag doll. I sagged against her, clutching at her dress while drowning in her confident air.
“So much power,” she purred, her sharp nail tracing my jawline, “but no finesse. No strength.”
Her arrogance was her downfall.
I dropped my fake fear and shrugged. “Who needs finesse—when you can play to your opponent’s expectations?”
She leaned back as if trying to reassess the situation, and in doing so, loosened the chain I’d pinched between my burning fingers. The Ember Metal jangled, falling from her neck. I surged upward, smashing my forehead into her nose with a sickening crack. She reeled, and I snatched the feather from her cleavage.
Purple flames burst from my hand, flash-freezing it. “Oliver and MJ!” I screamed, then threw it toward them with everything I had, right as lightning jolted through the vine digging into my throat. My scream tore free, cut short as I fell to my knees, spasming, choking.
Oliver caught it as the doors to the hall slammed open, revealing a demon horde. Half were Cambion Demons, and the other half were souls with black veins crossing through their grotesque scars—the demon infection.
Lilith was their creator. We’d suspected it. But with a group of them here, in her kingdom and under her command, it confirmed it.
“Finally.” Lilith gestured to my friends. “Kill them, retrieve my feather, and capture the prince.”
