“Need to tell you,” he wheezed. “Need you to know.”
“Know what?” Lucifer asked, even as he brushed a lock of thick brown hair away from his face.
“I love you,” Orias whispered. “Have always loved you.” He coughed, a pained groan tearing from his throat. “Master . . .”
Lucifer looked up at them, devastation across his face. “Please. Can you heal him?” he begged.
Kensington shook his head. “I’m sorry. None of us has that ability.”
Lucifer closed his eyes in defeat, and Zach saw his shoulders start to shake.
Then Drew stepped forward. “Let me try.”
“Drew,” Kensington warned. “This is not the time to be experimenting. You could hurt yourself.”
“Let him,” Zach said. “He healed the urco. He can do this.”
Kensington looked surprised, but then nodded.
“No!” Tremblay yelled and lunged for Drew.
Before Zach could move, Andras was there, and he tackled the man to the ground. Cavendish ran to help hold Tremblay down, and Zach turned his attention back to Drew.
“Please,” Lucifer said brokenly. “Help him.”
Zach knew that at this moment, Drew could make any demand he wanted. He could withhold his magic from Orias until Lucifer promisedto let all of them, including Andras, leave. He could ask for riches, for more power. Drew could ask for the world in exchange for Orias’s life. The way Lucifer was holding the Shadow Blade so gently, the devastation on his face, the grief in his eyes—everyone realized he felt more for Orias than he’d ever revealed, maybe even to himself. Zach knew that anything Drew asked for, Lucifer would give him.
But he didn’t. He wasn’t like that.
Instead, Drew reached out and placed a hand next to the wound and closed his eyes. Then he called upon his vast well of power.
If Zach had thought the magic he’d felt earlier had been powerful, it was nothing to what he felt now. The atmospheric pressure in the room dropped so suddenly that the air seemed to twist inwards on itself. Lightning strikes struck the ground, sending shards of marble flooring into the air. The black clouds above roiled and then let down an absolute torrential downpour of sleet. Zach’s head began to pound, and he worked his ears furiously to try and pop them, to relieve some of the pressure that was gripping his skull like a vice.
More lightning struck, and Kensington flung himself sideways to avoid being hit.
“Move!” Zach screamed into the howling wind. “To the sides!”
He grabbed Kensington’s arm and with a flap of his wings, half carried him over to the edge of the room. He saw Andras and Cavendish dragging a struggling Tremblay between them. They all pressed themselves flat against the wall next to where the urco was hunkered down, and then all but Tremblay were throwing up shields to try to protect the group from the magical storm. A funnel was forming, reaching down from the clouds and touching the ground, ripping up even more tiles. Chairs were dragged towards it, and then were flung into the air, caught in the spinning vortex of power.
Zach squinted through the commotion, trying to catch sight of Drew. There was a strange bubble of calm around him, Lucifer, and Orias.Drew’s eyes were still shut, and his lips were moving as he spoke the words to channel his power. Lucifer was watching him, hope and despair in his orange eyes.
Leila was perched on Drew’s shoulder, and suddenly, she began to rise into the air. She wasn’t flying—her wings weren’t flapping, but she was rising steadily until she was several feet above Drew. There was a deafening crack as lightning ripped across the room, striking Leila in the chest. Instead of destroying her, she appeared to absorb the energy. Another crack, another strike. And another, and another. The sound was so loud that Zach clutched at his ears, worried his eardrums would actually burst. At his feet, the urco whimpered, hiding his face under his paws.
When he looked again, Leila was now glowing an eerie blue-green colour. Her eyes were pure energy, and she floated down through the air to land once more on Drew’s shoulder. He jolted as she made contact, and then the glow around Leila grew dull. It took Zach a moment to realize thatDrewwas now glowing, the power Leila had absorbed transferring to him.
Drew threw back his head and shouted, “Mors, mihi hunc daemonem exolve1,” and everything in the room stopped.
It was like time itself had frozen. The clouds were still there, black and angry, but they were no longer churning. The sleet had stopped mid-air, and there was an odd light in the corner where a flash of lightning was frozen just as it was about to connect with the ground. The silence was so absolute that Zach could hear his own lungs expanding and the way blood was pumping through his veins.
Everyone was frozen. Zach didn’t know if it was because they were caught up in the magic, or if it was just the shock of what was happening, but no onemoved an inch.
The glow within Drew seemed to coalesce, and it grew brighter as it formed into a single pinprick of light. Then that light separated from Drew, shooting out from his chest and flying towards Orias. It hit the demon’s chest, and Orias was suddenly gasping, his whole body convulsing as death was banished and he was restored to health.
The room unfroze. The clouds churned, the lightning hit the ground, and the sleet continued to fall. Lucifer was sobbing as he held Orias close, and he covered his face with small kisses. And Drew was stumbling back and falling to the floor.
“Drew!” Zach cried, and he darted across to him, skidding on the sleet-slick floor. He cradled Drew in his arms, searching his face for signs of life.
“’M fine,” Drew mumbled. “Jus’ tired.”
