Orion stared at me. “No, this cannot be.”

On my knees I grinned up at him, and slowly flipped him off. “Game. Set. Match, you big dumb bastard.”

He couldn’t kill me, unless he wanted to die right there on the ship’s deck. “You couldn’t have, it’s not possible . . . .” He shook his head and stepped back, breathing hard. I stood gingerly and dusted my pants off.

“You are going to lose this game,” I said.

Without warning, he lunged at me, his fingers going around my neck. “I will kill you, the binding doesn’t affect me.”

I closed my eyes. I would not fight him. If he killed me, we would both die. I felt it in my bones, all the way to my cracked shin that throbbed in time with my heartbeat.

This would save the world and there would be no need for anyone else to suffer.

Orion’s fingers tightened. “I am not bound by you, Slayer.”

I didn’t open my eyes. “I love them enough to die for them.”

My heart thumped harder as he squeezed, slowing my blood flow. It took everything in me not to fight him, to hold still and let it happen. This was what I’d banked on. Orion’s arrogance that he would be different than the other demons. That somehow he would be safe from a Slayer’s binding.

There was a moment of disconnect as my heart stuttered and death crept along my legs, working her way up my body. But it wasn’t death’s voice I heard; it was Giselle’s.

Leaping before you look again, eh, my girl? Rylee, you may kill Orion, but what about the Veil? It is wide open for the demons to pour through. If you die, then it will be on Marcella to close the Veil, and by the time she is of an age to do that, the world will have been devoured.

Fuck.

My eyes snapped open and with the last of my strength I kicked out with both feet, catching Orion in the belly and knocking him away from me. The world was spinning, but I could clearly see I wasn’t the only one suffering.

Orion lay flat on his back, breathing hard. I struggled to my feet, swaying. “What was that about the binding not working?”

His red eyes looked straight into mine. He took a few more deep breaths before he sat up. “Why did you stop me?”

I shook my head. “Why were you willing to die with me?” The answer flowed from him to me in a series of images and thoughts.

Orion truly thought he was the savior of his people, and he would do anything to keep the Veil open for them. Even if that meant dying with me.

I didn’t want to see him as anything other than an asshole demon bent on destroying the world. He shook his head slowly, as if trying to clear his thoughts.

He stumbled to his feet and I backed up—limping—and pressed myself against a wall. “You are willing to die for your people.”

“And you are willing to die to save the world from us.”

An impasse. I put a hand to the cold metal behind me. Rust flakes came off against my skin and I truly looked around.

Orion had resurrected the ship we’d sunk in the shipyard in Boston.

“I thought it a fitting place to hide my people. A ship that no longer exists in human records.”

He circled me and I looked up, knowing what I’d see. Tiers of levels above us were filled with glowing red eyes as a veritable horde of demons stared down at me.

I didn’t dare touch the armband out of reassurance. I had a way out of this mess. Time to get as many answers as I could.

“Your ogres are dead.” I reached for my swords and pulled them out of their sheaths.

Orion laughed. “They were cannon fodder. Useless.” I thought of Blaz, inadvertently giving him the news that my dragon was dead. Orion’s eyes widened as he picked up on it. “Apparently not so useless. I may have to reward that last female for killing your set of wings.”

I slid around the edge of the ship, doing my best not to limp.

Orion’s eyes narrowed. “Do you really think you can escape? Your death is assured. I will not stop my people from killing you. It may slow them down not to have me lead, but it will not keep them out of this world. They have been denied too long.” A bead of sweat rolled down his bald head. Fear fed through our bond. He was uncertain of the outcome if we both died. But I wasn’t.

Giselle was right. There had to be the final ceremony to close the Veil and it was my blood that would do it. I’d hoped by binding Orion, I could escape that ceremony. Do things my way.

End things my way.

Orion let out a roar as my thoughts slid into his and I sheathed my swords then grabbed the armband, turning it counterclockwise. The world dropped away from me and within the space of two heartbeats, I was back in the Rim, deep in the Enders Barracks.

Smoke filled the room, sticking to my lungs, bringing me to my knees. Choking, I crawled to the center of the globe, and pulled my farmhouse close to me. My hand hovered over it as my mind raced. The smoke curled around me, making the image in front of me flicker in and out of view and slowing me down from making a sudden choice.

I needed Ophelia to ride with me into battle. I could Track her and be at her side in a matter of seconds. There was no way Orion could beat me to her. With the distance between us, Orion’s thoughts and emotions were dim and I could pick up no distinct words. Which meant he could pick up none of mine.

“Please let this be the right thing to do,” I whispered as I Tracked the red female dragon. The dragon of my father.

Her threads beat strong and healthy, and she wasn’t moving, which was all the better. I moved the globe quickly, repositioning it as I scrambled to get to her before Orion did.