Perfidy opened her eyes to find Mirac standing over her, expression grim. A moment later, Corinthia, fur slick with blood, joined him. “Help me onto her,” she said.

Mirac obeyed, fighting her weight until he was able to flop her onto Corinthia’s back. Then he climbed on too. Perfidy’s cheek was flush with the bloodpanther’s fur, too exhausted and damaged to do anything but just lay there.

What about Cainan? Corinthia asked.

Perfidy happened to be aimed in the direction of the man, who lay on his side, eyes closed, unmoving. His body looked like a charred piece of wood, singed and smoking. Clearly, he’d been struck by one of the winged demon’s fireballs. No one could’ve survived that. He is lost, she said, feeling a swell of sadness. An’ we will be, too, if we don’ escape this bloody inferno. Can ye do it?

I don’t know, but I will try.

And then the panther was off, running hard but not nearly as fast as Perfidy knew she was capable of, her gait limping and uneven. Flames flashed past, clinging to the stone blocks, still eating its way around the prison’s wall, closing in on the gap from both sides.

The gap they were headed directly toward, the space still open, the only spot not choked in fire and smoke. With a grunt, Corinthia leapt onto the shattered stones, claws skittering. She almost lost her balance but managed to propel herself higher, reaching another point, banging herself on a jagged rock that protruded but ignoring the lance of pain that Perfidy also felt, shooting upwards once more…

A burst of flame jetted from the left, then from the right, the heat from the unnatural fire so intense it felt like Perfidy’s skin was melting.

But then they were through, fresh air awaiting them just as the wall of flames closed the gap behind them. They landed with a thump and then Corinthia’s legs gave out and they tumbled across the uneven terrain, roots and stones poking into them.

Perfidy came to a rest beside the panther, their eyes meeting. Ye are magnificent, Perfidy said through their bond.

That’s funny, the panther replied. I was about to say the same thing about you. With that, her eyes sagged shut. A moment later, Perfidy’s did the same.

Ludo

Everything had happened so quickly: Cainan devouring the flames meant for them, Bryony shoving Ludo away from the next blast, the lion-man-creature arriving out of nowhere to rescue her, and then the strange boy emerging from the shadows and doing something—what was that anyway?—to injure the demon and force him to retreat into the night. The panther had then carried the young woman and boy out of the prison yard, barely beating the dark flames before they sealed the gap.

The dark flames that had now fully surrounded them.