Xever’s gaze locked on Ezra. “An instant failure, as I’d expected.”

Ezra lunged toward them. Magic blazed over his arms—and shimmered across his back as phantom wings and a snaking tail took form. Power rippled off him, shimmering, twisting.

He was losing control.

“Hoshi!” I yelled. “Hoshi!”

She appeared beside me, tail quivering with fear and little paws gripping my sleeve.

As Ezra charged the cultists, Nazhivēr shot at his blind side. Ezra pivoted on one foot and his swinging fist smashed into the demon’s waiting palm. A blast of wind pushed Nazhivēr back a step.

Behind Ezra, Xever slid his cloak up his arm. Silver bands encircled his forearm, and he extended his hand toward Ezra’s back.

“Hoshi, I need a diversion!” I gasped.

Her sickly green fear swirled in my mind, streaked with dark blue determination. The sylph rose into the air. Her tail lashed, and all the crystals that adorned her small body—the ones tipping her antennae, the one in the center of her forehead, the one on the end of her tail, and her crystalline eyes—glowed with fierce pink light.

Nazhivēr smashed a fist into Ezra’s chest, throwing him backward.

“Ori nov—” Xever began.

Hoshi snapped her insect-like wings open—and a shrieking whirlwind erupted inside the reservoir.

The howling wind picked up all the loose debris and flung it in every direction. Dust turned the gale brown, and I ducked as a rock flew past my head. Scrambling up, I bolted for the exit, Hoshi hanging off the back of my jacket.

“Ezra!” I yelled. “This way!”

The dark doorway appeared in the gray wall—and a shape filled it. Kai, a hand outstretched toward me. Leaping over the demon corpse in front of the exit, I grabbed for his hand. He steadied me as I twisted to look back into the violent whirlwind.

“Ezra!” I screamed.

Crimson light flashed in the hazy tornado, then a shadow appeared. Ezra sprinted through the wind, his aero magic deflecting the airborne projectiles. As he reached us, Kai turned and dashed up the stairs. I ran on his heels, and Ezra followed right behind.

Up, up, up. Light flicked ahead—a flashlight at the entrance, beckoning us to safety.

Kai shot out of the hidden staircase, and I bolted after him and onto the grass, Hoshi clinging to me. Ezra flew out after us, then whirled around. Crimson blazed up his arm, and a corresponding circle of light appeared on top of the cenotaph, circling the weatherworn angel with her false crown.

Runes popped up across the tangled lines inside the spell, then it flashed. The stone floor shattered and caved inward. The pillars toppled and the heavy ceiling tumbled down. It all sank into the collapsed underground staircase with a hideous grinding of rock.

Panting, I looked from Ezra to Kai, then to Makiko, who was bracing Aaron’s side, a flashlight in her other hand. Aaron was standing under his own power—mostly—but his face was tight with pain.

Wordlessly, I pointed toward the trees. Together, we fled.

Despite our best efforts to hurry, it took us longer than it should’ve to reach the parking lot. Kai’s motorcycle—not the red one he’d driven down into the States, but the one he’d left at Aaron’s house when Makiko had forced him to move out—was parked beside the SUV.

And on the vehicle’s other side was a monstrous black SUV that dwarfed Aaron’s.

As we approached, the driver’s and passenger’s doors opened. Two men in suits leaped out and bowed.

“Miura-dono,” they said in unison. “Yamada-dono.”

“I called them,” Makiko said breathlessly, limping beside Kai. “They’ll take us to my family’s healers.”

The attendants opened the back doors and helped Kai get Aaron inside. Makiko slid in after him, and Kai took the next spot. As I stepped toward the open door, I realized Ezra was hanging back.

I turned. “Ezra?”

“There’s something I need to do,” he said quietly.

“What?” My eyes widened. “You can’t go back for them. You—”

“Not that. Something else.” He stepped closer. “I’ll take the SUV and meet you guys back at the house.”

“But—” I broke off, staring at him. Really seeing him.

He was back to his non-demonic self, with no more glowing veins or magma eyes. But something was different. Something had changed.

His softness, that gentle kindness that had warmed me from the moment I’d met him, was still there. That hadn’t changed. But it had been joined by … by …

Fire.

That was the only word to describe the light in his eyes. The burn in his gaze. It was as though the Ezra I’d known for eight months had been half asleep.

Suddenly, I was looking at an Ezra who was wide awake.

As I gawked at him, that Ezra strode up to me, cupped my face in his hands, and kissed me.

Like, really kissed me.

And the fire I saw in him—I felt it in his kiss. An inferno of desire incinerated my innards, and I clamped my arms around his neck. Plastered against him, I kissed him back with every flame of intensity I possessed—my fire meeting his, and it was like I’d never kissed him before.

The burn of passion and fear and need and desperation and determination combined until I was scorched from the inside out, until the shape of me was burning into something new.

Then someone cleared their throat loudly.

I tore my mouth off Ezra’s and looked over. I was standing at the open car door, and everyone in the vehicle was right there, staring at us. Including the two Miura attendants.

Cheeks flushing, I unclamped my arms and stepped back.

Kai leaned out and tossed something to Ezra. The aeromage caught the object—Aaron’s car keys.

“Thanks.” Ever the poker-face champion, Ezra gave me a calm smile. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Y-yeah.”

I blinked repeatedly as he strode to Aaron’s SUV, climbed into the driver’s seat, and shut the door. I was still staring as he reversed into the middle of the parking lot, then peeled out, tires squealing. The taillights flashed, then the SUV disappeared.

And I still stared, because holy shit.

When Ezra had said last night that he was ready to fight, I hadn’t realized that wasn’t a mere change in attitude. It went way deeper than that.

I lifted my fingers to my tingling lips. So far, I had zero complaints.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The moment I walked into Aaron’s house, I might have run straight for Ezra, dirty shoes and grimy gear be damned. And I might have thrown my arms around him all over again, and I might have kissed him with a ridiculous amount of desperation.

I also might have cried a little. The last few days had been really tough, okay?

Three hours had passed since we’d parted ways in the cemetery parking lot. Aaron, Kai, and Makiko were with the Miuras’ healers. I’d waited until they were in better shape, then called a cab to take me home so Ezra wouldn’t have to wait alone all night.

At least, I’d tried to call a cab. Makiko had plucked the phone out of my hand, ended the call while the operator had been in mid-sentence, informed me her driver would take me home, and stared at me stonily until I’d agreed.

Then, even more bizarrely, she’d hesitantly patted my shoulder and murmured something that sounded sort of like, “It’ll be fine,” before walking back into the room where a healer had been examining Kai.

Weird.

But now I was home, and Makiko wasn’t getting another thought tonight.

I desperately needed a shower, but after prying myself off Ezra, I shed my shoes and jacket, then returned to the living room where he waited for me. Rubbing the evidence of tears from my cheeks, I dropped onto the sofa. He sat beside me, and I leaned into him, my astounded gaze flicking across his face. That new intensity in him wasn’t as obvious now that we were safe, but it was definitely there.

“So …” I drawled, smiling wanly. “Guess we have some catching up to do.”

He arched his eyebrows. “The first thing I want to know is whether you knew that was the Court of the Red Queen when you went in there. Because if you did …”

I cringed. “I didn’t know the full name, but we did know it was the home base of the cult …”

“A demon-worshipping cult.” His expression hardened. “And you didn’t think going in there unprepared to battle demons might be a mistake?”

“Honestly, we didn’t think there’d be anyone there, but … yeah.” I slumped into the cushions. “It was a mistake for sure. We were in a hurry. We wanted to get in and out before they realized we’d killed their moles in the Keys of Solomon.”

His jaw dropped. Recovering quickly, he leaned back beside me. “Maybe you should start from the beginning.”

Resting my head on his shoulder, I ran through the events of the past few days, from our investigation of Enright, to the “circle” in Portland, to our trip to Salt Lake City, where we’d fallen into the trap at the Keys guild. When I reached the part where Daniel had thrown me down on the table to interrogate me, Ezra brushed my cheek.

I realized tears were trickling down my face.

“What’s wrong?” he murmured.

I shoved my hand into my combat belt, still buckled around my hips. The chain jingled as I pulled out the Vh’alyir Amulet.

Faint crimson lit Ezra’s left eye.

“Russel grabbed it,” I whispered, staring at the metal disc. “His demon took control and started to tear free from Russel. And—and it …” My fingers closed tightly over the medallion, squeezing so hard it hurt. “It killed them both. Russel and his demon.”

Ezra inhaled sharply.

“It didn’t break whatever magic imprisons the demon inside the human. When the demon tried to get out, Russel’s body … it ripped apart. The demon couldn’t break free, and he died when Russel died.”

My fingers spasmed, and I flung the amulet onto the coffee table. It bounced off and clattered across the hardwood floor.