At first, there was nothing.
No sound, no breath, only the faint echo of a heartbeat that wasn’t mine.
Then it came again, faint but steady.
Thud.Thud.
Each pulse dragged me upward, through layers of silence and smoke, until I felt air scrape into my lungs. My chest convulsed as the world rushed back in pieces—light, pain, the taste of ash.
Thud. Thud.
I opened my eyes.
The ceiling was gone. Only the night sky stared back, fractured by what remained of the castle’s bones. Wind screamed through the open arches, carrying the stench of scorched stone and iron.
Every breath hurt, every muscle sore.
Thud. Thud.
My eyes landed on them.
Lionel, Nate and Ashley stood across the chamber, bloodied but unbroken, throwing everything they had at theDemon King. They fired their guns and threw explosives, smoke building to slowly obscure them.
And with me, motionless, was Malakai.
He was sitting up with me on his lap, head resting against my shoulder as if he had simply… taken a nap in the midst of the chaos. One arm was still wrapped around my waist, the other limp at his side. The faint glow that had once burned beneath his skin was gone.
My breath hitched.
“Malakai?” I could barely utter his name, my voice hoarse. I tried to move, but my limbs felt like they had turned to stone. “Malakai, please…”
No response, only the wind and the foreign beat of an unknown heart.
Thud. Thud.
My hand trembled, reaching for his face. It was wet, thin streaks on his cheeks.
He had been crying. Had he thought I died? “Malakai, wake up.” I wanted him to look at me, to see that I was fine, to heal his broken heart.
Thud. Thud.
Something fractured inside me. All the warmth he’d poured into me, the loud heartbeat that I couldn’t ignore, turned jagged, burning through my veins.
No.
His heart wasn’t broken.
The world blurred behind a wash of tears, and somewhere beyond them, the Demon King laughed.
He was covered in blood and wounds, and still he laughed in the face of danger. But he looked different. The King, who once appeared indestructible, almighty and far too powerful for us to face… was desperate, weakened and clinging on to every last victory he could claim.
He had turned his gaze towards Malakai and me again.
“So, this was the fate he chose?” the Demon King twitched his nose in disgust. “Such a weakling, sacrificing himself for a human… What was it you called him? Mal—”
“Utter his name,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “And I’llburnyou from this world.”
My fire answered before thought could. It rose from the floor in waves, drawn from the hollow ache in my chest, from every ounce of grief and love I couldn’t bear. The air ignited around me, white-gold and furious.
