My father pulls us both into his arms, and for a moment I'm not a cursed Succubus or a Lost Girl or even a woman who's killed to survive. I'm just their daughter, held safe between them.
It’s what they always wanted. For me to be safe.
"You came back," my father says, his deep voice rough with emotion.
"I'm sorry," I sob into his chest. "I'm sorry I ran away. I'm sorry I brought this here?—"
"No." My mother pulls back, cupping my face with both hands. "This was never your fault. And you left to find yourself. Talon has kept us apprised in letters, telling us how you’ve grown, how independent you’ve become. And just look at you." Her eyes trace my piercings, my chopped hair, the confidence that sits on my shoulders even through the exhaustion. "You found who you were meant to be."
My father's hand rests heavy on my shoulder. "We should have let you go sooner. Should have trusted you to find your own way."
Cries echoes from the village, followed by the crash of a building collapsing.
My parents' heads whip toward the sound, and I see it, the weight of crown and duty settling back onto their shoulders.
The vampire horde has dwindled, but it’s left the wounded and dead to be tended to.
"The people—" my mother starts.
"Go," I say quickly. "They need you."
My father hesitates, searching my face. "Will you..."
"I'll be fine. Go help our people."
My mother kisses my forehead, quick and fierce. "We love you, Aurora. Always."
My father squeezes my shoulder once more. "Always."
Then they're running toward the village, their guards forming a protective circle as they race to help with the rescue efforts. My mother turns back once, our eyes meeting across the smoke and distance. She mouths "I love you," before disappearing into the chaos.
I stare after them for a heartbeat, until an agonized screech turns my attention up again.
Mal’s shape is breaking apart. Wings glitching between forms, scales splitting to show pulsing veins of raw, unstable magic. Her mouth opens wider than it should, spilling fire in crooked spirals. Her eyes burn black-red, unfocused, furious, blind with hate.
Talon tears into her again, claws raking down her spine, teeth sinking deep into her wing joint. Mal shrieks, and the sound vibrates through the stones beneath my feet.
She crashes to the ground.
Hard.
A crater blooms beneath her ruined body, dust and fire curling around her like smoke from a pyre. Her wings flap once, then fall still. Her chest heaves with breath she shouldn’t have left.
I break into a run toward the collision. My heart pretzels up into knots and sweat breaks out across my body. Is she dead? If she is, I’ll be stuck with this curse forever. The prospect turns me cold.
As I approach the crater, Mal’s head turns.
Her gaze slides past, fixing on the figures rushing up behind me. My friends have come. A rush of air precedes Talon landing on the ground. Scratches carve jagged paths across his chest, raw and bleeding, but his stance is iron. Red rivulets drip from his hairline and well along his cheekbones. The shine of raw wounds that make me ache to reach for him, but he’s still upright.
Mal’s lips curl, blood staining her teeth. “Little brother.”
Kai doesn’t move. He watches her with the kind of horror only family can feel. “Mal, what are you doing? You have to let this go. You can come home now.” Wetness rims his eyes.
Mal turns her disfigured, half-bloated face to the side and spits. “I have no home. And I’ll make sure everyone knows my pain. You and your friends will suffer, they will know the pain I’ve endured for years. I won’t rest until you all bleed and break.” She looks at Snow, Rap, Cinder, and Ariel, as if memorizing their faces. Already envisioning how she’ll make them pay.
Kai’s throat works but no words come out.
Mal laughs. It’s a broken sound. Then she lunges—not at Kai. At Cinder.
