Page 168 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

“Varden,” I choked, tears pouring down my cheeks. “Why?”

He smiled. “I was dead already. I chose a fate that would protect my people.”

I sobbed and extended a hand to him, a silent plea for the old esteemed not to depart.

But he was too smart to stay.

His hand rested atop my palm, which began to glow white. The white spread across my skin to cover me.

“Now you kill that which seeks to harm us,” Varden told me.

His eyes twinkled with the peace he’d found and the path he’d chosen.

I sucked in a breath. “Return to the Mother, sir. It was an honor to have known you.”

He bowed, already fading from this world. “The honor was mine, granddaughter of my dearest friend.”

A cry left my lips as he disappeared from sight.

Varden died to give me another layer of protection, and whether by his intent or by the mysterious summation of ingredients that resulted in fate, I could see that a thick, inflexible thread now connected me to the demon king.

I didn’t wipe my eyes as I stood.

It’s time for me to fight, I thought at Wild.

Yes, my queen. I will give you all I have.

I love you, Wild.

And you will keep loving me for decades to come. No mercy, my love. No hesitation. He took your family. He’s taken too much from those we care about. It is time for the demon king to meet his end at your hand.

Varden had given me a fighting chance, and—I realized—so had King Julius.

The demon king was favoring his right side. Blood still poured from hundreds of wounds over his body. More than that, the expenditure of magic he’d used to kill the Vissimo ruler had dented his supply.

If there was a chance to beat him, it was now.

And even then, I knew this could well be my final fight too.

Kyros’s growls filled the air again, but I spoke without turning my head, “I understand this demon killed your father, King Kyros, but he killed my family long before yours. This fight is mine.”

“It can be both of ours,” he snarled.

His anger wasn’t at me. The Vissimo was containing his power as best he could. “You know it cannot.”

Power like ours didn’t leave space for a team. Wild was the only person I could possibly fight with in a battle of this intensity, and only with ample practice over years or decades. We hadn’t had nearly enough time to get there, and even Wild knew he’d hinder my efforts. We’d all known this when Julius fought. Perhaps we forgot as Kyros charged the demon king afterward, but I’d regained clarity.

We’d be as likely to hurt each other as the demon king if both of us fought.

“The battle is yours,” he grudgingly admitted.

I dipped my head.

I walked toward the demon king, who had watched me for some time now. There was something strange in the way he stared that I couldn’t peg. Was it my part-demon nature? Was it that he remembered me as a horrified teen? He may be reconciling that version of me with the relic-covered, black-scaled person he looked at now.

“Your fight is with me,” I told him in the demon tongue.

“My fight cannot be with you,” he answered.

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