Lily was down.
And Vaeghar was grinning… until he wasn't.
Because still pinned beneath his claw, Lily's body began disintegrating into twinkling specks of black light, like dark fireflies scattering in the night.
Vaeghar's eyes widened just a fraction.
Then he whipped his head around to peer inside the dark cavern behind him and saw a young woman with long, ash-blonde hair and haunting violet eyes staring back at him.
Yes. This was our plan.
We knew Vaeghar would go for Lily, so we'd positioned her near the edge of the caldera, where she could not only bait the Eighth Prince with an illusion of herself, but also retreat to safety after doing her job.
Vaeghar acted quickly and swiped his claws again.
Another discordant thrum followed, just like before.
Lily braced herself and got ready to blast the cavern wall beside her to gouge out an alcove and dive into it if the demon were to unleash that same crescent pressure wave at her.
…But he didn't attack.
