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“I’ll stay. Adham and I don’t separate.”

He arched his brows. “You and your brother with the unsuitable mates. First a demon, now a sorcerer. Unbearable.”

“So Mirceo and Caspion are together?”

“Mirspion? Yes, you could say that.” With that, he and Kristoff disappeared.

Her brother must have finally won over the reluctant demon, and the two of them were mated. Her smile widened.

Adham returned to Mina. “I still can’t believe you beat the unbeatable.” He took her in his arms, seeming stunned that she was within them once more.

“I did with the help of your blood.”

“All that matters is you came back to me.” He brushed his knuckles along her cheek.

“I always will,” she promised him. “And now we’re free.”

“You were right. Escape existed.”

“And you were right when you said it hadn’t. Only that quake opened the rift.” Their window of success had been minuscule.

“I’m ready to start our lives . . .” His words faltered, his eyes darting. He released her and stepped back to scan the shelf of rock.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Are you sureyouweren’t scratched?”

He gripped his temples. “I’m sure. But something isn’t right?—”

“Mina!” Mirceo had appeared not thirty feet from her, with Caspion by his side. Both had their swords raised, and Caspion’s amber horns were straightened with hostility.

“What are you doing with this filth, sister?” Mirceo demanded.

“Brother, drop the sword and talk to us. Didn’t Lothaire tell you what happened?”

“Lothaire? He’s been missing for months. Balery directed us here.” Mirceo and Caspion stalked closer. “Get away from the sorcerer.”

“Put the sword down, Mirceo. I mean it. I will never forgive you if you hurt him.”

There was no risk of that. Eyes aglow, Adham raised his burning palms with a yell and lashed out with sorcery.

Time seemed to slow, events happening too fast to process.

A shockwave exploded beneath their feet; the cliff surface morphed into a mass of sand. Adham molded a swell of it into a razor-sharp whip and launched it at Mirceo.“I’ll kill you!”

Caspion tackled her brother—too late? Blood spurted from Mirceo’s severed neck, his head tilting at an unnatural angle from his limp body.

“What are you doing?”Mina screamed in horror, vaulting for Adham to protect her brother. She’d felt that strike as if the sorcerer had done it to her.

Wild-eyed, Adham blocked her attack and shoved her into the hungry sand.

Mina scrambled to her feet, but the ground sucked them all down, trapping them in place.

With a roar, Caspion used his demon might to power himself loose from the sand’s grip and break Mirceo out. Freed from the quicksand, he traced her brother away. Only a demon desperate to protect his mate could have broken this hold.

And now Mina was left with a sorcerer she barely recognized. She’d learned to read him so well, yet nothing in his expression made sense—as if he’d been taken over by a malevolent stranger.

As she grappled against quicksand and shock, she cried, “Have you lost your mind?” The warm sand that had caressed her cheek and saved her life might have killed her brother. “What is happening?”

He didn’t answer, just kept his hands raised to direct his power. The welcome embrace of Adham’s sorcery had turned dark.