And then, once more, the ground began to recede.

Perfidy! Corinthia said, fear in the bloodpanther’s voice, which was usually so confident and certain.

I’m ’ere.

What’s going to happen?

Despite the danger they were in, despite the gravity of the situation, she took a moment to consider that question. It was a question she hadn’t known the answer to for a while now, ever since she fell from that rooftop and her mother was wrongfully accused of using sorcery to save her. Now, however, a smile curled her lips around the pain, the answer so obvious she couldn’t believe it had eluded her for so long.

“Now we fight,” she said aloud, because she wanted the winged menace to hear those words, to feel them in his bones.

With that said, she reached back as far as she could until she felt the demon’s appendage attached to the claw that had rendered her helpless. Or so it thought. She grabbed that scaled limb, contorting her body as she twisted, gritting her teeth through the flash of pain, so intense she saw spots dance before her eyes, blood and flesh squelching as she tore herself free.

Their constant upward motion spiraled, not only because of what she was doing down below, but what Corinthia was doing higher up, the panther clawing and scratching and gnashing her teeth at their attacker, who hissed in reply and tried to reassert his clawed control over them only to lose his grasp on her bloodbond. In that frozen moment, Corinthia’s eyes met Perfidy’s, wide and fearful.

And then the panther fell.

“No!” Perfidy screamed, letting her hands slip free of the demon’s ankle, air rushing around her as she, too, sped toward the ground.

The ground that Corinthia would hit much sooner than her, having had a head start. Perfidy reached for her, not only through the air but through their bond, a thing she wasn’t even aware of until a few hours ago, a thing that felt as real and beautiful a thing as had ever existed. Stop, she thought.

A foot off the ground, the bloodpanther’s body froze, hovering in the air, forehead glittering gold as another gold leaf appeared, matched by the warmth she felt on her own forehead. Five. They seemed to be coming faster now, the more she used her Ability. Corinthia planted her feet back onto solid ground, and Perfidy could feel her bloodbond’s relief, there for a second and then gone as she looked up to find Perfidy rushing toward her.

Just as she had on that first night, the panther sprang toward her, except this time she was too slow, Perfidy glancing off her side, which did little to slow her speed or cushion the impact as her body flopped viciously onto the stonework.

A wall of black fell over her vision, every bone in her body feeling like they’d been shattered. Everything felt distant and muted. The heat of the fire was nothing. The shouts and screams muffled.