“Trust me,” he rasped, lips curling in a bloody grin.
Nicron thrashed, panic finally breaking through his arrogance as the blood-threads crushed him further. His eyes darted to me, wild, desperate.
“Mmm-make him stop! You’re nothing without him!” he spat.
“Wrong,” Malakai snarled, his gaze never leaving me. “She iseverything, even without me.”
His grip tightened. The threads lifted Nicron’s head, forcing him to meet my eyes. “Now, burn him.”
My flames answered before my fear could. They surged from my hands, washing over Nicron like a tidal wave of fire. His scream tore through the air, drowned by the roar of flame. His body writhed against the blood-threads, then it stopped. Consumed by fire, collapsing into ash.
Silence fell, broken only by the ragged sound of Malakai’s breathing and low murmurs of confusion in the background.
His head tilted towards me, eyes half-lidded, a ghost of a smile breaking through the blood and pain. “You did it, sweetie.”
The last embers faded into smoke. His crimson threads slithered back to him, shuddering, before dissolving completely.
His weight lurched. I barely caught him, his body heavy, trembling, blood spilling hot against my hands.
“Malakai!” My voice cracked. Panic clawed in my throat as I pulled him against me. His skin burned, yet he shivered, his strength crumbling at last. “Stay with me, please, why would you do this? Why… why kill them, why—”
My words tangled, furious and afraid, the betrayal still raw in my chest even as he sagged into my arms. His head dipped against my shoulder, breath warm, uneven.
“Shh…” His voice was weak, yet the tone was steady, soothing, like an anchor in a storm. “Calm down, kitten. Don’t… waste your fire on fear.”
Tears blurred my sight. “You destroyed everything, you burned their trust, killed their leaders andI—”
“It had to be a demon’s hand,” he whispered, eyes half-lidded, blood on his lips. “The leaders… if I killed them, both sides would unite against a common enemy. No more squabbling, no more waiting. Now, they will turn their rage towards the Demon King’s army. They’ll stand together.”
My heart throbbed painfully. “You made yourself their target.”
His smile, faint but real, brushed across his face. “And you… their light.”
The truth hit me like a blade, he hadn’t used me for his own goals. He’d sacrificedeverything, even my trust, to give me this chance. To give everyone a chance to fix the world.
My throat closed, sobs threatening to climb it.
“Idiot,” I choked out, clutching him tighter. “Stupid, reckless, unbearable idiot.”
His chest shuddered with a quiet laugh, though it broke into a cough. His hand found my arm, weak but still grounding me.
The glow from the quartz gem pulsed inside his chest, with each beat it was sinking deeper. I felt its burn under my palm, and dread froze me.
“We need to get it out,” I said, desperation sharpening my voice. “Hold still.”
I pressed my hand to the wound, flames flickering carefully along my fingertips. Malakai hissed through clenched teeth, gripping my shirt harder. I focused, extending my flames into the wound in an attempt to crack the gem while still trying to not harm him in the process. Finally, the piece of crystal crumbled under the heat, his body able to expel the fragments onto the ground in a hiss of smoke.
I expected to see his heart pierced, to watch him fade in my arms. But when I looked, my breath caught.
The quartz had lodged against something small and dark, embedded part-way into his flesh near his ribs. Bloodied, splintered, but retaining its shape. I pulled it free and stared.
The tiny wooden carving of a cat.
My lips parted. “This is…”
His eyelids fluttered, a faint, almost sheepish smile curving his mouth.
“My kitten,” he murmured, voice slurred but soft. “Always… watching me, always sharp and saving me from certain death, again.”
