“Perhaps you could try with the others. Since the curse broke, they’ve been dying.”

The witches weren’t under a curse. There was only one species I knew of with a curse recently broken. Was it possible? I stretched my power, vowing to find out. My eyes snapped open, and Thad paled as my pupils disappeared, my eyes entirely white with black pupils. I would need both magicks to pull this off.

“You can’t mean to transport all of them yourself. You don’t have enough power! I’ve been studying with the shadow demons. You’ll kill yourself!”

“Shut up. I’m trying to focus.” I tried to shift and couldn’t. White-hot pain shot through my nerves, crackling with fire. I assumed it was the white magick clashing with the black magick again. He looked back and saw the look on my face.

“I can’t shift!”

The demons were coming closer. We had seconds before they were on us.

“You need a siphon tattoo. Yes, or no?” Thad asked.

I didn’t have much choice. “Yes.”

Thad froze every demon in the cavern and shoved me against the wall again, his hand splayed and pushing painfully hard into my chest, fighting with my blood magicks. I screamed as he bit down in the center of my chest, both types of magick warring and dueling each other inside my body for dominance. A knife appeared in his hand and he moved to my neck, tracing a fiery path that started behind my left ear and ran down my jawline and neck. His hand settled on my collarbone, bringing some relief. Finally, he withdrew, and all the pain vanished.

Thad screamed and I whipped around, not even having time to gasp as I stared stupidly at the sword poking through his shoulder.

A furious Jareth stood over him, draken blood dripping down his sword. “A filthy draken this entire time!”

“Jareth, wait—”

I pried the knife from Thad’s fingers and threw it, not hesitating. Jareth fell with a scream of rage, clawing at his thigh as Thad staggered away from me. Jareth had wounds everywhere, and his face looked like a piece of pulverized meat. Had he killed Yex then?

Jareth swung his sword with a roar, and swiped Thad’s legs out from under him, resting his sword against Thad’s wing. “You were my friend!”

Someone growled. I wasn’t sure if it was me or Thad. I met his dark gaze, his chin lifting slightly up at the witches. The message was clear. Take them. Go.

I hesitated.

“My patience is thin, and this room is filled with bodies,” Thad growled. Jareth shook, and I realized it was because he was angry at Thad.

Thad’s gaze promised murder, but he kept his voice level. “I killed Severn because he was not treating us fairly. Demons and half-breeds . . . one is not better than the other. We have our own strengths. We need to learn how to create peace.”

Jareth hissed, even as the others listened closely.