Tharuzel moves in a blur.
One moment he’s in the center of the room. The next he's in front of me.
The vertical mouth in his belly opens wide.
Tentacles surge from his chest cavity, black and glistening. They coil around my waist and throat, yanking me forward.
The blood-bond ignites.
Pain beyond anything I've felt rips through me. It's not physical—it's deeper. It feels like Tharuzel the Soul Thresher is tearing pieces of my soul away, pulling me apart from the inside.
I can't breathe. I can't think.
This is it.
This is how I die.
“You are mine, Poppy Hallowind.” The tentacles drag me closer to that gaping maw, teeth rotating, waiting…
Golden light erupts between us, and my world shifts.
Asher.
I feel him before he appears in the space between Tharuzel and me. No weapon. No armor. Just my beautiful bestie, glowing with radiance so pure it makes the demon's red light look like dying embers.
The tentacles recoil.
Tharuzelshrieks, the sound fracturing into a thousand discordant notes. Where Asher’s golden light touches him, his flesh sizzles, blackens, and peels away.
Asher's eyes blaze like two suns—not his usual hazel—but gold and incandescent.
"Poppy isnotyours. She willneverbe yours.” His voice carries the weight of divine command.
Tharuzel steps back, looking furious, his massive arms raised to shield the horrific damage to his face. The tentacles retreat into his chest, the cavity sealing with a wet slop.
The blood-bond still burns, but the pull lessens.
Asher moves forward, his arms outstretched, each step making the heavenly light he’s giving off intensify. Tharuzel shouts something in a demonic tongue. The hissing command has all the demons turning.
Orion's jaws close around the neck of a demon with a dog’s head, and it dissolves into black smoke.
Tharuzel lets off a screaming roar that echoes in my head and makes my vision black out in spots. My mind rings with the vibration of his fury, and before I can clear my vision, a burst of energy erupts with the force of a bomb.
I’m blown off my feet, thrown to the side and land in a demon ichor slip and slide. By the time the ride ends, my hip is screaming in protest, and I’m covered in black and purple goo. I scramble back to my feet and flick my hands, throwing off the worst of the ick.
Demons pour into the portal that opens, abandoning the fight.
Tharuzel stops at the mouth of the portal and snarls back at me.“This changes nothing, Poppy Hallowind. Youaremine… and one day soon, you will accept that.”
With one final roar, he steps through the portal and is gone. The sigils die. The red light extinguishes. The mill plunges into darkness, broken only by Asher's fading golden glow.
My knees buckle, but strong hands catch me. Wylder has recovered from the black rot enough to stand. Barely. He looks nauseous and has blood dripping from his nose. "I've got you."
I scoff. “And who’s got you?”
He rolls his eyes, and I focus back on the moment. "Sebastian went down hard."
"He’s conscious," Rowan calls from across the room. "Broken ribs, maybe worse. He needs Izzy."
