That seemed fitting.
As the great Fiend once more flexed against his prison, she keptup her chant, painting her mouth and throat in another coat of dust. But sheheld him, though some of his rumbles had broken through. She hoped Thana feltthe urgency, that she could do some—
A spark from above sought to pull her attention away. She triedto ignore it and focus on her task, but the Fiend quieted as if he had alsobeen distracted. Someone was using the capstone, the malevolent heart, ametaphor that became more apt when she knew its function. It had to be Thana,but more than just her. Sylph sensed the same energy that emanated from theFiend pyramids. But this magic held another note, too, not so much a herald ofdestruction but of distraction, like a lullaby used on an agitated child.
And it was working. The great Fiend’s shudders calmed. Sylph letout a sigh and relaxed a fraction. She focused her magic and sought to bringherself into the light, but before she could move, the great Fiend flexed hispower, focusing on her in an instant, reaching for her pyramid from a distanceas she’d seen no other pyradisté do but her.
Making them kindred?
No, that was another distraction, maybe from the Fiend, maybeherself, difficult to tell anymore. The sluggish power of the Fiend groped forher pyramid, drawn to her the more she used it, but she couldn’t let it go. Hewould be out of the prison in a moment.
She fell in deeper. She was stone, ancient, unbending, no matterhow time battered her. The essence of the Fiend was change, so she would beeternal. Even if all life upon the sphere should die, she would remain.
Her body ceased to matter as she sagged in her stone pocket andgave all her will to the earth.
* * *
Something was wrong, and Thana scrambled to find out what. It hadbeen going well. Yanchasa had been quieting, the rumbling around them dying.Then she’d felt a burst of power, not against the capstone, but directedsomewhere else, somewhere close. And there were only two other pyradistés inthe vicinity.
She opened her eyes and looked to Calla, who was glaring from offto the side. But for once, she wasn’t directing her ire at Thana. Holding adetection pyramid, she stared at the ground.
“What is it?” Thana said, fighting to keep her focus on the taskat hand. Earnhilt, Gunnar, and Dina had their hands on three sides of thecapstone. Their eyes had all bled to solid colors, and while Gunnar’s hornssprouted from his forehead, Earnhilt’s came from her temples and curved backalong the sides of her head. She also sported four crow’s wings that hadshredded the back of her tunic when they’d burst forth. Dina had two wings andno horns, but a spike jutted from her chin. All three snarled, revealingmonstrously sharp teeth.
Duke Felix leaned away from them as far as his shackles wouldallow, his expression horrified. But he didn’t beg to be set free.
“It’s that cursed stone pyramid,” Calla said. “Your girlfriendand the Fiend are fighting for it.”
Thana’s stomach shrank as she imagined massive claws reaching forSylph, but Calla had to mean grappling in a metaphysical sense, power to power,but how was that better? Fiends were said to be made of magic. Surely, theywould know how to use it better than any pyradisté, no matter how mindless theymight otherwise be.
But Thana also remembered how Sylph had merged with the rock inthe cavern, their own stone lady, and how terrifying the idea had been that shemight not come back.
“Right.” She fell deeper into the capstone through the Fiendpyramid that shielded her from Yanchasa’s influence. She called to him, maskingherself behind the Fiendish Aspects of the royals. It was all right. They wereall Fiends here, and Yanchasa could go back to sleep among his kin.
But she caught a blip of power from Sylph’s stone pyramid, andlulling Yanchasa felt like trying to put a child to bed while someone nearbywas blowing a whistle. The Fiend wouldn’t turn its attention to her while Sylphwas using the stone pyramid, but if Calla was right and Sylph stopped using it,Yanchasa could grab hold and tear the whole palace down.
Maybe the world.
“No, look over here, you great bastard,” Thana said, pullingharder at the Aspects of those around her, making them growl. Maybe if shecreated the sense that they were imperiled, that would spark some sort offeeling, and Yanchasa would focus on them again. Though whether to comfort orkill, she didn’t know. But once that happened, she could switch back to puttinghim to sleep.
A flicker of attention came her way, then he turned for the stonepyramid again.
“Spirits curse it!” Thana staggered back from the pyramid, wipingat the sweat on her face. The Umbriels and Dina shifted and snorted, but theycouldn’t take action while held by the manacles.
“I need four of them,” Thana said quietly.
Duke Felix swallowed and grimaced as if the action was as painfulas it looked. “I’m ready.”
But she didn’t know how to give him a Fiend right now, notwithout the physical joining, and how could they do that? Any of the otherswould be more likely to eat him than mate with him.
Just as Yanchasa might kill them all, kill Sylph at any moment.
“There has to be a way,” Thana muttered. She’d brought Duke Felixfor a reason, a plan that wasn’t impossible, something lurking in hersubconscious that the rest of her hadn’t yet realized.
“What are you doing?” Calla asked.
“Thinking.” She ran through her knowledge, but nothing came.“Spirits curse it.” She’d always known this would happen, that it would comedown to her, and she wouldn’t be up to the task. “Why did he even pick me? I’mnot strong enough to—”
“Hey,” Calla shouted as she gripped a fistful of Thana’s shirt.“Get a fucking grip, or I’ll take over and steal your job and your girlfriend.That what you want?”
Thana blinked, knocked off kilter by the strong swear and
