The azi’s left head snapped forward. Heedless of the acid, its teeth latched onto the indar’s feathered neck, fangs sinking into its jugular. The daeva shrieked with pain for the first time since the fight started, but it was not enough to shake off Druj’s control. The azi cried out as well, and I felt the terrible sizzle of its hide as if it were my own skin. I screamed but wouldn’t, couldn’t, let go, even as the agony grew intolerable.

A blaze of lightning cut through the indar, separating it from the azi. “Asha!” Althy’s voice sounded over the din, strong and sure and safe. “To me! Aim for its eyes!”

New arcs of lightning filled the horizon, cutting into the other daeva. I turned and saw Althy surrounded by other Kion asha, linked and sending swaths of bright light, sharp and cutting, burrowing into the indar’s flesh. They did little to hurt the daeva, but the light dazzled it. Yowling, the indar twisted to and fro, its lidless eyes unable to turn away from the brightness filling its vision.

Tea, I heard, from far away and close at the same time. A sudden spasm of strength went through me, catching me by surprise. The energy trickled up to the part of me that continued to cling to the indar’s thoughts, which were still under Druj’s control. I seized it, pushed with all my might.

A blaze of light exploded into the abyss when my thoughts touched both the daeva’s and Druj’s, and it was enough to startle the Faceless into letting go. The indar’s mind fell into mine.

Die! I shouted. Die, die, die, die, die—

I don’t know how long I shrieked. It was only Kalen, shaking me gently, that brought me back to myself. “Tea,” he murmured. “It’s over.”

The indar lay on its side, surrounded by a pool of its own black acid. Druj’s mind was gone, retreating somewhere inside Mithra’s Wall. A subdued, shaken cheer rose among the soldiers as they watched the rest of the unaltered Drychta army run, leaving their dead comrades behind, while some of the Yadoshans persisted in chasing the stragglers. The Odalian banner flew over Kance’s location, flapping in the wind. The king was safe.

The door in my head that separated Fox from me remained closed, but I was sure Fox had gotten through somehow, that he had added his strength to mine to allow me to triumph over Druj. I reached for him, expecting to find my brother’s warm, comforting presence. But there was nothing. The barriers between us remained intact, and I was alone.

Still holding on to Kalen, I burst into tears.