Page 79 of Each Their Own Devil

“Aleja, there’s no way you’ll be able to take down those Authorities by yourself, even if you were at full strength. Maybe Orla is right,” Taddeas said, his breath ragged. “You and Nic should retreat.”

“If you need to go, Taddeas, go,” Nicolas said. “You know I would never blame you. You too, Orla. If Aleja and I don’t come back, nominate yourself as the next Knowing One. Help everyone rebuild.”

“I made a promise to you long ago, and I plan to see it through to the end,” Taddeas said, at the same time Orla muttered something that sounded suspiciously like,fuck that.

“I’m faster,” Orla said, her voice cutting through the tension. “I’m going to ride ahead and do what I can to get Amicia out of range. For the love of the Second, Lady of Wrath,pleasewait to unleash until we’re out of there.”

Aleja forced a nod. The muscles around her neck were so frozen, the motion felt like her head might snap off.

Orla peeled away from the group. It only took a moment for them to crest a hill, unhindered by Nicolas’s shadows, and for Aleja to realize how close the Authorities were. She almost screamed at Orla to stop, though she doubted she could produce a sound.

Nicolas was as tense as the marble statues in the palace as they watched Orla dart forward on her Umbramare, weaving through the mass of Authorities. The massive creatures struggled to turn without knocking one another out of the sky with their wings.

But now the Authorities barely seemed to care about Orla.

Their focus was on Aleja.

The wind from their wings whipped against her face. From the corner of her eye, Aleja caught the red glow of Taddeas’s magic, just as she felt Nicolas shift behind her. She managed another weak, “No.”

For a moment, Aleja’s gaze locked onto a flash of movement amid the chaos—a streak of dirty-blonde hair, unmistakable even against the blood-soaked backdrop of the battlefield. Violet. She wasn’t atop an Umbramare or riding an Astraelis elk. Her movements were frantic but deliberate, weaving like a needle through a tattered fabric of enemies.

Aleja’s breath caught in her throat. Violet wasn’t running away—she was baiting them. The Authorities, with their grotesque gaping mouths, lumbered after her. There was no time to question why Violet, of all people, would risk herself like this. The sight of her was both a promise and a plea:Take the chance I’m giving you.

“Aleja.” Nicolas’s voice cut through the haze.

She swallowed, steadying her resolve. She wanted the Authorities to see what she was about to do to them.

Stop this, whispered the Third from the bitter cold inside her.You could have gone peacefully with me across the realm. Now you’re going to know what it’s like to be devoured by a monster.

She ignored him, channeling the dark, cold magic through her.

But she wasn’t fast enough; one of the Authorities had flanked them too quickly, appearing over the ridge like a predator descending on wounded prey. Taddeas’s Umbramare reared, a blur in Aleja’s peripheral vision. Nicolas shouted something unintelligible, and her eardrums rattled, the sound shooting through her brain.

Their world was bathed in red light, but Taddeas’s magic hadn’t been given enough time to build power. The crimson haze was suddenly overtaken by the gaping black void of the Authority’s open mouth. Yet it never clamped down on them. Instead, it twisted unnaturally, jaws snapping shut over its own wing with a horrible crunch and a muffled wail of pain.

It was Amicia. Aleja’s heart sang. She was still alive. Still able to use her magic.

Aleja raised her hands. She unleashed death.

For a moment, her vision sharpened, letting her see the beam of blackness erupting from her hands. It didn’t glow like her fire. No, this magic devoured light and heat, like Orla’s voids. She felt the steam of Nicolas’s cold breath against the curve of her ear and heard Taddeas gasp through his chattering teeth.

The beam only grazed one of the Authorities, but where it struck, the feathers blackened instantly. Aleja tried to blink her eyes back into focus, but what she saw was so horrific that it must have been a hallucination of her dying mind.

Like her fire, the beam burned away the Authority’s feathers and flesh, but so quickly that all that remained were charred black bones. The bones crumbled, falling apart into ash, leavingbehind only fragments of what hadn’t been consumed by her magic.

You have no idea what you’re doing, the Third warned, his voice cutting through her shock.My magic is boundless. You’ll just as soon destroy both your realms if you don’t stop.

She wanted to ignore him, but then she saw the darkness around the Authority’s remains seeping into the ground. It spread like spilled ink, and for a heartbeat, the battlefield fell into an unnatural stillness. Then, if she had wanted the Authorities to retreat, she had her wish. They broke formation, scattering wildly from the growing black void, their panic stripping them of any strategy.

“What was that, Aleja?” Nicolas whispered against her hair, his voice taut with shock.

Before she could answer, the Third’s scathing voice came again:You’re lucky. That spurt of my magic should only destroy a few hundred square miles of this realm?—

“We need to run. As fast as we can,” she managed before the Third could finish.

—but try again, and you’ll be the real Avaddon. The true world-ender.

The Umbramares lurched into motion, following the Authorities’ path of retreat while giving the spreading darkness a wide berth. Aleja didn’t have the strength to question the direction, her focus fractured as the Third’s words echoed in her mind.

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