Chapter 4

Mal stood guard as they paused their tracking of Nikolai so they could make preparations for a different method of hunting. Tolya and Tamar were sharpening their blades, though neither wanted to be forced to use them. David was fabrikating makeshift chains out of stone. The only catch was he would have to be the one to get them on the demon.

"I'm really not skilled enough for this," he stammered.

"Yes, you are," Alina encouraged. "You're the most skilled Fabrikator I know."

"In a lab," he pressed. "But out here like this…I'll have to get close to the de- to him, and move fast to bind it- him. I'm not that coordinated."

"That's why Tolya and I will distract him if necessary," Tamar spoke up.

David grimaced but kept working on the stones. Alina stepped away to give him space and not stress him further with her anxious hovering. Mal went over to her to offer support in the only way he could—just by being there.

Alina brought her arms up to hug herself, her expression pinched. "What if I kill him?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"Then Tamar and Tolya will heal him, like Nina did me."

Alina shook her head in distress. "Why does saving everyone and everything I care about involve me murdering those very same people?" she said bitterly.

Mal slipped a sympathetic arm around her shoulders. He had no words of comfort for her. It wasn't fair, and it wasn't their fault. Kirigan did all of this. Mal had thought with him gone, there would be no more pain and fear of the likes they had lived under when the Fold stood. But the blasted abomination was still managing to tear them apart from beyond the grave. They needed to eradicate this last piece of him, rid the world of his poison for good.

Mal ducked his head toward Alina and kept his voice equally low. "I agree with Tolya; Nikolai wouldn't want to remain like this, posing a danger to anyone. He would rather die." Mal shifted to stand in front of her and look her in the eye. "I know what that's like. When it came between me dying to amplify the Darkling or you, I knew which death would give me peace. And you being the one to do it…you were the last thing I saw. And I know Nikolai would also take comfort in that death."

Alina's eyes welled with tears, and her breath hitched on a strangled sob as she dropped her forehead against his chest. He brought his arms up around her again.

"It's not a death sentence, not yet," he reminded her. "You defeated Kirigan, and you will defeat this thing. And so will Nikolai."

Alina shuddered in his arms, then drew in a sharp breath and pulled herself together. She stepped back and lifted her chin, swallowing the tears she refused to shed.

"David's done," Nadia called, having apparently waited in deference to their private moment.

They turned back to the others, who also stood at the ready. David held two clunky chains made of rock and stone in his arms. Mal nodded and shifted his attention out into the woods, focusing on the resonance of merzost he could sense, then set off after it. He didn't mention to the others that it now rang…sharper. Stronger. Mal dreaded what they might encounter when they found Nikolai again.

An unnatural hush fell over the wood, prickling Mal's guard up. He could feel they were being watched. Not carefully or warily, but…predatorily. His pulse quickened, but he kept his focus on the frequency, narrowing in on its exact location. Nothing moved or made a sound.

Where are you…

The ping that thrummed in his ribs brought Mal to a standstill. The others stopped as well. He had only a split second before his instinct pulled his gaze upward just as the attack came from above. The demon dropped straight down like a clawed spider. Mal dove out of the way, the demon landing right where he'd been standing. Startled yelps went up, and Mal scrambled to his feet. The demon spun, its wings clipping him and sending him flying again.

Tolya and Tamar leaped in with brandished blades, slashing at the monster. But they only went for superficial blows, nothing devastating or fatal.

"Nikolai, stop!" Alina was shouting.

But it seemed he couldn't hear her this time, or if he could, there was nothing he could do. This time he was full demon, unbridled.

Nadia whipped her hands up and blasted him with a gust of wind that knocked him down. He roared and flapped his wings wildly to get himself up. Nadia battered him with more swirling gales, and he screeched in rage.

Tolya dropped to one knee and let his sword fall to the ground, swiftly switching to Grisha power. With palms crossed and two fingers braced, face set in concentration, he aimed at the demon's heart, no doubt trying to slow the thing down. But it was strong and lurched upright against the manipulation. Mal wondered if a Heartrender could even have an effect on it.

The demon turned with a snarl to lunge at Tolya. Mal whipped out his pistol and shot at a wing. The demon flinched and whirled to shriek its vitriol at him, and Mal scrambled backwards several feet.

Tamar dropped her axes and joined her brother in trying to slow the monster's vitals. It jerked around toward her next. Alina summoned a sphere of light and shoved it into Nikolai's face, making him screech and reel backwards.

"David, now!" she yelled.

Despite looking terrified and out of his element, David darted in with one set of stone chains. The demon was still stumbling, disoriented, and David lunged forward to clap the manacle around the right wrist. Cupping his hands, he melded the stone ends together into a solid piece. The demon screeched and threw him off. Mal dashed toward David to haul him up and away. The Fabrikator tripped over his own feet as he swept his hands in formation. The other end of the stone chain slithered across the ground to a nearby rock, yanking Nikolai backwards and dragging him a few feet. The demon snarled and thrashed, but it wasn't restrained yet.

Mal snatched up a hefty branch and swung it at Nikolai, distracting the demon as David rushed in and fused the chain into the much larger rock. Nikolai lashed out with his other arm and grabbed the branch with his talons. Mal let go before he could pull him in.

Tolya and Tamar executed their Heartrender attack again. The demon struggled with all its vicious intent, but it sank to its knees, its heaving chest beginning to slow down. The marble black eyes began to roll inside their sockets.

Mal ushered David forward. "Hurry and finish it!"

David was shaking and fumbling as he took the second chain and clamped the stone shackle around Nikolai's left wrist, then fused the other end to the rock behind him. At last he was caught.

Tolya and Tamar broke off their assault and got to their feet. The rest of them gathered around as well, taking a moment to catch their breaths. As the demon recovered, it jerked its head up and snarled. It then lunged at them, but the stone chains held fast. David had drawn all the metals he could from the earth when fashioning them. The demon screamed in rage and continued to strain against its bonds. With another harsh yank, they heard a bone in one arm snap.

"Nikolai, stop!" Alina exclaimed.

But he didn't. There was no sign of Nikolai fighting the monster as he had before, and Mal felt a thrill of fear that Nadia's prediction might have already come true—Nikolai had lost the battle against the demon and was gone.

Tolya and Tamar quickly resumed subduing him, bringing the creature to its knees. It wheezed and twitched, still fighting them. Mal turned to Alina; it was up to her now.

Her eyes were wide with fear, but she drew her shoulders back and approached. The demon growled at her, eyes lolling. She summoned her light, gathering it brighter and larger in her hands before she finally shoved both palms against Nikolai's chest. The demon threw its head back with a blood-curdling scream that made them all flinch. Tolya and Tamar almost jerked away from their focus of keeping the thing down.

Mal raised a hand to shield his eyes against the blazing nova. He watched in horrified fascination as the shadow veins underneath Nikolai's skin writhed and squirmed. Some were retreating, but others were surging forward, weaving together into knots. It was a battle, one only Alina could fight.

Mal may not have been an amplifier anymore, but he hurried forward and dropped down beside her, grasping her shoulders and holding her steady, offering his support the only way he could. Tendrils of light whipped around them, while most of it was focused on the demon. Mal could feel Alina straining against something, her body shuddering with the exertion of it. But unlike last time, the results weren't happening as quickly. The demon refused to relinquish its host.

"Come on, Nikolai," Alina ground out. "Fight with me."

The light was almost blinding now, and in its blaze, Nikolai's hair looked platinum white. The shadows started to recede, and this time the scream that tore from his throat was all too human. Alina flinched at the sound.

Mal held her tighter. "Keep going," he urged. They couldn't stop now.

Alina let out a raging cry as she pushed another burst of light into the demon. The obsidian wings exploded into dust and dissolved in an instant; the razor talons retreated back into fingernails. And those black eyes suddenly flared like suns, and then they were blue again for a split second before they rolled back. Nikolai slumped forward against Alina, fully human again.

Mal quickly reached over her shoulder to check for a pulse. He felt one, fast and erratic, but very much there. "He's alive," he said so the others could hear.

Nikolai's bare torso was slick with sweat, his feet torn and dirty. His trousers were a mess. But the shadow veins were gone.

Alina shared a look of delirious relief with everyone before she turned back to the limp king in her arms. She ran her hands down his back, only for her expression to shift into confusion, then horror. She lifted her hand, and it came away covered in bright red.

"Tamar! Tolya!" she yelled.

The twins scrambled over behind Nikolai and both uttered curses. Mal shifted to get a look, and his stomach lurched at the sight of two gaping wounds down Nikolai's back. Where the wings had been. He was bleeding heavily, but Tamar and Tolya worked quickly in tandem to slow the blood loss. They weren't trained Healers, though, and so it took them what felt like an agonizingly long time. Everyone waited with suspended breath until the twins rocked back on their heels.

"We've done all we can for now," Tamar said, expression grave. "His body is in shock."

"We need to get him back to the Grand Palace," Alina responded, but Tolya put a hand on her shoulder.

"He can't be moved in this condition, and the Kingfisher is too far away."

Mal's jaw tightened, and he gathered his wits to take the command that was needed. "We'll have to camp here, until we can move him safely. Nadia, get a fire going. I'll find water."

"David, get these off," Alina said, voice breaking slightly.

David still looked terrified as he ventured over and unfused the stone shackles from Nikolai's wrists. One was swollen and purple, and Tamar shifted around him to try to heal the broken bone.

Mal got to his feet, turning his attention to their next needs. But then Alina's horrified tone had him twisting back around.

"Saints, no."

They hadn't seen it before, but now as Tolya pulled Nikolai away from Alina, they could see the original wound in his shoulder, still red and inflamed—and still lined with cracks of shadow.

Alina looked up at Mal in horror. This wasn't over. Not by a long shot.