Kaden stood behind the courtier, his silver eyes gleaming with rage. Xadorsch gave a sickening gurgle, and I barely had a second to register that the shadowy manacles had disappeared from my wrists.
Rising to my feet, I strode toward the bastard, raising my blade overhead and slamming it down in a deadly arc.
There was a sickening crack as I broke through Xadorsch’s breastbone. An agonized howl made my ears ring, and then he vanished in a cloud of black mist.
A shudder rolled through me as I turned to Semphrys, who lay motionless on the polished obsidian floor. For asplit second, the oppressive power that had cloaked the chamber lifted, but then I felt it again.
The king had regenerated.
Swallowing, I glanced back at Kaden, and a thousand expressions flickered across his face. Grief and triumph and pride that sent a surge of warmth flooding through me.
But mostly, there was love. So much warmth and adoration that I felt a lump rise up in my throat as I locked eyes with the male who was bound to my very soul.
The infuriating, beautiful male who’d made me love him notdespitewhat he was, but because of it.
Kaden, the fae prince who loved his people enough to give up his crown.
Taker of Souls, who’d fulfilled his father’s dark purpose to protect his only family.
Son of Elowynn, who dreamt of a world where his people could be free.
The demon king’s heir, who’d worn a wicked mask to protect the kingdom he loved.
My mate.
I was bound to Kaden, body and soul. I couldn’t let him go, but I also couldn’t allow Semphrys to go on existing, devouring the very souls he’d been charged with protecting.
My feet felt heavy as I approached the demon king, my blade humming in my grip. My dagger thirsted for Semphrys’s blood, singing in unison with the hunter’s death song that reverberated in my bones.
Tears clouded my vision as I met Kaden’s gaze, and I caught his slight nod before I raised the blade overhead and plunged it into his father’s chest.
Chapter
Thirty-Three
LYRA
The chamber shuddered, and darkness swallowed me as shadows spilled from the wound. A bitter chill wrapped around me, stealing all the warmth that had stretched down the mating bond and shrouding me in misery so acute that it nearly brought me to my knees.
Then Semphrys began to disintegrate, his body exploding into a torrent of black mist that formed a cyclone around me. The droplets of mist spun faster — the dark tempest blotting out the chamber and obscuring my view of Kaden.
The king’s dark essence blanketed the room, snuffing out all hope. All goodness.
A heavy weight settled in my chest, pressing in on me and making it impossible to breathe. The cyclone of mist spun faster. A volley of piercing shrieks filled the air, and I clamped my hands over my ears as the king’s wicked magic bombarded me in its final death throes.
Finally, the screams abated, and that infernal black mist cleared.
I stared at the place where Semphrys had lain. All that remained was a heap of black fabric and a crown fashioned from jagged shards of obsidian.
I swallowed to wet my parched throat. My mouth tasted of ash.
Dragging in a breath, I turned toward my friends. Adriel was breathing hard, a rowan-wood spike clutched in each hand and his face splattered with blood. Sorsha grunted as she pulled her blade from a demon, who took one look at the crown on the floor and disappeared on a wisp of smoke.
One by one, the other demons vanished — fleeing now that their king was dead. My friends watched them go with grim expressions, but I scarcely cared about Semphrys’s army.
My gaze found Kaden across the chamber, and my heart stopped beating.
He was kneeling on the obsidian floor, staring at the place where his father had been. One pale hand clutched his chest, and all the blood had drained from his face.
