Before the creature could consume him, a wave of fire and water crashed into its decayed form. Auron’s inferno and Vidor’sraging tide collided in a violent explosion of steam, the cavern shuddering with the force of their combined elements.
The Starved reeled back. Then Flame and Kingsolver were there, knocking it over before it rose again, tossing them off.
No, you were supposed to protect Blake and Edith!
You are the woman of prophecy, Rubi! The one I was waiting for. You come first!
Malissa’s eyes were wide, her knuckles white around the hilts of her knives. Auron was helping Lian up. Calla, still in her bear form, loomed. Everyone froze, only for a moment, before the demon turned.
Its twisted body creaked unnaturally as it shifted, then locked tiny eyes with me. I felt its gaze pierce through me like rot soaking into bone. It didn’t blink.
Then its neck jerked toward Blake’s body like it had detected blood.
He lay still, helpless.
I started to run back toward Blake. I felt the air shudder as the demon lunged, claws flashing, maw yawning wide.
Rubi, don’t!Flame begged.Your life is precious.
I can’t live if I let him die.
No—
Flame tried to call for me, but I couldn’t allow it to take Blake.
Sprinting, I threw myself over him. The demon’s jagged fangs sank into me.
Pain. A white-hot searing agony that shot through my veins like liquid lightning. My body convulsed as something pulled at me, something deeper than flesh. It hurt so sharply I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t even breathe.
I felt a sickening pull, as if my very essence were unraveling.
It was taking my soul.
My vision darkened at the edges, my heartbeat slowing under the unbearable drain.
Somewhere—far away, yet inside me—I heard a voice awaken.
“Rubi!” A desperate shout echoed through the cavern, Blake’s voice hoarse with panic. I barely grasped the words, but I knew he had woken up.
Was it because of our Pair bond? Were the final threads untethering?
“Yesss…” The Starved’s voice was a slithering, chittering nightmare, wrapping around my mind. It sounded like it was in ecstasy. “You are the Feast. The End of the Hunger.”
Then Calla was there. She roared and swung her war hammer. The impact struck the back of the demon’s skull, a crack splitting through the air as its grotesque form whipped forward, its maw twisting in a shriek of rage and shock.
It dropped me.
I hit the ground hard, gasping, the poison from its bite curling through my veins like a living thing.
The Starved reeled, its limbs spasming.
I gritted my teeth, fingers tightening around the thundervein ribbon wands, my magic thrumming at my fingertips.
I snapped my wrist, and the ribbons unraveled into a crackling whip of silk and steel as a note began to rise from my throat. It was high and pure, and the Starved seemed to shudder in response to its sound.
It lunged at me again, its jaws widening in an unhinged grin.
I struck, my song climbing higher, a melody swirling to life inside me even as the poison burned through my veins, slowing me.
