“Calm down and think,” Cade said, though he was on edge too. “There has to be a way. Just think!”
“Nothing is ever easy,” the archdemon murmured behind us.
“You can think and think for a fucking million years,” a young woman’s rich, musical voice called from beyond the barrier. “It won’t help you.”
The Living Flame parted like a curtain, and she stepped through.
My brain short-circuited.
She looked a lot like Barbie, with the same terrible attitude, though she had perfect, flowing purple hair that belonged in a shampoo commercial, while Barbie had bouncing golden curls that defied any attempt at styling.
“Fuck me,” Barbie whispered, and I couldn’t have said it better myself.
“Hard pass.” The girl smirked.
Shit. Just when we thought we’d handled the biggest crisis of our lives, the universe threw us a curveball shaped like our big sister—guarding the gates of the void with a sentient fire that even Barbie’s dark flame couldn’t counter.
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
Sy
“Who are you?” Barbie demanded.
“And who areyou?” the purple-haired girl retorted, playing with her flame as if it were a pet. It probably was.
They sized each other up like two alphas meeting at a territorial border. The tension crackled between them, and I could already feel a headache building behind my eyes.
“I asked first. Who the fuck are you?” Barbie barked.
“I asked second, so the first one should fucking answer. Who the fuck areyou?” Purple shot back.
Everyone else groaned at their standoff.
“I don’t have time for this shit,” Barbie said, clearly deciding the confrontation wasn’t worth her energy.
“But I have all the time in the world for this shit.” Purple didn’t drop her smirk.
“Whatever!” Barbie snapped. “You’re blocking our path, girl! We need to send something to the other side.”
“Girl? You aren’t even a second older than me,” snorted Purple, her blue flame dancing in her hair. “And no thanks. Keep your garbage. That’s why I put up the ward.”
“Is the other side truly the void, milady?” Cade asked in his rich, deep, and charming voice.
“Mmm,” the girl said noncommittally.
“Could you please drop the ward?” Killian stepped in, his grip tightening on the chains that bound Ruin. “Let’s stop playing games. We need to send a package through to the void.”
Purple’s attention shifted to him, studying my sister’s mate with sharp interest. “And who are you?”
“He’s taken!” Barbie bristled, her hands planted on her hips. “The dragon is my mate, too! They’re both a one-woman man. Go find your own man!”
“Oh, I have my own men, more than one, and I don’t want anyone else,” Purple drawled in a southern accent before narrowing her eyes. “And who are you again?”
“Stop this ‘who are you’ shit,” I cut in. I couldn’t take it anymore. “Let’s build some trust, shall we? I’ll start.”
“Sy!” Barbie warned.
