Azraeth's POV
The bond goes silent.
One moment, I feel Mireya's terror through our connection. The next—nothing.
"No!" I roar, diving deeper into the dark water.
The underground river is freezing and fast. I can barely see through the murky darkness. My wings drag me down, useless in water.
Through the bond, I search desperately for any sign of her. A heartbeat. An emotion. Anything.
Nothing.
If she's dead, I'm dead. The curse will finish what the angels started. But that's not what terrifies me.
What terrifies me is losing her.
I push deeper, my lungs burning. My claws scrape against stone as the current slams me into a wall. Pain explodes through my shoulder but I don't care.
"Mireya!" I shout her name, knowing it's useless underwater.
Then—there. A flicker through the bond. Faint. Fading. But alive.
I swim toward it with everything I have. The current fights me but I'm stronger. Five hundred years of torture taught me to endure anything.
I see her. Sinking into the darkness, her eyes closed, her new wings pulling her down like anchors.
I grab her and kick toward the surface. My muscles scream. My lungs are on fire. But I don't let go.
We break through into air. I gasp, pulling her head above water. She's not breathing.
"No, no, no." I swim to the nearest bank—a narrow ledge of stone. I drag us both onto it and lay her flat.
Her lips are blue. Her chest isn't moving.
I press my hands to her chest and push. Once. Twice. "Breathe, damn you!"
Nothing.
Through the bond, I feel her life slipping away. The mark on my chest burns like it's being torn out.
"Don't you dare die on me!" I press my mouth to hers, breathing air into her lungs. Then more compressions. "Not like this. Not after everything!"
Still nothing.
Panic claws at me. I'm the Demon King. I've destroyed armies and burned kingdoms. But I can't save one human girl.
"Please," I whisper against her cold lips. "Please, Mireya. Come back."
I breathe into her again. Press on her chest. Again. Again.
Suddenly she coughs. Water spurts from her mouth. Her eyes fly open—those brown eyes now edged with silver.
She gasps, choking, alive.
Relief floods through me so intensely it hurts. Through the bond, I feel her confusion and fear as she struggles to breathe.
"Easy," I say, helping her sit up. "You're safe. Just breathe."
She coughs up more water, her whole body shaking. When she finally catches her breath, she looks at me with wide eyes.
"You saved me," she rasps.
"Of course I did." I touch her face without thinking. "We're bound. Where you go, I go."
Through the bond, I feel her emotions—gratitude, fear, and something warmer she won't name.
She looks around at the dark tunnel. We're in some kind of ancient waterway beneath the city. The stone walls are carved with symbols I haven't seen in centuries.
"Where are we?" she asks.
"Underground. The cathedral must have been built over old ruins." I stand, pulling her up with me. "We need to find a way out before—"
A scream echoes through the tunnels. A woman's scream.
Mireya's face goes white. "That's my mother!"
We run toward the sound, following the twisting tunnels. The screaming gets louder. More desperate.
We burst into a larger chamber and stop dead.
Helena is there, pinned against the wall by purple magic. Lilith stands in front of her, blood running from a cut on her forehead but very much alive.
And with Lilith are at least twenty witches. All wearing her coven's robes. All ready to fight.
"Took you long enough," Lilith says with a cruel smile. "I was starting to think you drowned."
"Let her go," Mireya says, her hands igniting with black flames.
"Or what?" Lilith laughs. "You'll fight all of us? You can barely stand."
She's right. Through the bond, I feel Mireya's exhaustion. She's running on fumes.
"This is your last chance," Lilith continues. "Come with me peacefully, and I'll let your mother live. Refuse, and I'll make her death very slow and very painful."
"Don't listen to her!" Helena shouts. "She'll kill us both anyway!"
Lilith waves her hand. Helena screams as purple lightning courses through her body.
"Stop!" Mireya lurches forward but I catch her.
"It's a trap," I warn through the bond.
"I don't care! That's my mother!"
Through the bond, I feel her decision forming. She's going to surrender. Trade herself for Helena's life.
I can't let that happen.
"Take me instead," I say suddenly.
Everyone turns to stare at me.
"What?" Mireya and Lilith say at the same time.
"You want a powerful prisoner to study and drain for magic, right?" I step forward. "I'm the Demon King. Five hundred years of imprisoned power. I'm worth more than one Dragon-Keeper girl."
Lilith's eyes gleam with interest. "Go on."
"I'll surrender to you. Willingly. Let you study my power, my curse, whatever you want." I don't look at Mireya. Can't look at her. "But you release both Helena and Mireya. You swear a magical oath never to hunt them again."
"No!" Mireya grabs my arm. "You can't—"
"It's the only way."
Through the bond, she feels my determination. And underneath it, my plan. I'm not really surrendering. I'm buying time. Getting them safe so Kael and Mordaine can find them.
But Mireya doesn't understand that. Through the bond, all she feels is my willingness to sacrifice myself.
"Interesting," Lilith says slowly. "The great Demon King, surrendering to save two humans. Love makes you weak, Azraeth. Just like it did five hundred years ago."
"Do we have a deal or not?"
Lilith studies me for a long moment. Then she smiles. "Deal. But with one condition."
"What condition?"
"The bonding ritual. Complete it. Right here, right now." Her smile widens at my shock. "I want to see what happens when a Demon King and the last Dragon-Keeper fully bond. That kind of power... I could harvest it for decades."
Ice runs through my veins.
The full bonding ritual. The one that would cure my curse and make Mireya unstoppable. But also the one that would bind us together so completely that Lilith could use us both as magical batteries.
Through the bond, Mireya understands. "If we complete the ritual in front of her, she'll drain us both."
"Yes," I reply through the bond. "But if we don't, your mother dies and the curse kills us in two weeks anyway."
No good choices. Only impossible ones.
"What's it going to be?" Lilith asks. "Complete the ritual and surrender, or watch Helena die?"
Before I can answer, the chamber floor starts to crack. Not from a spell. From something underneath.
Something big.
The cracks widen. Red light pours through.
"What is that?" one of the witches screams.
The floor explodes upward.
And rising from the broken stone, wreathed in red flames, is Kael. But he's not alone.
Behind him, crawling out of the hole, are demons. Dozens of them. All with red eyes and black claws and twisted horns.
"Hello, brother," Kael says with a wild grin. "Sorry I'm late. I brought friends."
He looks at Lilith. His smile turns deadly.
"Let's see how you fight against an army."