His expression softens as he drops his forehead to mine. “Survive, Nova,” he orders me. “Even if I do not.”
His quiet command makes my eyes snap to his. My heart is suddenly thumping fast. He has revealed much of himself to me, but I doubt I’ve seen the true depth of his power. I haven’t seen the extent of Crone’s power, either. Roman has consistently given me the impression that he would avoid a fight with Crone at all costs because the destruction of a battle between them would be devastating, but it seems the time for holding back has ended, and now only one of their powers can remain.
I press my palm to his jaw and close my eyes. “You will live,” I say, a stern command.
I don’t wait for him to respond, unable to consider his death for even a moment longer. As the light beam approaches the ground, I leap from its edge and land on the now-gray soil with Roman and Koda close behind me.
Roman surges to the front. “What have you done to my people, Crone?” he roars, a rune sparking across his chest, amplifying his voice so that it booms around the stadium.
Every demon in the crowd flinches, but Crone merely smiles. “I’ve given you a captive audience, Lord Rune,” she says. “Witnesses to the beginning of anewera of power in Pyra-Mortem.”
Up in the open chamber, Carys startled at the sound of Roman’s voice and now she leans forward, pulling the veil off her face with shaking hands. Her lips are parted as if she’s trying to speak, and she rises from her seat, only to wobble and fall back into it. Despite her apparent fatigue, she’s the only demon who has stood up, and I wonder if the cloak keeping the others restrained doesn’t shroud her. She is Esta’s mother, after all, but she certainly doesn’t appear well.
On the battlefield, I keep close to Koda, while Roman snarls at Crone. “You think your power will prevail.”
“Of course not,” Crone replies smoothly. “Esta’s power will rule supreme. I will merely support her.”
My golden-haired sister gloats as she catches up to us. “See?” she says, as if it proves that Crone will do her bidding.
I nearly feel sorry for her. Crone’s voice is so full of deceit that it makes my stomach churn.
“Release my people, Crone,” Roman commands, his roar even louder. “Release the demons.”
“No,” she says, floating higher off the ground and closing the gap between them until she’s eye level with him. “You will respect the Elimination, Lord Rune, and its proper process.”
He nods. Calmly. “I will respect the Elimination. Nova and Koda will fight Esta.” His eyes darken to black. “However, you are not protected by its rules.”
His hand flies out, his demon claws bared. They rake across Crone’s face so fast that she doesn’t have time to scream. Three red welts rise across her right cheek. They appear eerily like a death bond, until each welt starts oozing the same glowing script that Roman was crafting only moments ago.
The runes flow down Crone’s cheeks like tears and she grabs at them, plucking frantically.
“Read your death, Crone,” Roman says. “Your fate is now sealed.”
“My fate?” she snaps. “I conquered my fate when I destroyed your wolf. You will not end me, Master of Demon Runes.”
Roman is suddenly very still and my heart is heavy in my chest. The Iron Wolves attacked his family when he was a boy, and his wolf was ripped from his body and killed. But he never found the sorcerer who was behind the spell that ended his wolf’s life.
Roman doesn’t speak. He takes one look back at me and I expect to see pain and rage—and I do—but there’s also a level of peace I wasn’t expecting. His glance only lasts a second but feels like it lasts a lifetime, and it conveys to me a beautiful truth: I am the other half of his soul.
I am wolf enough for both of us.
Crone’s black eyes are increasingly wild as she plucks desperately at the script pouring from the cuts in her face. With a cry, she abandons the script and lifts her hands into the air instead.
The ground swirls at her feet, dust rising in a whirlwind, and she begins to spin with it, a torrent of power building around her.
Roman doesn’t wait another second. He launches himself at Crone and power explodes between them, a torrent so violent that it knocks Koda and me backward.
Esta is blown apart from us, sliding through the dirt before she digs in her heels and, with a cry of rage, starts toward Crone, as if she’s going to help her.
I spin and block Esta’s path.
“No.” My power swirls around my fingers as I remind myself what Koda and I have to do: Provoke Esta to take her true form, and, possibly harder, we need to take our own true forms as well.
“We have our own fight,” I growl at her.
She nods and backs up, using the new distance between us to keep both Koda and me in her sights. “Then let’s end this.”
Her golden power drips from her fingertips and I brace for her attack, but instead of directing her power at us, she throws her hands into the air and screams, “Come to me, beautiful souls!”
