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Asmodeth snarls, then he lunges for me. I dive to the side, banging hard against the invisible barrier.

I barely have time to pivot before the demon is charging again. And again I dive out of the way, only just escaping the attack.

The action is futile. There’s nowhere to go. The circle can’t be more than twenty feet in diameter. I can keep this up for another few minutes, but I’m going to stumble eventually, and the beast will get me. He’s practically vibrating with need.

I form my magic in my hand.

“Explode,” I whisper, lobbing the spell at him.

BOOM!

It detonates before it even reaches Asmodeth, blowing the demon into the air. He slams against the curved walls of the spell circle, then falls to the ground. His shoulder is mildly cut up, but for the most part, he looks unharmed.

Jacques has crept near the edge of the circle, his eyes rapt as he watches me and Asmodeth.

“Do not get close,” Luca warns. “If you smudge the salt, the demon can escape unbonded, and if any part of you crosses the barrier, you can be dragged in, and the demon gets a free meal.”

I draw together my power as, across from me, Asmodeth rises.

“Annihilate.” The curse hisses out of me, hitting him square in the chest.

The demon grunts as he staggers back, but the spell that should have blown him to bits seems to sink into him.

Asmodeth laughs. “I am made of curses, witch. They do not harm me. Theyfuelme.”

That bit of information would’ve been helpful a while ago.

From the other side of my bond, I feel a burst of pain.

Memnon!

I hear him laugh across our connection.I am fine,est amage.Just fighting a worthy opponent. Hold fast, and give these creatures hell.

While I’m half-distracted, the demon rushes me, his claws extended. His body slams into mine, taking us both to the ground.

Shit. I go for one of my daggers, but the weapon is pinned beneath the silk dress, and the silk dress is pinned beneath the demon.

I grunt as Asmodeth presses his face into my wound. His wet tongue licks up the slit of the cut, and ugh, that is so fucking gross.

He groans. “Haven’t tasted flesh in a long time.”

Beneath us, the ground trembles.

“He did it,” Jacques says way too eagerly. “The demon tasted her.”

“Congratulations,” Luca murmurs. “He’s agreed to the bond. Now we simply wait for him to finish.”

Finishme, they mean.

Asmodeth’s lips curl back to revealtworows of sharp teeth. The sight is frightening, terrible.

You too are a dark, deadly thing, I remind myself. I gave myself to that earth for two millennia, and now I can easily draw power from it.

Here, deep in the bowels of the earth, at midnight of the new moon, the magic beneath the ground is especially potent. I press my hands to the cold floor, reaching for the buried power, siphoning it up from the earth. My palms prick as magic seeps into my flesh, then my bloodstream. It gathers like a storm in my veins.

Mistress of old, something far beneath me whispers,we’ve tasted your blood and bones before…

The demon pauses, his head cocking to the side.