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At last the end was in sight, a sole path that led straight to high ground.Thank sand!Ahead of him, the princess closed in on their salvation, and he wasn’t too far behind.

Yet then a belch of lava pumped from the nearby volcano, cutting them off. She would be forced to run back in his direction, and he blocked her only path.

When she twirled around to face him, Silt opened his arms and sneered, “Come to sorcerer.”

Six

That villain thinks he’s got me.The path between flames was too narrow for Mina to skirt him, so logic dictated a full-bore assault.

He had to be taken down anyway, and the lava hadn’t done her work for her.

Brace, fiend. Here I come.Over these last hours, the plague had continued to take hold. Her arm wound had worsened, her aggression increasing.

She didn’t slow, just picked up speed. By the way he frowned at her eyes, they must be reddening even more.Fear me.All the worlds should.And that had beenbeforeher affliction.

She feinted again, as if she were going to dart past him?—

At the last second, she barreled straight into him with unexpected strength, sending him flying backward.

Air whooshed from his lungs, surprise on his face. Training took over, and she flung her head down to snap her forehead against his nose.

Crack!

“Fucking leech!” He grabbed her shoulders, looking like he’d toss her into the lava. So she grabbed his shoulders as well.Where I go, you go.

Their position—her straddling him, each clutching the other—seemed to register with them at the same moment. His eyes narrowed; hers widened.

Then her attention dipped to his jugular nestled along rigid neck muscles. It pulsed with a dinner bell’s tempo. Mina’s fangs—never needed before—sharpened for the first time to answer that call.

When he stiffened beneath her, she wrenched her gaze to his face.

“Are you a mad one, then?” His expression was one of bemused fascination, his heartbeat a repeating thunderclap in her plagued mind.

“Maybe I am!” She could see the appeal. Lothaire had zero cares; Mina had all cares.I shed them.

Lava surrounded her and the sorcerer. Between them was sweat, pumping hearts, and that pulsing jugular. They were in hell, about to be kissed by its flames, and maybe they both belonged here.

“Look at you,” he grated. “You want my blood so badly you can all but taste it. “

Dacians don’t drink from others!

Yet that was no longer true.

She rubbed her tongue over a fang, enjoying the new contrast of sharp and tender.Am Ialreadyturning into a monster?

“Try to bite me, leech, and see where that gets you.”

The cruelty in his voice brought her back to reality. She snapped her fangs at him and snatched her knee up between his legs. His sound of pain was a cough mixed with a groan.

As if she hadn’t just unmanned him, he flipped her onto her back, pinning her arms. She thrashed but couldn’t shake him.

He stared at her lips the way she’d stared at his neck. Hungrily. Was he about to . . . tokissher? Lava neared! Despitethe threats all around—despitehim—her traitorous body stilled beneath his.

Eyes glazed, he leaned down . . .

She scented burning hair, realized it was hers. “Stop! You’re going to get us both killed!”

He shook his head hard, then swept his gaze around them. “You’re coming with me.” Keeping her wrists in hand, he lumbered to his feet, dragging Mina to hers.