“But—”
Eterran gathered himself again. When he stood, the strings of power—of essence, of soul—that tied him to Ezra rippled, and Ezra shuddered, his breath rasping more violently. Eterran’s broad torso was streaked with wounds that mirrored his former host’s scars, and blood trickled down the demon’s reddish-brown skin.
“Stand, Ezra.”
I recoiled slightly. Eterran had spoken through Ezra more than once, but hearing his real voice sent terror cascading through me. Deeper than baritone, growling, bestial. Inhuman.
Ezra stared at the demon.
“We are dying,” Eterran snarled quietly. “I feel it. You feel it. We cannot exist like this. The bond cannot be broken while we both live.”
Ezra’s jaw tightened.
Crimson flared in the demon’s eyes. “Stand.”
As terror-laced confusion ricocheted through my head, Zak’s voice filled my ears, words he’d spoken when I’d first told him I wanted to save Ezra. Any form of demon contract is for life. They only ever end with a death.
They only ever end with a death.
With a death.
“No,” I gasped.
With a deep inhalation, Ezra climbed to his feet and straightened his spine. Wiping the blood off his chin, he faced the demon. Eterran’s wings unfurled, filling his half of the circle.
“We finally learned how to be allies,” Ezra said, quiet and hoarse. “Don’t you want to try to find another way?”
“There is no time. We are dying.”
“I don’t want it to end like this.”
The demon’s upper lip curled. “Want. A weak word for a weak male. Have you learned nothing?”
Ezra sucked in a sharp breath.
“If you want your life, take it from me,” Eterran snarled softly, “before I take mine from you.”
For a second, Ezra didn’t move—then he reached for the sheath on his thigh and drew the long knife Zak had lent him. In answer, Eterran curled his fingers, claws unsheathing. The faint streaks of power between them rippled.
The demon launched across the circle.
“No!”
My shout was still ringing through the room as Ezra thrust his knife out. With a boom, a gust of wind shoved the huge demon back before his claws could reach the aeromage’s fragile human skin.
The demon staggered, tail snapping. The crimson ribbons running from demon to mage shuddered, and they panted harshly.
“It feels …” Ezra gasped unsteadily. “It feels like it’s pulling my heart out.”
Eterran bared his teeth, revealing predatory canines. Crimson flashed up his arm and six-inch talons formed on his fingers, magically extending his claws into deadly weapons.
The demon lunged again. Wind burst from Ezra, and the demon’s talons raked across the dense barrier of air. As the wind blew outward, Ezra slashed with the knife.
Eterran twisted aside, and his tail slammed into Ezra’s legs. He fell. Eterran pounced, stabbing downward with his glowing talons, and Ezra rolled, kicking out. Another boom of wind.
The threads of magic linking them writhed, and Eterran’s talons flickered, half dissolving before they solidified.
Gulping air, Ezra rolled onto his hands and knees, the knife in his fist clattering against the floor. He shoved up, stumbling for balance as the soul link fluctuated wildly.
Eterran raised his arm, palm pointed at Ezra. Crimson spiraled out from his wrist—and the link between them blazed. Pained gasps rushed from both of them as Eterran’s attempted spell broke apart.
“Eterran,” Ezra panted. “We can’t do this. We can’t—”
“Nailēris!” the demon roared, the deep boom of his voice shocking me. “Do you only want life if it is easy? If it tears your soul to fight me, then tear your soul. While your heart is still beating, do not tell me you can’t fight.”
He raised his arm again. The demonic spell flared around his wrist, and the threads of their link burned again. This time, Eterran didn’t flinch. The spell solidified, the distorted runes igniting with power.
Shuddering with pain, Ezra cast his arm out in an arc, the dagger flashing.
A howling gale hit Eterran as his spell unleashed. The crimson power exploded, throwing demon and mage backward. They crashed into opposite ends of the barrier, the invisible dome shimmering on impact.
I hammered my fists against it. “Zak, do something! Break the circle! Help him!”
For a second, he didn’t move. Then he stooped, grabbed the dropped grimoire, and started flipping through it. Searching for the ritual—for the key to breaking the circle.
Wings stretched wide, Eterran clambered up. The soul link frizzled. Its glow had grown fainter, and I didn’t think that was a good thing.
“Stand,” he growled.
Ezra braced his elbows on the floor, shoulders heaving with each rapid breath.
“You are weak. You want life, but you do not need it.”
Ezra’s head came up, his teeth bared. He shoved to his feet, one hand pressed to his bloody side, the movement making the threads of power dance sickeningly. “I survived being a demon mage for ten years. I’m not going to die now.”
“Then fight.” The demon’s eyes burned. “Hold back nothing. Rip your soul out to kill me, so you can die with pride.”
Air whistled through Ezra’s clenched teeth. Eterran’s crimson talons reformed—and they charged each other.
They met in the circle’s center. Flashing crimson. Howling wind. Eterran drove into Ezra, slashing with his talons. A buffeting gust. A thrust of the knife. Talons grazed Ezra’s side. Ezra raked the knife across Eterran’s ribs, but the wound did nothing to slow the demon.
The soul link flashed and writhed, and demon and mage staggered and stumbled even as they fought. Battling through the link. Battling through the pain.
Battling desperately for survival.
Snarling, the demon smashed his forearm into Ezra so hard he slammed into the barrier directly in front of me. He slid down to the floor, legs sprawled in front of him.
“Ezra!” I shoved against the invisible wall, trembling from head to toe.
He pulled his legs in and pushed himself up, back pressed to the dome. Across the circle, Eterran raised his arm and magic flared out from his hand. A seething orb of demonic power blasted from his palm.
Ezra dove for the ground and the magic exploded against the barrier right in front of my face. Lunging up, Ezra charged. His knife slashed the air, and a
