Before Slaine can react, a violent light explodes from the center of Malice’s chest, the force of it enough to blow Slaine backward and send his body crashing into a trunk at the far end of the clearing. All of the soldiers who were holding my other mates are vaporized on the spot—evaporating into black puffs of vapor in the next heartbeat—their souls torn apart by the incredible surge of energy. In the wake of the carnage and chaos, the demon king slumps to the ground, his eyes rolling and limbs splayed at awkward angles—but I only give him my attention for a moment before my gaze is drawn back to Malice and that strange light radiating from his chest.

Malice’s back arches, his mouth open wide in a silent scream as raw magic pulses through the air, filling the forest with charged beams of energy that travel to the furthest corners of the land, shaking the earth and staining the canopy above with a dazzling sheen of gold. Another cry of pain draws my attention to the side, and my stomach flips as I take in the sight of my five other mates writhing on the ground, their faces twisted in agony. That same brilliant golden light is beaming from their pores, heating their skin past boiling point and vaporizing the surrounding air.

A heavy blanket of panic settles over my mind as I push onto my hands and knees, crawling toward Malice as the ground tilts and shudders, threatening to swallow me whole. With each painful movement—every excruciating second it takes me to close the distance—Malice’s outline fades into the surrounding air, the threads of his soul unwinding and causing him to disappear as if he’d never been in the first place.

“Malice!” I choke, collapsing on the ice a few inches from his body. “Malice, wait!”

Unable to move anymore, I turn my head, searching the ground for my five other mates—but they’re gone. “Kaebl? Cyprien? Lir?” Hot, salty tears stream down my face and into my open mouth as I scream for my mates, unable to believe they’re truly gone. “Fenryr! Roark! Come back! You can’t… don’t leave me. Not yet,” I whisper, my heart fracturing into a million tiny pieces. “Please…”

“Dag…ny…”

I whip my head toward Malice, all the air leaving my lungs as I take in his fading smirk. “Malice…”

“Come… here… I want to… tell you something.”

With the last of my strength, I pull my body across the ice, placing my ear just above Malice’s mouth to listen. His palm connects with my chest, pushing me back so he can look into my eyes—and I’m struck by just how sad he looks.