The strands of starlight rose from her, coalescing into the form of a great, glowing dragon with gleaming eyes. The astral figure seemed to stare at Jeid, to smile sadly, to weep tears like diamonds . . . and then the dragon ascended in many strands, streaming skyward until it vanished.

Laira fell limp in his arms.

"Laira!" He touched her cheek. "Laira, can you hear?"

She lay still.

Jeid shook her. "Wake up, Laira. Wake up." He shook her. "Laira!"

Dorvin, Maev, and the other Vir Requis crowded near, silent and staring.

"Laira?" Dorvin whispered.

She felt so light in Jeid's arms. Her head, bald and painted, hung limply on her neck.

"I can't lose you, Laira," Jeid whispered. "Wake up. I can't lose you too. I—"

Her eyes fluttered open, and she coughed and gasped for air. She blinked and tears streamed down her painted cheeks.

"It's gone," she whispered to Jeid. She squeezed his hand and stared up. "The sky. The call of the stars. Gone." She looked at him, and horror filled her eyes. "I'm no longer Vir Requis."

Jeid's eyes stung, and he pulled her close against him. "You are alive. You are Laira. You are my wife. That's what matters. You are—"

". . . a filthy weredragon." The voice rose from behind. "You all are. Maggoty, disgusting weredragons."

Kneeling over Laira, Jeid slowly turned his head around.

Most of the Widejaws still twitched on the floor, the last blasts of unholy smoke leaving them. But Slyn still stood, glaring down at Jeid. The towering, burly man stepped closer, his ring mail chinking, and spat out a chunk of uneaten meat.

Jeid snarled and shifted into a dragon.

With a roar, Slyn leaped into the air and became a sphinx.

The two beasts—one scaled, one furred—slammed together with snapping teeth and slashing claws.

Hundreds of Widejaws still lay across the hall, their magic lost. But dozens more emerged from between the trees—those who had not yet eaten—and rose into the sky as sphinxes, blasting out their miasma.

Dorvin and Maev roared and soared as dragons. An instant later, the rest of Requiem rose into the sky, blowing fire and crying out for their kingdom. Dragons and sphinxes crashed together.

Jeid beat his wings, shoving against Slyn. The sphinx's jaws snapped open and closed, tearing at Jeid's scales, ripping through flesh. The creature's claws dug into the dragon's flanks.

"I will feed upon the girl," Slyn hissed, blood on his teeth, and laughed. "Limb by limb, as I keep her alive, as she screams, as she begs me. I will force her to eat her own flesh."

His body shaking with laughter, Slyn blasted out his smoke.

Jeid roared and blew his flames.

Demon smoke and dragonfire washed across them.