His whole body trembled with the strain. The oath wanted him to move, to step forward, to shove Aurora toward Viscious and be done with it. He squeezed his fists, nails digging into his palms, fighting to keep his feet planted.

  Viscious finished his monologue with a flourish, spreading his arms wide. “You can’t stop me. You never could. All you can do is watch as your world burns and know you were the one who handed me the match.”

  The golden cord pulsed, light flaring brighter, the chanting rising. Ra’s ears rang, sweat prickling down his spine. He shot a look at Shelly—her eyes locked on his, her jaw set, her whole body thrumming with focus and love and terror. He felt her will wrap around him, bracing him.

  “Almost. Almost.”

  Time slowed, every heartbeat a lifetime. The ritual crescendoed—a blinding flare of light that set the stones aglow, the air crackling so hard Ra thought his skin would split. Shelly’s voice lanced through the chaos, a single word that cut through the blood oath like a blade:

  “Now.”

  Ra’s body moved. He took a step away from Aurora, everything inside him screaming. His throat closed around a sob, his eyes stinging. He wanted to run, to fight, to do anything but this. But he had made a promise, and the universe demanded its due.

  Aurora turned, her eyes searching his. She saw everything—his horror, his regret, his love, and his terror. For a breathless moment, the world fell away, and it was just them, two souls bound by blood and fate and choices that could not be unmade.

  Tears spilled down Ra’s cheeks, hot and silent. His lips trembled as he forced out the words he’d never wanted to say. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—Aurora, I⁠—”

  She stepped close, tipping her chin up, her gaze soft and unflinching. “Whatever it is, Ra, it’s okay. I can feel the goodness flowing out of you just like I can the rest of them.” She motioned around the circle. “I know your heart. I don’t blame you. Not for this. Not for anything.”

  Her hand brushed his, warm and steady, and he clung to her touch like a drowning man as she added, “You’re my family. No matter what happens, no matter where we end up. You hear me?”

  He nodded the tears blurring his vision. As he looked at the dark fire king. “I’m giving her to you, Viscious. Take her.”

  The golden light swirled around them, Viscious shouted in triumph, thinking victory was at hand.

  But Ra’s heart broke and mended all at once, Aurora’s forgiveness a balm and a blade. He stepped aside, heading for his Shelly, his soul screaming in silent agony.

  All around them, the world held its breath, the storm gathering for the final reckoning.

  Osiris braced himself, every muscle strung tight as Ra’s voice cracked through the circle. “I’m giving her to you, Viscious. Take her.”

  The words soured the air, and Viscious’s smile twitched wider as he reached for Aurora, savoring his victory. “You see, this is what you get when you try to be the hero, Ra. You lose, and I get the girl.”

  But then a shout split the tension, wild and furious like the storm that rolled in the dark sky above them. “Like hell you do!” Rory’s voice, raw with defiance, cut through the circle. She broke from the line, golden magic sparking at her heels. The circle’s light snapped, the wards groaning as the ancient protection fractured.

  “Rory, what are you doing?” Gabby yelled, voice pitched high with panic and irritation. “We had a plan! You’re blowing the whole plan! She’s totally blowing the plan.”

  “We heard you the first time,” Tara called back, though sounding less panicked than Gabby. Perhaps because it was too late. Rory was already in motion.

  Aston’s curse was lost in the chaos as he just barely missed her hand, but Rory was fast and determined to get to her sister. In seconds she was there, wrapping Aurora in a fierce embrace. “Hold on, Rora,” Osiris heard her say. Her head whipped up when Viscious snarled and took a step towards where she had her body blocking her sister’s. Rory’s voice rang out as she stepped further out of reach of the dark fire king, “Sepheron, now!”

  The portal opened with a roar—heat, fire, and the scent of dragon magic—Sepheron bursting through in a storm of scales and fury.

  “You do have a flair for timing, Rory,” the dragon king rumbled as he scooped up Rory and Aurora in a massive claw, wings beating, fire licking at the edges of the portal as he disappeared with them.

  Viscious’s roar of rage was magnified by the fire that licked up and down his arms as his power reacted to his emotions. “You fool!” His eyes turned on Ra as they blazed red with fury. “Are you really willing to damn your soul so that you don’t have to live with a little guilt?”

  “I am no fool,” Ra said, his voice deep with conviction. “I am exactly who I was created to be, and I am doing exactly what I was created to do.”

  Osiris forced his focus, channeling white-hot power alongside Kimba to hold Viscious in place. But the broken circle was bleeding magic, and the air thickened with shadow as suddenly the other dark royal elementals surged forward, portals yawning wide as demons poured in, joining them. The battlefield fractured, the soul-bonded pairs shifted from holding the line to fighting back-to-back as the boundary between survival and surrender blurred.

  “Left, Bri!” Rush called, ducking a demon swipe.

  Brianna spun, her palms held out as they began to pulse with energy. “I see it! Try not to get yourself eaten!”

  Lark and Riggs were already a whirlwind—their air magic weaving between blows.

  Lark’s voice was low, “Riggs, remind me again why we don’t do quiet evenings?”

  Riggs didn’t look away from the demon he was spinning round and round like a tornado. “Quiet is overrated. Besides, you’d miss the drama.”

  Gabby’s fire blade whipped through the air as she parried the claws of a demon. “Can we save the commentary for after the demon apocalypse?”

  Liam grunted, elbowing a fiend before using his power to pull a torrential downpour straight onto its form. “Just trying to keep things lively.”

  Osiris planted his feet, power pooling at his core, as Viscious tried to force his way through the shield. Shadows wrapped in flames curled around his form—alive, hungry.

  “You’re slipping, Osiris,” Viscious hissed. “You’re still one of us. You can’t outrun what you are.”

  Osiris’s answer was a pulse of light, the memory of every choice he’d made burning in his chest. “Maybe not. But I can choose who I stand with now.”

  A sudden rush of wind swept across the battlefield—a crisp, cleansing force cutting through the shadows. Nasima, queen of air, stepped from invisibility, her mate Beval at her side, their forms gleaming with silver light. The air around them hissed, the clouds above swirling tighter.

  “We will not let darkness claim this realm,” Nasima said, her voice both gentle and unyielding. She raised a hand, wind slamming into a cluster of demons, tossing them like debris.

  Kairi and Ecthelion emerged next, water swirling at their feet as they appeared to walk on a river that rolled out beneath them, their eyes luminous and calm.

  “The tide turns, Viscious. You will not burn this world in your flames,” Kairi said, sending a wave crashing through three advancing fiends. “You will not take a child that does not belong to you and attempt to corrupt something so pure.”

  Aviur and Agni, the light fire’s king and queen, strode into view, flame wreathing their forms, their presence a promise of retribution.

  Agni’s lips curled in a quiet, dangerous smile. “You’ve burned freely too long in this world, Viscious. It’s time your flames be kept in check.”

  Aviur’s voice rumbled, low and hot as magma, “Step back, or burn with him.”

  Dhara and Beaumont, earth’s ancient royals, rose from the ground itself, stone and root swirling around them.

  Dhara eyed Viscious with the patience of an old mountain. “You forget, darkness always finds its end in the earth where it returns to ash.”

  Beaumont placed a steadying hand on her shoulder, his power radiating out. “Let’s finish this.”

  Viscious stumbled back, his eyes darting to the encroaching circle of light. “You can’t hold me forever—not even all of you together⁠—”

  “We need to create a seam in the realms, a prison for him,” Kimba told Osiris. “Stonehenge would have allowed that to happen easily. But now, it’s going to take everything we have.”

  Osiris’s voice was steel as he responded to Viscious. “We only need long enough.”

  The elementals moved as one, their magic converging, meeting the soul-bonded pairs’ power in a blinding surge. The demons wailed, darkness buckling. Osiris reached out to the minds of the other royal elementals, following the path through Kimba’s, hoping they’d have enough power to do what his mate instructed.

  Rory staggered as Sepheron released them onto the ground. The dragon realm’s air hit her—cold, and thrumming with ancient, wild magic. She still had Aurora clutched tight, both of them breathing hard. High above, Sepheron circled, his scales burning with gold and crimson. The sky was lit with a bold, bright moon, and snow fell in huge flakes. The earth beneath her feet vibrated with an energy that was both familiar and intimidating.

  Aurora pulled back, eyes wide with confusion and a dawning sense of something deeper. “Rory? What—what just happened? Where are we? Where is Fern? Are all those people going to be okay? What about Ra? Is Ra going to live?” Her eyes moved as fast as her mouth as she looked around, taking in the impossible landscape, her gaze darting from the iridescent trees to the sprawling dragon nests carved into the cliffs.

  Rory sucked in a steadying breath, heart still hammering. “It’s a lot, I know. I’m sure Fern–I’m assuming that was the kind-looking lady who came through the portal with you–is safe and sound. As for everyone else, I have no clue and I don’t sugar coat shit, I mean crap. They may be dying as we speak, which means I need to get back to them. You’re safe—for now. I, uh—” Her voice caught, and she forced herself to meet her sister’s gaze. “Aurora, there’s a lot you don’t remember because, well, you were a baby, and not that I’m an expert but I don’t think babies have very much memory storage. I’m your sister. We were torn apart by magic and by the people who wanted to use us. It’s a long story, and I promise I will fill you in on all the details. And I promise we will never be separated again.”

  Aurora’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to process. “You’re . . . my sister?” Her voice was small. “I feel it. Something pulling me to you. I do. But everything’s so jumbled . . . with Penny, Cordelia and Ra, then Viscious and Lucifer in my dreams. I’m⁠—”

  “Whoa,” Rory cut her off. “Lucifer has been in your dreams?” She knew they didn’t have time to open that rotten bag of maggots because Aston was fighting without her. “We will circle back around to that just as soon as we can return to our regular, scheduled programming.”

  Aurora chuckled through her tears. “You’re weird.”

  Rory smiled. “I hear that a lot. I take it as a compliment.” She reached out, brushing a strand of hair from Aurora’s face, letting her hand linger. “We’re blood, Rora. I love you. And I’m sorry for every second you didn’t know you had family. But right now, the only thing that matters is that you’re safe. The dragon king—Sepheron,” she pointed up to the massive beast, “—he’ll guard you here. No one can get past him. Not even Viscious.”

  Sepheron landed with a thunderous rush of air, his massive head lowering to their level. “Rory, you have a gift for saying a lot of words at the wrong time. Your mate and friends are fighting for their lives because you shattered the circle.” His eyes glowed, ancient and wise, but not unkind. “They need you. Aurora will be just fine while you go do what you do. Talk your enemy to death. It will work.”

  “Ha, ha,” she said dryly. “You’re a riot. But you are right. I broke the circle. I saw that vile, flame-throwing asswipe, I mean jerk, reaching for her, and I lost it.” Rory shook her head, clearing her mind of the moment when she had been terrified that their plan wouldn’t work. She’d kick her own ass later. Or Gabby would. “I need to go.” Her chest tightened. “I just—I had to make sure she was safe.”

  Sepheron’s gaze softened, then turned steely. “I will guard her as my own. But you must go. Now.”

  Before Rory could protest, Sepheron flicked a claw and a new portal bloomed open, swirling with light and storm. “Go, little fire. I’ll keep your sister from harm. That’s a dragon promise. And don’t let Kimba eat any dark royals, please.”

  “Umm, okay. Weird request, but I’m on it.” Rory squeezed Aurora’s hand one last time. “Trust him. Trust me. I’ll come back.”

  With a last, fierce look, she jumped through the portal and straight into hell.

  Rory erupted, landing hard on stone slick with rain and demon ichor. The battle was a cacophony—screams, roars, the crash of magic and steel. She barely had time to shake the dragon realm from her bones before she was moving, scanning for Kimba.

  “We need to get in the air and end this,” Rory told her dragon bonded.

  “Oh, now you want to end it?” Kimba said, her voice thick with irritation, but also a hint of relief. “Well, get your skinny ass over her and let’s go.”

  Gabby spotted her first, halfway through hacking at a demon’s arm. “Nice of you to drop in, Ror! You staying for a while, or just passing through?”

  Rory flashed her a grin, adrenaline already burning through her veins. “Admit it, you like this a hell of a lot more than a chanting circle with no bloodshed.”

  “I will admit no such thing,” Gabby said with a small smirk on her face, as she wrapped her hands around a demon and let her fire burn it to cinders.

  Rory sprinted for Kimba, who was already shifting—bones snapping, scales unfurling in a shine of iridescent beauty. Rory didn’t hesitate. She vaulted up Kimba’s wing, grabbing hold of a ridge as Kimba launched skyward, wind and fire swirling around them.

  “Osiris!” Rory bellowed as they banked hard. “New plan. Clear a path!”

  Rory clung to the ridge between Kimba’s scales, knees pressed tight to the dragon’s back as they banked high over the chaos. The wind was a living thing, tearing at her hair and stinging her eyes, whipping the taste of ozone and burnt magic into her mouth. Below, the battlefield was a writhing mass of light and shadow—Osiris and the royal elementals holding Viscious in a cage of power, while the soul-bonded couples moved like a living defense, blades and magic flashing as they fought back demon after demon.

  Kimba’s wings stretched wide, each beat a thunderclap. Even through their bond, Rory could feel her dragon’s irritation and barely-leashed excitement.

  From the ground, Osiris’s power surged, bright and blinding, the light carving a swath through the demons that crowded Viscious. The dark king snarled, struggling against the elemental onslaught.

  “Would you like to share this new plan with me?” Kimba’s voice rumbled in her mind, sharp with sarcasm. “Since I’m the huge dragon and you’re the tiny former witch with an attitude problem stronger than her ability to follow orders?”

  “Wow.” Rory grinned, adrenaline singing through every muscle “Somebody is a little bitter over the lack of order-following. Do we need dragon bonded counseling?”

  A flash of humor—laced with exasperation—sparked down their connection. “The plan, little witch,” Kimba insisted, her massive body coiling in the air as they climbed higher.

  “Oh, right.” Rory nodded. “You’re going to eat the dark fire king.”

  Kimba’s wings faltered for just a beat, then she huffed, smoke curling from her nostrils. “What if I’m not hungry?”

  “You are, I can practically hear your stomach growling,” Rory shot back, her voice tight with laughter and nerves. “Chomp, chomp, Kimba. I got a sister to get to know.”

  Kimba’s answering growl vibrated through Rory’s bones. “You don’t know what you’re asking, little witch.”

  “Maybe not,” Rory agreed, hearing the dread in Kimba’s voice. “But I do know dead Viscious is better than alive Viscious.”

  “Mother Gaia forgive me,” Kimba’s voice rumbled.

  Rory barely had time to brace before Kimba tucked her wings, and they dove.

  The sensation was immediate and all-consuming—her stomach launching into her throat, the world spinning into a haze of wind and elemental magic. Smoke and shadow rushed past her, the battlefield a distant storm of color and movement. The air turned razor-sharp, snapping at her skin and tearing tears from her eyes. Her hands ached with the effort of clinging to Kimba’s scales, each ridge slick with rain and demon blood. The roar of wind drowned out everything but the thunder of Kimba’s heart beneath her, steady and wild.

  The ground hurtled toward them—Viscious’s form clear now, caught in a lattice of royal elemental power. Nasima’s wind tore at his shadows, Kairi’s water hissed and steamed against his fire, Aviur and Agni’s flames seared him from within, and Dhara’s earth shackled his feet. Osiris stood at the center, a beacon of blinding white, his gaze locked on Rory, trust and desperation written clear across his face.

  All around, demons scattered, driven back by the soul-bonded elementals’ assault and the terror of a dragon descending from the heavens.

  Rory’s heart pounded, every beat echoing the words in her mind: This is it. This is what it means to protect your own. To break every rule, damn the cost, and take the fight to the darkness with everything you have.

  “Let’s end this!” she shouted, her voice ragged and fierce.

  Kimba roared—a sound that split the sky and shook the stones below. It was a sound older than language, older than fear. The demons fled. Viscious turned at the last instant, his eyes widening as he finally understood what was coming.

  Rory felt the rush of heat as Kimba’s jaws opened wide, fire igniting along her teeth. She saw the flicker of panic on Viscious’s face, the way his shadows shrank from the oncoming inferno. There was no time for regret, no space for mercy.