Her fingers had gone numb where they gripped her Shadow’s arm, but she clung tight, even as her skin burned as if from frostbite and her bones ached. She channeled every bit of her magic, every last inkling of her strength.
To hell with the Magiya’s secrets. Let the damned thing burn, and the demons with it.
In her mind’s eye, she pictured the library’s profusion of books: tumbled onto the floor, jammed like crooked teeth on the shelves, crushing the bodies of the scribes and warriors who had died protecting their sanctuary. And then she sent her witchfire outward, catching every single one of them aflame.
At first, there was only a faint crackle, as if a campfire burned in the distance. But then, the sound grew into a snapping, hissing beast. It roared down the hallway toward them, its jaws open, breathing flames as it went. She could feel it deep in her body: this was her fire, and it had come when she called.
Ana shrieked, her face gone deathly pale and her eyes glazed with terror, as the beast Katerina had summoned roared into the room. Tongues of flame lashed Gadreel’s army, and the demons screamed as they burned. In the distance, glass shattered as the windows of the Magiya’s rotunda exploded. The building heaved, wailing as its floorboards gave way. Nails flew through the air, the projectiles narrowly missing them thanks to Sofi’s witchwind.
“You’re fools,” Gadreel roared, fighting the shades that bound him. “We will all die here, and for what? Because you refused the offer to fight by my side?”
Katerina ignored him. Heat licked along her body, searing her skin. Sweat slicked her spine. “Go,” she screamed at Alexei, Damien, Sofi, and Ana. “Get out of here before the portal collapses!”
“We’re not leaving—” Ana protested.
“Go!”
Tears rolled down Ana’s face as she leapt through the shimmering portal. Casting a miserable glance over her shoulder, Sofi followed, the two Shadows trailing in her wake. The curtain of light closed behind them, as if they had never been there at all.
Strips of wallpaper peeled away like curling tongues, revealing the scorched plaster beneath. Flecks of fiery parchment rained down on Katerina, stinging every bit of exposed skin. Desperate, she cradled her Shadow’s face in both hands, heedless of the pyre that raged around them and the icy sensation that trickled through her veins. His eyes were wide and blank and unseeing, the Darkness rippling in their depths.
Gadreel was shouting something, the words unintelligible over the cavernous bellow of the fire, but Katerina had no time for him. “Niko,” she said, and opened their bond. Down it, she sent every memory of the two of them together, every kiss and touch, every victory in battle, every bit of grief and joy. “Come back to me. I love you, now and always. If we die, we die together, for I will not leave your side.”
The flames gusted closer, the bellow now a violent, air-sucking howl, accompanied by the screech of rending metal and the thud of falling beams. With a boom and a groan, the roof ripped free, the rafters collapsing inward as the shingles whirled up and away. Wooden shards tumbled all around them, missing them by inches. But Katerina held fast to her Shadow, refusing to let go.
She had raised him from the Underworld. Surely, she could wrest him from the clutches of his shades. In his heart of hearts, this wasn’t what he wanted. This was a decision born of desperation, of the conviction that there was no other way.
Well, then Katerina would have to believe enough for both of them.
“Niko,” she said, again and again. “Come back to me.”
Beneath her touch, he shivered as if freezing, despite the unbearable heat of the room. Bit by bit, like ink seeping into an empty well, his soul filled his eyes once more. He blinked at her, the flames reflected in his gray irises. “Katya,” he said, the word ripped from his throat. “Why?”
“Do you trust me?”
One scorching breath. Two. And then her Shadow nodded.
“Then set him free.” She gestured at Gadreel. “And live.”
Niko set his jaw, stepping away from her, and for a terrible moment, she thought he would deny her. She took hold of his arm once more, his muscles rigid under her ice-cold grip.
Together, they stared at the Dark Angel of War, in his prison of shades. And then, with an effort so great that it resounded down their bond, Niko let go.
His shades recoiled toward him in a wave of Darkness, absorbing back into his body. An instant later, Gadreel’s wings unfurled and he arrowed toward the gaping hole that had once been the roof of the Magiya, disappearing into a haze of smoke and ash. His howls of fury rang in Katerina’s ears as she leapt through the portal and into the unknown beyond, dragging her Shadow behind her.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
NIKO
The world contorted, squeezing the breath from his lungs. His Dimi clung to him, and he wrapped his arms around her, afraid she would be torn from him, into the stomach-churning vortex that threatened to rip them apart.
And then, with no ceremony whatsoever, it spat them out. They landed, with a thud that shook Niko to the bone, and Katerina squirmed free. He blinked, struggling to open his eyes, and found her retching on hands and knees. Above them, the portal had vanished, sealing the fire and the Dark Angel of War away with it.
His Dimi wiped a hand across her mouth and fought her way to her feet. “Ana?” she whispered, her throat raw from smoke and screaming. “Sofi?”
“Here.” Giving Niko a wary glance, Ana stepped forward and squeezed Katerina’s shoulder. She was smudged with soot all over, as if she’d rolled in it. “We’re all here, Katerina, but?—”
“Where is here?” Katerina finished.
