I was sure that Aziza’s big reveal—that she was single-handedly keeping the Demon King at bay—was meant to be shocking, game-changing, or, at the very least, dramatic.

  But honestly? It just felt flat.

  Maybe it was the tea party setting or her use of practiced pauses, expecting awe, but we already knew the lords were fighting each other. This was just another confirmation of the obvious.

  “That sounds like a ‘you’ problem,” I replied, blatantly lying through my teeth.

  Maybe, just maybe, Olethros would be even angrier at her for what she did than at me for coming back here. Maybe things would be okay if I just let nature take its course. Or war. Or revenge. Or whatever. They all amount to the same thing in the end. The two of them could fight it out. Maybe he’d get his fill, and then I could convince him that going along with me would be a much better choice than throwing another angry tantrum.

  I leaned back in my chair, arms crossed. “I don’t think I can sympathize with your plight. You got yourself involved with him, and now you have to deal with the consequences.”

  To my astonishment, she nodded. “Yes,” she agreed, her tone measured, almost thoughtful. “I should never have tried to bargain with him.”

  She exhaled, not in frustration or anger, but with the slowness of longstanding regret.

  “Under our contract, he was unable to lie,” she admitted, her ruby-red eyes burning as they flicked toward me knowingly. “But he does wonders by hiding truths… doesn’t he?”

  Contract?

  The two small muscles holding the back of my head to my neck clamped down painfully, causing a sudden wave of dizziness as my stomach threatened to revolt. The others started to stand from their seats, but I waved to reassure them that nothing was attacking me. However, the back of my right hand continued to burn long after I brought it back down to my side.

  “He came to my Sanctum once,” she explained, her eyes never leaving mine. “About a decade ago or so.”

  I did my best not to react, even though a sudden, deep-seated panic filled my chest.

  A contract!

  “I hadn’t paid any attention to him before that,” she conceded. “I was preoccupied with Purpose. I had just conceived of a way to seek help beyond the stars since I had exhausted all other sources of knowledge in Speranza. It was my task to break my father’s chains, and in doing so, I would be correcting the world’s greatest wrong.”

  Father? She called Epiales… Father?

  Relias inhaled sharply with a hiss. “Foul witch! You would have unleashed untold destruction upon this world simply because you were told to?!”

  “My motivations,” she started smoothly. “Go deeper than mere familial obeisance, Sage.” There was no guilt in her tone, no shame, just the icy certainty of someone who had long since made peace with the idea of setting Epiales free.

  “However, I was robbed of such success,” she continued. “That underhanded schemer came here, proclaiming he had finally devised a way to eliminate the Chosen One—permanently. He just needed help conducting a few pilot tests.” She stood up, slamming her hands on the table. “The only thing he left out was the fact that he was going to let you kill Father first!”

  Several companions scootched their chairs back in anticipation of a more violent outburst, but Mistress Aziza inhaled deeply and took her seat as if nothing had happened.

  “One of my progeny volunteered. We cast him out of Speranza with orders to contact me upon arrival.” She shrugged. “Don’t ask me where he landed. He never communicated back. It was that serpent who came up with the target location, and frankly speaking, I did not care where you’d landed as long as you’d never be able to return.”

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  He… could have thrown me into a star. Or, more likely, the void of space.

  But he didn’t. I landed on Earth.

  What if I just have good luck? Or I just used up my luck that one time.

  Or maybe he just didn’t want to risk me dying before crossing some unknown boundary between worlds.

  Why do I keep second-guessing his actions?!

  “None of this exposition is convincing me to help you,” I snapped as I stood up, sweat forming on my brow. “You just admitted you wanted me dead or worse, and now you expect me to help you take revenge? Sorry, but I don’t think I can help you.”

  Aziza appeared almost amused. “You don’t have a choice in the matter,” she replied, removing the necklace around her neck. The crimson gemstone in the center caught the light as she held it between two fingers.

  “This is the key to get past my barrier and into his tower. I suggest you hurry. If you wait until he breaks free, anything in his way will be subject to collateral damage. Don’t expect him to come at you in a straight line, either.”

  “You seem so certain he’s going to come after me first,” I quipped. “But you’re the one who locked him up.”

  She smiled, the edges of her lips spiraling more than humanly possible. “You’re the bigger threat right now.”

  She might have had a point. I had my sword and shield back, and my companions were again by my side.

  With a negligent toss, the necklace fell from her fingertips and landed with a hollow thud on the table before me.

  I instinctively stepped back and held my hands behind me as I looked questioningly toward Relias.

  “Do not mistake this for an alliance, demoness,” Relias intoned, rising to his full height. “The only alignment we have rests in the necessity of destroying the demon king. Nothing more. Whether your relic serves as a boon or a blight upon us, I shall discern its truth now.”

  His eyes narrowed as he summoned a soft, steady glow to his fingertips. But the moment he reached for the necklace, a crackling bolt of lightning erupted from the stone, striking his hand with a sharp snap. The impact caused his arm to jerk back, his fingers twitching as the glow fizzled out.

  “Relias!” I shouted.

  “I am uninjured, merely startled,” he murmured, though his gaze remained hard.

  “I will not trust anyone else with the key,” Aziza explained.

  I clenched my fists. “You could have said that before he reached for it!”

  “I could have,” she agreed. “But I thought it better to show you all.” She folded her arms, a haughty expression forming on her face. “Do not even think about using the animus inside in any other manner…” Her gaze fell on Nora. “Dark Mage.”

  Nora simply shrugged, though I felt a certain smugness behind it. It was a small but significant act of defiance that suggested she had been quite creative during her captivity.

  With aura flaring, I reached for the stone. As my fingers latched around it, the back of my hand burned fiercely. Instinctively, I tried to let go, only to find I couldn’t. “What?!”

  “One more thing before I see you off,” Aziza purred. “I discovered that I’m not the only one he has a contract with. I think it's best to remind you of your terms and conditions.”

  The gemstone seared against my palm, its ruby red flames burning away my gauntlet as if it were paper. A bright white magic circle flared to life on the back of my hand, its tiny runes glowing with unearthly defiance. The gemstone renewed its attack, and the magic circle dissolved. Dark blots began to surface, filling in the form of a dark serpent that writhed until it coiled back on itself with a wide-mouthed hiss.

  “I, Captain Raelynn Lightbringer, shall forsake the lands of Speranza and all who dwell within it,” the snake said in my voice. “I shall depart from its borders and never return, neither in life nor in death, neither in form nor in spirit, neither by my own will nor by the will of any other. I shall make no attempt to interfere in the governance, fate, or survival of Speranza, nor shall I act through any intermediaries to do the same.”

  Bile rose to my throat as the rest of the Gold Order collectively gasped. Unable to speak or even tear my eyes away, I trembled as the snake continued, adopting Olethros’s voice.

  “In return, I, Demon Lord Olethros, Second of Evil, shall lend my power, my knowledge, and my forces to aid Captain Raelynn Lightbringer in the destruction of Epiales, Demon King of Nightmare. I shall provide counsel, magical skills, and the means necessary to see Epiales undone, by whatever method ensures his complete and utter destruction. I shall not pursue, harm, nor cause harm to come upon any member of the Order of Gold, nor shall I allow my vassals, agents, or subordinates to enact any harm upon them, instead permitting them to live out their natural lives so that they may fulfill their terms within the Eternal Covenant. Should any force other than mine seek to claim their lives, I shall not be bound to intervene, nor shall I be held accountable for their fates beyond this pact.”

  “S-stop! Stop talking!” I screamed, slapping my other hand over the snake. “This can’t be true! None of it can be true!”

  “Should I, Captain Lightbringer, set foot upon Speranza again, in any form…”

  “Or should I, Demon Lord Olethros, violate my promise in any way…”

  Both our voices dully intoned, “This covenant shall be broken, and all collaborative protections upon us shall be void, subject to inexorable wrath at the hands of the one aggrieved. This pact binds us across every plane, in every form. No force in this world or the next will sever what has been sealed today.”

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