His snores were her cue to escape. Lola fled the tent and ran. Thol appeared to be supervising construction. In reality, he was keeping watch on her tent. The minute she exited, he met her halfway, and they rapidly dashed to her clearing.

“Did you Heal him?” he asked.

She shook her head, fighting tears. “I couldn’t—I couldn’t touch him. He-he didn’t feel like Soleis. When my fingers grazed his skin, all I could think of was Belzaan’s hands around my throat. Thol, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but you’re not going back in that tent until I find out.”

“How?” she railed. “The elder didn’t have anything new to tell us. Nobody knows what that stuff does to people. No one else has ever survived an absorption. Did you hear how crazy he was talking? The things he said…” She trembled uncontrollably.

Thol briskly rubbed her arm. “We’ll get him through this. There has to be a way.”

Suddenly, the sound of a twig snapping behind them forced them both to spin around, and there he was. “Oh, I see,” he chuckled coldly. “Couldn’t wait to get a moment alone with your new lover, eh? By the gods, you move fast, woman!”

The words chilled Lola to the bone. Soleis wouldn’t talk like that. He wasn’t so insecure. He had already proven his love and trust. Whoever was staring out from his clear blue eyes wasn’t the man she had come to know. She took a step back, and Thol dropped a hand on his dagger.

“Have you gone mad?” he asked.

Lola replied, “I know Soleis doesn’t believe that. It isn’t true.”

“Isn’t it? But, who could blame you? After all, you thought I was dead. You just couldn’t wait! Who knew I would ruin everything by coming back from the grave?” Soleis took another step toward her. She held her ground. When Thol drew his knife, she laid a hand on his wrist to halt him. Soleis had the Heart of the Dragon. He was shielded…but so was she.

She lifted her chin and said, “This is a misunderstanding, darling. You awoke and I wasn’t there, and it disoriented you.” She extended a hand, praying it didn’t tremble and give away her fear. The smile was tight on her face, but she held it. She made eye contact. “I merely stepped out to talk to Thol about the…the construction of our house. Now, let’s go back together and get some rest.”

“You’re just like the traitorous Sylph,” Soleis whispered as he stared at her ring. Lola’s hand began to ache as if something or someone was squeezing it. She clutched it to her stomach with a quiet whimper, but she dared not show her pain.

“I don’t know the Sylph, but I know you, and you’re not acting like yourself. It was the Essence, Soleis. You have to let me Heal you and restore you. I’m…I’m not afraid now. I’m ready to lay hands on you.”

“So, we can live out our lives in a new world together?” he chuckled, shaking his head. “The Essence didn’t hurt me, Lola. It made me stronger, smarter. It gave me the lifeforce of a million men, and I’d like to show you. Come. I want to take you with me to the castle for a swim.” He purposefully strode toward her, and Lola had nowhere to run. As he yanked her to his chest, Thol started to shapeshift. She threw out a hand to stop him.

“No! I’m going. I’m going! I want to see what it does to me.”

“Lola, it’ll kill you,” he said in a haunted, confused voice.

She locked eyes with him and channeled, When I leap, grab me. We must get to the castle together and destroy the Essence!

Out loud, she said, “Relax, Thol. Soleis would never let anything happen to me, right my love? I’m ready when you are, darling. When we get back, I’ll Heal you, and we…we’ll live out our lives in a new world together. Isn’t that what you said?”

She prepared herself for the leap, and Soleis tightened his grip. She prayed Thol reached her in time to travel with them. However, before the pressure change of realm travel could occur, a rebel limped into view with a bow and arrow leveled at Soleis.

“Get away from her,” the boy snarled.

“Vardom!” she gasped.

With sheer terror in his eyes, Thol shouted, “Get back to the camp, Brother! You don’t know what’s going on here!”

“I know better than you.” The teen dragged his foot as he crept closer. “I’ve felt his cruel touch in my soul. It twisted more than my body. It twisted everything in me, and I recognized him the moment he made landfall. This isn’t the man you think he is. Your Sea Demon is possessed with the devil himself.”

With a hair-raising quiet laugh, Soleis sneered, “You should do as your brother says and leave this to the adults, boy.”

Vardom’s face scrunched in a defiant smile, and he fired the bow. It struck Soleis in the chest and fell harmlessly to the ground. Everyone in the clearing stared at the weapon in shock. When Soleis looked up at the teen, he looked deeply satisfied with having a vessel to take his barely checked aggression.

“You better run,” he whispered.

* * *

The boy was dead. He was dead, and it was her fault. He had come to save her. Now, the cure was lost. All hope of saving anyone was gone. Lola cowered in the bowels of the castle complex as the Mad King, wearing Soleis’ body, paced before her. She was alone. Thol hadn’t been near enough to make the realm jump.

“I want to tell you a story,” Soleis/Belzaan said.

Sniveling, she wiped her face with the back of her arm. “Tell me the story,” she coaxed in a tremulous voice. He looked mildly surprised at her meekness. She was a kidnap victim merely trying to appease her assailant until she could figure her way out of this. Because, no matter what her fear told her, Lola couldn’t give up.

She had survived a rough childhood. She had outpaced her peers to graduate the top of her class, and she had taken medical school by storm. Determination was in her genes. She was born with a wild spirit and a never-back-down attitude. If there was a such thing as destiny, then she was destined to succeed.

Even if, in this case, that meant succeeding in dying with dignity.

“What’s the story about?” she sniffed.

“It’s a classic tale about a boy and girl who fell in love. But, as often the case, there is no happy ending. Of course, their love was forbidden, and they were forced to meet in secret. Weathering trials and tribulations, they found a place where they could share their love openly, but at great cost.

“The boy lost everything he had, except the girl. It was only then he discovered love wasn’t enough, and the girl lost him.” He stopped his pacing and stared down at her. “Do you know what happened after that?”

“They…they separated?” she asked hopefully.

Soleis/Belzaan caressed her cheek. His hot fingers slid to her chin, which he clasped and jerked her head back painfully. Lola winced. “No,” he smiled. “They destroyed each other. She reached into his chest and stole his heart. She drained the essence from his veins, and she took the seed of his mind and buried it somewhere he would never find it.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Is this your story?” she tried again.

“Don’t be trite, Lola Cambridge of the Blue Sky Realm,” he sighed, letting her face go. “I like you, but you’re no sorceress elemental. You’re just an unfortunate girl who will suffer for someone else’s treachery. I marvel at the irony. It was love that imprisoned me here and your love that will free me. You’re going to give me the ring now.”

“Why? You don’t need it anymore. You’re no longer a spirit. You have the body you wanted, and the power you craved. You took it from him!”

He chuckled and plucked his shirt. “Do you know why we were able to combine? It’s exquisite in its simplicity. My blood runs in his veins, my heart beats in his chest, and my mind ticks in his head. But, you’re wrong, Lola. I haven’t taken anything. Right now, I can only borrow this space. It takes the missing piece of the red diamond to make it mine.

“Think of the lives you’ll save,” he said as he crouched in front of her. It was jarring to see her lover’s face on the soul of a monster. He stroked a hand through her hair, and it took everything in her not to recoil. “I’m asking such a tiny sacrifice of you. There’ll be no war. Soleis will return to the Fire Realm and wait to ascend the throne naturally. The people will be cured of the sickness in this world as soon as I am gone. Imagine the end to the suffering.”

“You want to make me the hero of this story,” she whispered. A tear fell from the tip of her nose. The hero’s ending was Soleis’ destiny. “If I give you the ring, how do I know you’ll keep up your end of the bargain? You might destroy this world out of spite. There are people I care about here.”

“Everything will be fine here. You’ll return to the peaceful life you had before Soleis interrupted your trajectory. In fact, you’ll have a little boost from me. I can make sure that all you touch prospers, Doctor Lola Cambridge.

“Without me, when you get back, there will be no future left for you. You’ve missed too many days in the residency program. Your apartment has been leased to someone else. Your father has moved on. He thinks you’re dead. No one even misses you.”

“I don’t believe you,” she said.

He hardened his voice. “Give me the ring, Lola.” She clasped her ring finger and shoved to her feet, and he glowered disapproval. “Don’t do anything you’ll regret. If you leap to your world, not only will I find you, I will rip you limb from limb. Give. Me. The ring.”

“Soleis, I know the real You is in there somewhere. I love you,” she murmured, hand moving toward the ring.

“Love?” Soleis/Belzaan bellowed and lunged forward with a speed that wasn’t humanly possible. His overkill anger propelled her toward the wading pool. Lola screeched as she tottered. He held onto her, but he shook her violently for her defiance. “People like you never learn. Sacrifices have to be made for salvation. Love is never, ever enough. Now, you die for him, Lola Cambridge.”

And, with that, he pushed her into the Pool of Death.