Emilian managed to cut me, leaving a deep gash across my abdomen. I sucked in a breath, keeping my focus on his movements. I didn’t have a Mara’s healing abilities, but I couldn’t afford a single moment’s worth of hesitation—it could get me killed.

Instead, I took the sharp pain and used it to fuel my anger at seeing him still standing. I retaliated with multiple heavy blows, one after another, until I managed to knock one of the knives from his hands. It didn’t take him long to grab a sword from the many left on the floor by their dead owners, but it was a sign that I was starting to get to him.

I just hoped my stamina would outlast his.

Rover hurled into the room and attacked one of the last daemons standing. The armored fiend was pinned down, struggling to reach for his knife. Rover snapped his fangs at him, eager to rip his throat out. The daemon stabbed the pit wolf repeatedly in the side. My stomach churned as I could almost feel the pain he’d inflicted on the creature, as it whimpered and collapsed. The daemon crawled out from under Rover and managed to get back up on his feet.

He froze at the sight of Hundurr in the wide doorway, his red eyes flaring with rage. The pit wolf was too big for the already-crowded living room, but I couldn’t get him out, either. The daemon had committed the unpardonable sin of killing one of our own. It hurt me deeply, but I couldn’t even take a second to mourn, as Emilian came after me again.

“Give up, Hansa!” he snarled. “You’ll never win! There are too many of us!”

I’d heard Scarlett’s brief update regarding the tower. Holding on to the hope that Harper was going to get Lumi out and bring the shield down, I grinned.

“Not sure you knew, but your little plan to attack our people on one of Neraka’s moons has been thwarted,” I retorted. “The shield will be coming down any minute now, and you will all feel the rage of GASP and Eritopia combined. You will all pay for your crimes!”

I didn’t give him a chance to respond, just darted forward and brought my sword down once more, then followed up with a frontal kick. I knocked the air out of his lungs, but I still couldn’t get close enough to finish him off. I had no choice but to keep fighting, until I wore him out properly.

I caught a glimpse of Hundurr tearing the last daemon to literal pieces. Blood sprayed all over the room, dousing us in crimson. The rest of our crew were remarkable in their fights and perseverance. That surge of pride animated me further, giving me the energy I needed to withstand Emilian’s attacks. Whether I was going to live through this or not no longer mattered. What did matter was securing the freedom of my group and the Nerakian people. But if I was going to go down in this war, I sure as hell planned to take Emilian down with me.

Emilian dodged one of my hits, then took several steps back, breathing heavily. He was stalling. I was about to move in for another attack, when I heard Rowan’s voice again.

“I should’ve killed you when your mother plopped you out!” she growled, then ran across the room and engaged Arrah in combat.

The Iman girl was fast and agile, but Rowan was better. She slipped to Arrah’s right and drove her short sword through her chest.

“No!” Scarlett screamed, unable to go help her, as she was busy fighting off another Correction Officer.

My stomach churned as I watched the tragedy unfold, almost in slow motion. Arrah stilled, blood spreading out from her wound. Rowan pulled her sword back, grinning. She watched as Arrah dropped to her knees, then fell backward, giving her last breath.

Scarlett whimpered as she cut off the Correction Officer’s head and went straight for Rowan.

Jax was still struggling with Farrah. And Emilian didn’t look ready to engage me again.

I still had a shot to bring him down, sooner rather than later.

Just as I took the first step forward, Patrik’s voice rose above the others.

“Everybody, step away from the front wall!” he shouted.

His hands lit up blue as he sent out a pulse that shattered the walls. I glanced down at his feet, where he’d drawn a slew of swamp witch symbols in blood to perform that spell. The mansion split open, and the fight spilled outside.

It gave us some much-needed room, as Scarlett and the others pushed the hostiles out. Hundurr howled, then proceeded to tear into some of the Correction Officers that had surrounded Idris and Rayna. He jumped over several bodies and snapped his jaws over a Mara’s head, dragging him outside.

I spotted another CO sneaking up on Caia.

“Caia! Behind you!” I shouted.

I didn’t get to see whether she got him before he got her, as Emilian charged at me, roaring with rage. I dodged his knife and sword but missed the lateral kick. His leg hit my side, cracking several ribs. I grunted and fell, landing on my shoulder.

“Tell you what.” Emilian chuckled. “I shouldn’t be the one to kill you. I’ll let one of these weaklings you’re so desperate to protect finish you off,” he added, then snapped his fingers.

Two of the Imen who had hidden beneath a nearby table came out, instantly and fully mind-bent. Peyton had missed them in his endeavor to override the Lords’ hypnotic powers. They picked up the swords of fallen COs and headed straight for me.

I was losing blood from my abdomen wound, and my ribs hurt too much for me to move straight away. I had to think fast. Emilian watched the Imen he’d mind-bent come toward me. The smirk on his face made my blood boil.

Only then did I notice I’d fallen next to Garros’s body. Whomever in our group had done it, I owed them a big “Thank you!”. We’d all been busy fighting, making it impossible for any of us to keep track of the bodies dropping, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he was dead, too.

I briefly scanned his belt and found a small leather pouch. I reached out, struggling to ignore the burning pain spreading through my torso, and retrieved the pouch. The Imen reached me and raised their swords, their expressions blank. I managed to open the small bag and found yellow dust inside.

I scooped out a handful and blew it at them. They both stilled and wheezed as they inhaled the yellow cloud. Their eyes rolled into their heads. They fell backward, their swords clanging as they landed on the floor.

Emilian cursed under his breath and rushed to kill me himself, but I managed to scoop out some more of the yellow powder and blew it at him. He yelped as he came to a grinding halt, then took several steps back. He didn’t inhale enough to knock him out, but I could tell from the way he started shaking his head that he was having some trouble.

“This is it,” I muttered to myself.

I pushed myself up, crying out from the pain, but managed to stand, once again.

Retrieving my broadsword from the floor, I raised it before me, seeing my reflection in its blade.

“You’ve served me well,” I whispered. I sometimes felt like my weapon had a heart of its own in some ways, enduring and gracious, deadly and purifying, like a dragon’s fire. “Serve me once more.”

Drawing from the energy I’d felt when I killed Goren back on Calliope, I took deep, albeit painful breaths, and went for Emilian’s head. He was blinking rapidly, trying to counteract the dazing effects of the powder. He managed to block several hits, but I roared and slashed even harder.

First, he lost his sword.

Then he lost his left arm. He screamed as blood spurted out in thick jets from his elbow.

I swung my bejeweled sword as if it were an extension of my very soul, and—swish.

Emilian’s head came clean off his shoulders.

Rowan and Farrah both howled, temporarily distraught, giving both Jax and Scarlett the windows they needed to gain the advantage.

I stood there, with Emilian’s body at my feet, watching as Scarlett cut through Rowan’s defenses. The young vampire was ruthless and incredibly fast. She flashed around Rowan, delivering a flurry of cuts all over the Mara Lady’s face and body. Rowan cried out in pain, overwhelmed by the increasing speed and depth of Scarlett’s attacks.

She dropped to her knees. The trouble with Maras’ healing abilities was that they needed a breather here and there for the body to get to work and start closing up the wounds. What Scarlett had done was overload Rowan’s natural system, repeatedly cutting into her so many times that the Mara’s mental state was dismantled.

Scarlett stopped in front of Rowan and put the tip of her sword against her throat.

“You have two choices here,” Scarlett declared. “You live, or you die. I’m fine with either.”

A couple of seconds passed as Rowan considered her options, then lowered her head in simmering shame. I had a feeling she’d try something stupid, but Scarlett would have none of it. Whatever came next, Rowan was royally screwed.

Farrah had some fight still left in her. Jax leaned backward to avoid her blade, then came back with both swords in an ample, downward move. He put all his strength in that blow, and it showed. One of the blades cut halfway through her forearm.

She cried out and moved back, keeping her distance as Jax slowly circled in, ready to deliver another hit.

“Give up, Farrah,” Jax said.

Around us, the fight was gradually thinning. Our crew was taking the Correction Officers down, one by one. Arrah lay on the ground, pale and lifeless, just ten feet away from Rowan and Scarlett.

Farrah, however, wasn’t ready to call it quits just yet. She grinned, then produced a small whistle from a secret dress pocket. She blew it; a faint hiss came out. The sound was released at a different frequency that only the Maras seemed to react to, as Jax cringed, visibly uncomfortable.

Within seconds, more Correction Officers emerged from the other Lords’ mansions.

I counted fifty of them as they gathered around us with their weapons drawn.

“I’ve always had my little faction ready, scattered across the Houses, ready to serve me when the time was right,” Farrah replied.

Rowan gave her a confused sideways glance, which prompted Farrah to scoff, no longer hiding her contempt.

“You’ve been planning to overthrow the Lords, haven’t you?” Jax asked, slightly amused.

Farrah shrugged. “A Lady must look after herself. It was only going to be a matter of time before I’d have to take matters into my own hands, or before we all got ourselves killed by the daemons. Had you fools not intervened, I would’ve had my COs come in and stop that circus.”

“You bitch,” Rowan muttered, a muscle ticking in her jaw.

“No hard feelings, darling,” Farrah retorted. “I wasn’t going to kill you or the others. But with all your bickering, I knew I’d have to be the level-headed one and take over before you all lost it!” she added. “Darius was a greedy bastard. Emilian’s conceit… Well, see for yourself,” she said, pointing at his corpse. “You were too busy coddling Vincent, the city’s most obnoxious coward! And don’t even get me started on Caspian. He was the worst of you all!”

“So, what, you thought you’d just overthrow the Lordships and rule over Azure Heights, all by yourself?” I interjected, moving closer to Jax as my gaze wandered around us.

The Correction Officers were ready to fight, but I was more interested in seeing what was going on behind them—specifically, on the lower levels. I got closer to Jax and the edge of the seventh level platform, then craned my neck, and smiled before shifting my focus back to Farrah.

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Obviously,” she replied. “This city needs a level-headed ruler. But first, I need to wipe you idiots off the face of this planet.”

I chuckled. “Your efforts and acolytes will be wasted,” I shot back. “Our allies are making their way up here. You’re done for.”

We could hear the swords clashing. The screams. The roars and the cries for help.

The temperature started to drop, as well. The Dhaxanians were getting closer.

But then I registered another sound, one that sent shivers down my spine. I’d heard it before, during the war against Azazel and, most recently, on Ragnar Peak.

Farrah looked to her left, then burst into hysterical laughter. It wasn’t a symptom of joy, but rather one of madness, a maniacal cackle of the overly ambitious fiend who had gotten a glimpse of her own demise.

I followed her gaze and felt my muscles stiffen at once.

“We’re all screwed, darling,” Farrah murmured, suddenly and eerily calm.

“Daemons,” I croaked.

Thousands of them, coming in dark, square patches across the two-mile fields between the Valley of Screams and the mountain. Those were drums of war I was hearing. Above them, dark clouds of Death Claws swarmed, flying toward the mountain base.

Our allies had breached the city, but, soon enough, the daemon armies were going to hit them hard from the back. Our only hope was with Lumi.

“It doesn’t matter,” Farrah then said. “I’ll kill you all before they get here.”

I felt my lips stretch into a grin. After Emilian, despite the blaring pain in my side, I looked forward to taking Farrah down, as well. Jax and I briefly glanced at each other—a silent moment, a mutual, unspoken agreement. We both raised our blades once again and looked at Farrah.

This is it.

Just a little while longer.