I scramble to stand, but his hand shoots out and strikes me, palm open, in the middle of the spine. The force knocks the breath from my lungs, and I fall again. I twist around to face him just as the Evan Cooper that I knew goes away forever.

In the light of his flashlight, the goruchel demon grins, his human teeth stretching in his mouth until they look like a boar’s canines. His fingers darken and elongate to crimson claws. The skin of his eyes recedes into deep hollows, and his blue eyes bleed to red. The smell that fills my nose is the sour scent of burning flesh.

His new gaze scorches my skin. Like my face could sizzle and peel, melt away until it’s only bones and seared muscle.

“It’s rude to ignore someone who’s talking to you,” he hisses. “Evan liked your attitude, Bree. Rhaz does not.”

“My bad,” I spit. “I don’t like listening to murderers!”

The demon—Rhaz—tilts his head to the side. “I didn’t kill Fitz. I only called the imps who killed Fitz.” When he jerks a thumb behind him, I see the long, fresh cut from the outside of his wrist to his elbow. He’d bled into the ravine somehow as we walked. He’d called those demons in the darkness without us even noticing. He clucks. “Well, no, you’re right. I did kill the real Evan Cooper. Took his life. Pretended to be Fitz’s new Squire—even copied Evan’s humanity enough to take that silly Warrior’s Oath right under the traitor’s nose. But it was awful, Bree. I can’t tell you how many times I daydreamed about ripping the skin from Fitz’s meathead face—”

“Why?” I scream.

A glittering, fanatical glee dark as the cave itself slides into his burning eyes. “To get to Nick, of course. And to wait.”

My lungs burn in my chest, but behind them my heart twists and skips.

His scratching voice becomes low and conspiratorial. “Did you know that if a fully Awakened Scion of Arthur dies, the Lines will end forever?” He giggles. “Kill the head, kill the body. It’d be easy if all I needed was for Arthur to Call Nick like the others do, but that arrogant prick of a king won’t fully Awaken his Scion until they take the blade.”

I crabwalk away, my sword dragging at an awkward angle, but he follows, one silent step at a time.