None of it really hit me though. Liam crouched beside me, put his face over mine. “Rylee, how bad is the venom?”

“Bad.” I whispered, my throat closing off, the tears unstoppable as I lay on my back. “The worst.”

“She loves you enough to die for you, Rylee,” he said softly, his own eyes dripping moisture onto my face.

But that wasn’t what I wanted to hear. “We have to go, Blaz is in trouble.”

Liam nodded and moved so I could sit up. I wiped my face.

Before I could even ask him, Alex let out a howl. “Farrrrrrrriiiiiiiis.”

Thomas visibly stiffened and turned his back. “Go quickly, I cannot stand the sight of him.”

The veil sliced open twenty feet away. Faris stood in the shadows of his room, waiting.

Liam put a hand on Erik’s shoulder. “I cannot go. Send Blaz for me when you save his big leather ass. I’ll be at Jack’s.”

Erik clapped a hand over Liam’s. “I’ll keep her safe.”

The language of men, it was strange at the best of times.

I couldn’t even kiss him goodbye. But for now, it would be enough. I would see him soon; there was no goodbye for us and as far as I was concerned, there never would be. I handed him the papers Milly had given me, wondered what they were, knew that at some point I’d finally be able to find out. Just not right now. “Here, hang onto these for me.”

Faris took us to the farm without argument, without even a single snotty comment. “Doran and Berget are setting things up; over a hundred ogres have shown up to fight for you, Rylee.”

“That’s good. Thank you, for helping us.”

He shared a quick look with Erik that I pretended not to notice. I knew I was not myself, I knew it. I just couldn’t shake the last look in Milly’s eyes as she bent to her knees, her hands cradled around her belly.

Mother of the gods, watch over her. Keep her safe.

Faris stepped through the veil at the farm since night was heavy over the land. The scent of charred wood still filled the ice-laden air.

“Blaz?” I walked toward the barn.

Rylee, you are back? His head popped up behind the barn, like a giant Jack in the Box.

“Where is Erik?”

Ophelia’s head appeared, rather close to Blaz’s. Looked like they were getting along at least.

He is in the barn, shall I wake him? Her voice was almost tender.

“No. He’s my uncle. I’ll wake him.”

I strode toward the barn, forgetting everything I’d learned about fighting demons. The hate and the pain was too strong. No one tried to stop me; my real uncle let me go. Pamela, Alex, and Faris stayed outside.

They all knew me.

I pushed the door open hard so it banged against the wooden slatted wall.

“Wakey, wakey, uncle,” I snapped, uncoiling my whip. The doppelganger sat up and scrubbed his face.

“You made it?” His eyes were wide with shock.

“Yeah, probably didn’t think I would, did you? Why didn’t you want to go with me, uncle? Was it really because you didn’t think you could help? Or was it because you knew the chances were too high that I’d find out what you really are?”

He pushed away from me.

“No, it isn’t what you think. I had orders, yes. But Ophelia is such a dear and I’ve never had a friend. Ask the dragons. I did nothing. I just came and slept. I got rid of the poison I was to use on them.”

“Demon!” I lunged at him, bare handed, and he cringed; he didn’t try and defend himself.

As I grabbed him, I heard the voice of the monster, the demon turned into a living building who’d helped us, in my head. Not all demons bad.

“Fucking hell.” I pulled the pretender into my arms and the venom completely transferred. He took a breath and passed out.

Rylee, what have you done to Erik? The worry in Ophelia’s voice was obvious. I let out a sigh and dragged his limp body with me. As I walked it shifted, the visage of Erik fading, replaced by one of a very small, very frail looking man. In some ways he reminded me of Thomas. All legs and arms. But he had a large head, and large eyes, and pale grey skin. Kinda human, mostly not.

“He’s a demon. He was impersonating Erik to get close to us. To kill both of you.” I flipped his limp body out into a pile of soot-covered snow.

Erik, the real Erik, poked him with a toe. “Why didn’t you kill him?”

Ophelia’s head snaked down. How did he fool me? How do you know this one, she shoved her nose at Erik, isn’t the one who is fooling you.

“I still hate you, you big nasty bitch. What, did he tell you? He had a change of heart? That he could ride with another dragon now?” Erik swatted her nose and she pulled back, but said nothing.

In her eyes, I saw the confusion the real Erik told me about. The way her eyes were distant and faraway as she tried to process this turn of events. “Ophelia, you are not well. You haven’t been since my father died. That made it easy for him to fool you because you wanted a new rider—”

NO! That can’t be. This is not the way it was supposed to be. She trembled, her lovely eyes filling with tears.

I softened my voice. “It is. He fooled you, he fooled all of us.”

With a wail, she threw herself backward, the ground shuddering under her weight.

I cannot stay. I cannot.

She let out a roar that made me slap my hands over my ears and with that she launched into the air. She fled from us, her silhouette fading from sight within seconds.

“Blaz, is she going to come back?”

I don’t know. Rylee, he did nothing to us. There was no harm. Blaz’s voice was quiet, for my ears only.

“Blaz, you said you wouldn’t survive if I died, that we are bound. How come Ophelia didn’t die when my father did? Or you, Erik, why didn’t you die when your dragon did?”

Erik shook his head. “Every pairing is different. The one with my girl, she severed the bond as she died, to save me. Your father did the same for Ophelia. It is hard and painful, but it will leave the other half of the pair alive. Slayers keep their minds intact, but the dragons don’t. Like I said, the bond runs too deep for them.”

He speaks the truth, but don’t even think it, Rylee. My place is with you, to the end I would not live my life well as a broken dragon. I do not know how Ophelia has done it this long. Blaz’s eyes narrowed. At least I knew there was a way to save him if something did happen to me.