I hurried through the empty hallways. Tripping over the long hems of Sanguine’s trousers, my disguise became a stumbling block. After I’d dispatched him in a screaming vortex of flame, the bed was an inferno. I’d raced into the dressing area and thrown on some of his clothes. They would at least give me a chance at sneaking into the great hall without attracting too much attention. I could do nothing for the fire and only hoped it wouldn’t rage beyond Sanguine’s room. But I didn’t have the time or inclination to worry about it.

Desmerada’s voice was in the air, and I followed the sound. I slowed my pace when I saw a crowd of vampires, both nobles and soldiers, hovering outside the massive doors to what must have been the great hall. They paid me no attention as I skirted them and darted inside. It was packed, thousands of vampires in standing room only. Some had climbed atop various banquet tables scattered around the room to see the spectacle.

At the center, atop a gilded platform, Paris stood in his cage. His back was to me as he faced Desmerada. She raised her glass in a toast, and the vampires around me echoed the words in response. I dove in, wending my way closer and closer to Paris. None of them seemed to care. They couldn’t rip their gazes away from Desmerada’s prize.

The hour was up. Faren was late.

Desmerada mounted the platform. I continued toward Paris and the queen, the vampires ever thicker the closer I got to the center of the room. Now I had to fight, pushing and elbowing my way along.

The guards forced Paris to kneel as Desmerada drew her sword. She raised it above her head for the killing blow. It was now or never. I jumped atop the nearest table to get a clearer view.

Desmerada swung the sword. I hurled a firebolt, the scorching ray burning through the air. It struck the queen square in the chest and hurled her backward before she could finish her stroke. The sword clanged to the ground as the crowd surged up around me. A multitude of hands pulled me down from my perch. I summoned two storms of fire and incinerated dozens of vampires in my radius. The ones outside my hex backed away, and the remaining vampires panicked and ran. I ignored them and turned back to Paris.

The guards had him on his feet and held fast. Desmerada, her chest and face blackened, pressed her silver blade to his throat, burning him.

When she saw my face, her eyes grew wide. “Helen!” she screeched.

Déjà vu swirled inside me. Desmerada knew me. How? A fragment of a memory flashed through my mind—Desmerada sitting next to a cauldron of Hades fire. Then it was gone.

Desmerada bared her fangs. “One step closer and I will end him. I swear it.”

The nobles had cleared out, but the soldiers advanced on me, staying just outside my blast radius.

“Elena, run.” Paris ignored the burn of the blade and bored into me with his gaze.

Desmerada sawed the blade back and forth, cutting into the first layers of flesh. Paris grunted but did not cry out as blood poured from the wound.

Desmerada stilled her movement. “She’s not going anywhere. Menelaus would give me anything for her.”

I maintained the fiery maelstrom swirling around me, keeping the soldiers at bay. Several of them launched a volley of arrows. The flames ashed each one before it could find its mark.

“Don’t kill her, you idiots. Take her!” Desmerada cried.

The soldiers hesitated at the edge of the destructive magic.

“I will burn through them all,” Elena said. “And then I will burn you.” The air roiled and surged with flames. I let the full force of my power flow out, the flames hot enough to bubble the stone floor and send every soldier nearby into puffs of ash.

“Your magic won’t last forever.” Desmerada bared her fangs.

“Long enough to destroy you.” I dove deep, pulling up the heart of my power and infusing the air with flaming death.

“Burn yourself out, sweet Helen. Then you’re mine.” She sawed deeper into Paris’s neck.

He kept his eyes on me. “Run, Elena. Leave me.”

Desmerada cackled. “He’s still in love with you, after all this time. How quaint.” She shook him. “I’ll ride him like a stallion while you watch, then bathe in his blood. I’ll—” Her voice died as an arrow pierced her throat. Her soldiers were momentarily shocked, as was I.

She released the sword and scrambled to withdraw the bolt from her neck. More flew in, piercing her so many times that she dropped to her knees.

Paris dropped down and swept his leg out to knock everyone on the platform off their feet. He gripped the sword and began fighting the nearest guards, the clang of metal shooting through the hiss of the fire.

I kept the intensity of my spell, even as the magics drained me. More vampires at the periphery were set alight—some incinerated on contact. Paris battled in a blur of ferocity, taking down soldier after soldier. He gave no mercy, dispatching every adversary as he fought his way to me.

My spell’s radius began to shrink, the vampires getting closer and closer as my ability to wield the power slowly faded. I had never used up so much magic, never needed to when I had my sisters at my side.

I dropped to my knees, the soldiers creeping closer as the flames pulled back. But then they turned away from me, their backs to the fire as they began fighting a new front. Faren’s soldiers were overwhelming the room from all directions. Desmerada’s forces were pinned between my fire and the invaders’ blades.

In one final push, I seized the power inside me and pushed it out, birthing a wide arc of fire that cut down hundreds of soldiers. I was a supernova, giving my last bright light before going cold and dark.