Keeping her grip tight around her stone pyramid, she gave herselfto the siren.
The world split in two.
Sylph cried out from the pain of feeling ripped in half. Stonemagic was eternal. Fiend magic felt mutable, a power meant for change. Bothfought her mind for supremacy, one reaching for the stone, the other toward thegreatest source of Fiend magic, the creature inside the prison.
And it reached back.
She gasped to find it intelligent, promising overwhelming power,daring her to imagine her control over stone extended to flesh. She couldremake herself and everyone around her however she chose. She could remake theworld.
But at what price? Enough of her mind was left to question it,but the answer was surprising. She needn’t take the power if she didn’t trustit. She could send it back where it belonged, into the captive Fiend. Thatwould end this crisis as definitively as anything else.
Sylph doubted that.
She could sense the presence of the rogue pyradisté as hescratched for the same power, but she was much stronger, and the siren wantedher. And oh, it was tempting. With this power, she could create stone-Fiendhybrids, creatures that could guard against this kind of coup ever happeningagain. Such creatures already existed, she realized, thinking of those she’dfelt in the mountains, chunks of crystal given humanoid form, given life, aperfect union of magics.
But she sensed an undercurrent to the power, the same malevolenceshe’d sensed in the mountains. The person who had created those creatures,those wild Fiends, hadn’t had the good of the world in mind. That was why theycarried destruction at their hearts.
No, better to keep away from this power, keep to her stone. Shetried to pull further away, taking the enemy pyradisté with her, much as hefought. When she sensed his concentration waver, she opened her eyes to seeIllis pull him from the ceiling.
The Fiend pyramid fell.
“No,” she cried, knowing that being broken wouldn’t stop thismagic.
It shattered, its power flowing out. The palace rumbled, and theprince roared, a deep bass growl that shouldn’t have come from a human throat.
Inside the prison, the great Fiend twitched.
Thana cried out. Sylph had to keep her safe, had to keep theprison intact, or the Fiend would kill them all when it burst into freedom. Shehad to fight, to concentrate.
To be closer to the stone.
With a last gasp of air, she gave herself to the magic and sankinto the floor.
Chapter Twenty-two
Sylph disappeared into the rock as if she’d fallen down awell. Thana cried out but was stuck holding her Fiend pyramid on Gunnar. Shehad to prevent him from manifesting his full Fiendish Aspect and tearingeveryone in the room apart.
But she ached to run to where Sylph had vanished. “Spirits, giveher back to me,” she whispered.
“What’s happening?” Dina yelled as the room continued to shudder,and bits of rock rained from the ceiling.
Nothing good. Thana focused on Gunnar. The sooner she dealt withhim, the sooner she could free Sylph. Her predecessor had told her she mighthave to force the Aspect down in one of the Umbriels if something happened totheir Fiend necklaces, but Gunnar’s was still intact.
It was probably the only reason he submitted to her at all,pitiful as she was at magic.
“No,” she said with a growl. She had practiced with this pyramid,sensing how the energy flowed so she’d know what to look for in case thishappened. No matter what circumstances had brought her here, she was going todo her cursed job so she could then dig her love out of the ground.
She closed her eyes. Quashing the Aspect was a contest of wills,and the will of a Fiend could be mighty. She imagined herself trying to pack acrate with a blanket just slightly too big for it or maybe trying to turn arusty handle. But this was her mind at work, not brute force. She couldoutthink a cursed Fiend. No, she wouldoutthink it.
She focused her will and shoved.
Her limbs trembled as if she’d taxed her muscles, and she gruntedagain. “Come on,” she said with a gasp. To her relief, the Aspect receded alittle. “Come on, you bastard.”
She pooled the efforts of her pyramid with his necklace andshoved with all her might. Gunnar bellowed, his Aspect resisting her.
“Come…on.” She had to get to Sylph. She had to…had to…
With a sigh, Gunnar collapsed. Thana stumbled, gasping for air.At her feet, Gunnar’s face was human again, with only two drops of blood wherehis horns had been.
The tremors in the ground stopped. Thana fought the urge to leanon her knees even as she reveled in her victory. If she could subdue a Fiend,she could rescue Sylph. She staggered forward.
“Is he all right?” Ivar asked as he checked Gunnar’s pulse.
“He’ll be fine,” Thana said, her throat as tight as if she’d beenshouting.
Illis dropped from the hole in the ceiling. The man he’d beenpulling at lay on the ground. “Looks like they were trying to climb to thecapstone,” Illis said. “They didn’t make it all the way.”
“Thank the spirits for that,” Thana mumbled as she kneeled nextto Dina, right above where Sylph had disappeared. The floor was solid. “Sylph?”She slapped on the stone, but could Sylph even hear her, sense her?
It depended on how deep she’d gone, both into the rock and intoher magic.
Thana fought the urge to despair. The room was littered withpickaxes. They could get to her. Digging would be more useful than weeping orbeating on the stone and demanding that Sylph be returned. This was a problemthat had a solution, and she would find it.
“Watch out,” Ivar called.
Thana turned in time to see the pyradisté who’d been pulled fromthe ceiling lurch upward and gouge Illis’s leg.
Dina lunged and stabbed the pyradisté, ending him, and Ivarsprang forward to support his brother.
Thana fought another urge to panic as she stood. “Get him up.Come on.”
“It’s all right,” Illis yelled over her. “I’m okay.”
Ivar kneeled at his side. “How deep is it?”
“Not very. Give me a
