Malice doesn’t respond for a long minute, his eyes wide and fixed on Kaebl’s wing as if he can’t quite believe what’s happening. “Her wounds… I wasn’t… I didn’t have enough power to heal her and Fenryr and Kaebl… I knew it, but I couldn’t… I wouldn’t…”

Malice trembles, crumbling under the weight of his mistake, but the rest of us are silent for a different reason. Malice never does anything that would indirectly harm himself. He knew healing Dagny was the wrong thing to do in the moment, yet he still did it, knowing it might doom us all.

I gaze around the circle, taking in the injuries of the other soul piece. There’s no way we can run fast enough to escape, and Roark’s wings are useless, meaning it would take both Cyprien and Lir to carry him in their state. Dagny is the only one other than Malice who has use of her flight muscles, but it’s not like she has the experience to fly in a blizzard with a three-hundred-pound demon in her arms—not like she could carry me or Kaebl after she’s already used up too much energy.

I make eye contact with each of the demons, the same thought ringing throughout all our minds. We’re not going to make it out of this alive.

But Dagny still can. I gaze down at the beautiful creature in my arms, my chest aching at the thought of being apart from her, of death separating us. But it’s the only way.

I look toward Kaebl, who dips his chin in a terse nod. His golden eyes then trail to Malice, an unspoken conversation warring between the rivals.

Take her, Kaebl says, his eyes on Malice but his voice echoing into all of our minds. Fly as fast as you can to the space between worlds—get her as close to the doorway as you can. The rest of us will stay here and fight.

“No!” Dagny’s voice breaks the silence, filled with desperation. “No, you can’t! We’re all making it out of this alive!” She turns her head toward Malice, her eyes filling with unshed tears. “You promised! You promised we would all get out of there alive.”

“And we did, wildfire,” he whispers, stepping toward us with an expression pinched in agony. “But I made… I made a mistake. Now, we just have to make sure you live. As long as you’re okay… so is everything else.”

“No!” She fights against my hold as Malice reaches for her arm, her eyes filling with a blinding silver light. “No! There has to be another way!”

“There isn’t, sweet thing,” he whispers, his voice cracking heavily. “You can’t fly like this—not in a blizzard and not fast enough to escape them. Even if you could, you would have to carry one of us⁠—”