Chapter 51
LI.
I descend into Hell, not with careful steps like Dante, but with the speed of a bullet.
The portal spits me onto the bridge, which I hit like a boulder, and I roll toward the edge.
Attero grabs my ponytail and jerks me back.
Pain shoots through my scalp, but I grab the railing with a cry and come to a stop before toppling into the fires below.
“Sorry.” Attero drops his hand. “I was aiming for your arm.”
I fix my ponytail and the dagger within it. “It’s fine. Thanks for the assist.”
“Any time, boss.” He winks at me and holds his sword in front of him as we start across the bridge.
Boss. Not getting used to that any time soon.
My heart thuds loudly as I draw my own sword from my belt. I squint as I follow Atty across the bridge. Nate was right. It’s really dark down here. I’ve been spoiled by my mother’s sun-yellow walls.
Sweat builds on the back of my neck as the heat from below spirals up to meet us. Which is suspiciously the only thing waiting to meet us.
I frown as we make our way across the bridge. “Where is everyone? Why aren’t there any souldiers here? I figured we’d be in for a fight the moment we came out of the portal.”
“I don’t know,” Attero says through a clenched jaw. “But I don’t like it.”
My stomach flips at the silence surrounding us. “Me neither.”
We exit through the wall into the city of ice, and I gasp, my breath smoking from my lips.
Shadelings of all statures barrel toward us.
Along with the half-frozen residents of this city are the naked, mud-coated shadelings from Greed, shivering violently in the snow.
They’re joined by souls from everywhere in Hell.
Even the walking wounded from Nate’s lot have somehow made it this far.
One screeches at me, seemingly unaware that his stomach is carved open and his guts are spitting red onto the white at his feet.
They toss what they can our way: snowballs, batons they’ve wrestled from souldiers, and even their own limbs. I’m pretty sure one of them tosses a kidney over my shoulder.
No freaking way.
I blow out a long stream of air that ruffles the bangs plastered to my forehead.
Atty really downplayed this.
“How did they all get here?” I shout at my friend as we dodge a chunk of what I hope is bloodied ice.
“Overpowered us and confiscated our vehicles,” he says. “That’s when I left to get you. Luckily, the wall’s contained them for now. But it won’t be long before they force their way through.”
I squeeze the bricks closed behind us as Attero slashes at a sinner with his sword. Souldiers dot the wall beside me, but they’re frozen—not from the cold, as they wouldn’t feel that, but something else has them at a standstill.
What in the Underworld is happening?
“What are you doing?” I bark at one of them as I duck under a flying foot covered in blood. “Get these shadelings back to their lots. Now.”
The souldier’s eyes widen when he realizes who I am. “We’ve received no orders from Ferus, Your Majesty.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
I pick up the foot and whip it at a shadeling’s head. He grunts and falls backward into a pile of snow. “Why the here would you listen to him?”
“He occupies the throne, Your Majesty.” He raises his visor, revealing yellow scales surrounding emerald eyes. “Without you or your father, we receive orders from whoever sits there.”
A shadeling grabs my arm, and I blast a fireball into its chest. It sails into the air and lands on top of the other one in the pile of snow. They screech at each other.
Of course Ferus is on the throne instead of out here. It’s the only thing he’s ever cared about.
I can’t wait to tear him from it. Limb by limb if necessary.
Marching to the middle of the line of souldiers, I close my eyes and brace for their wrath. There’s the sound of weapons lowering and the crunch of snow. When I open my eyes, every souldier is kneeling, their heads bowed.
“What’s happening?” I whisper to Attero.
He smiles. “They’re waiting for your instructions, Your Majesty.”
I narrow my eyes. “Everyone keeps calling me that.”
“What, Your Majesty?”
“Yes, that. What happened to ‘Your Highness’?”
“‘Your Highness’ is how to address a princess. ‘Your Majesty’ is how we address our queen.” Attero bends at the waist. When he raises his eyes to mine, he winks. “I told you we all wanted you back, Dev.”
Snow melts across my tongue as I gape at them, but I don’t close my mouth. I’d prepared for their hatred and disgust at who I am. But it appears even being a half angel who helped a sinner escape isn’t as awful as being Ferus.
They still want me as their leader—and for once in my life, I won’t disappoint those who are counting on me.
Swallowing, I cup my mouth with my hands to overpower the storm. “Gather the rest of the troops and get as many shadelings as you can back to their lots and lock them in.”
They nod their assent and split to tackle—literally—the rogue shadelings in the storm.
“Keep them on track,” I say to Attero. “And let me know if you need me. I’ll be in the throne room.” I burst off the ground and soar toward Dominus before he can hear how loudly my heart smashes around my chest.
I soar as high as possible, far above the lots so that I’m not pulled in by their distortion of time. What took Nate and me an Earth year to traverse on foot takes me less than an hour to cross by air.
Good thing Mom stopped me from cutting my wings off.
When I reach Dominus, I descend and sink onto my toes.
No one guards the halls or tries to stop me as I tiptoe to the throne room and peer into the doorway. By now, they’ve gotten my instructions to capture the loose shadelings.
Ferus isn’t so much sitting on Father’s chair as sprawling across it. He’s reclined sideways, one leg draped over the armrest, propped on his elbow.
My stomach drops at the sight of him. I’m going to have to have that chair steam-cleaned after I get his underqualified ass out of it.
A souldier stands beside him, rigid as stone, eyes forward. He’s not wearing his helmet, and my breath hitches when he comes into view. Diripo.
I gnaw on the inside of my lip. He was kind to Nate and me when he caught us that first day of our escape. Hopefully he’s not still upset that we borrowed his uniform. I could use him on my side again.
Ferus reveals his plethora of teeth as I enter, pushing himself up and slinging his long legs over the front of the chair. “Princess! I wondered if you’d come running once I noticed Attero was gone. Figured the little wuss went to find you. You’re too late, though.”
“Ferus,” I growl, pulling my mom’s sword from my hip. “You’re in my seat.”
He leans forward, one hand between his knees and the other beneath him.
“See, that’s where you’re wrong, Princess.
This throne belongs to whoever wears that pretty gem of yours.
All I need is that ring on my finger, and the chair will officially grant me the title of ruler.
Your father told me so himself. Though he insisted you’d need to give it to me of your own free will.
” He sneers. “What is it with magical beings and all that free will crap?”
My fingers tighten into a fist. I’ll be as damned as the souls down here if I give anything to Ferus freely. “You can’t have it, Ferus. You don’t deserve it.”
“Disappointing, but I figured as much.” He hops off the throne and grins. “And to be honest, Princess, I’m relieved you aren’t giving it up easily. It’ll be more fun taking it.”
Planting my feet in the carpet, I clasp the sword in front of me. “Good luck, Ferus. I fought my way through Hell. You’re nothing.”
He tsks, the tip of his forked tongue raking his teeth. “I don’t know why you’re being so difficult. You’ve told me for years you don’t want this. I’m doing you a favor. You give me the ring, and you can go back to Earth and live happily ever after with that pathetic human.”
For a moment, I consider his proposal. I could go home and say I tried. Spend the rest of my days, however many I have, with Mom and Nate.
Then I remember the night Nate stole into my room, the fear in his eyes as he pleaded for his freedom. I swore no one else would ever go through what he did.
“No.” I edge between the empty seats, my sword raised to the level of his chest. “This place doesn’t belong to you, Ferus. I’ll take it from you if I have to.”
A laugh bubbles from his chest, echoing off the crystal walls. “What do you plan to do, Princess? I’m immortal. You’re a little small to carry me to the Ignis River.”
“Why don’t we try it and find out?”
My sword glows white, and his eyebrows drop as he studies it. “Oh, the princess is fighting with angel weapons now. Where in the Underworld did you score that pretty thing?”
“My mother.” I circle him slowly, and he turns with me, one arm behind his back. “I now know why Father kept her a secret. She’s an angel.”
He studies me, his eyes boring through me like he can see my soul. Except, unlike those he’s condemned unfairly, I don’t have one. “You’re part angel? Face it, Princess, you’re an atrocity who’s disappointed everyone you’ve ever loved.” He spits out the last word like it’s dirt on his tongue.
They’re lies. He wants to weaken me, but all he’s doing is fueling my fires.
I lift my chin. “That’s where you’re wrong, Ferus. I’m not a perfect demon. And I’m not a perfect angel. But it’s those imperfections that make me who I am, and I’m proud of all of me.”
My fingers tighten around the hilt of my sword.
“For your information, the souldiers are locking up the escaped shadelings as we speak. They don’t care where I come from because I’m kind, and I’m fair, and I’m not you.
Face it, Ferus. The only reason you’ve always hated me is because you know I’m smarter than you, I’m stronger than you, and I’m better looking than you. ”
I step closer, but he doesn’t flinch. “And as of right now, I have a longer lifespan than you.”
I bring my sword down, and he brandishes the blade he’s hidden behind his back. The weapons crack as they meet, the blow breaking us apart and throwing me across the room and into a chair. I topple to the ground, pain shooting through my side.
“I always knew we had electricity between us, Princess, but I wasn’t expecting that.” Ferus dusts off his black pants and wields the sword in front of him. “Let’s try that again, shall we?”
The metal in his hand glows with a green wave that ripples through it, like water battering against a glass.
A shiver runs down my back as I push onto my knees. “What is that?”
“It’s my sword.” He slices at the air. “Well, with a bit of an upgrade. Remember when you knocked it into the Ignis River?”
“After you threw it at me.” I stand and lower my brows at him. “Don’t blame me for your bad aim.”
He sucks in air through his teeth. “Anyway, I climbed down to get it and found it on a ledge. An idea occurred to me as I watched the flames. We know the Ignis River can kill demons, but what would it do to a demon weapon? So, I dipped my blade in to find out.”
My jaw drops. “You what?”
Ferus strides to the front of the room and up the stairs. “It didn’t destroy the sword. It made it so much better. Watch.” Before I can move, he slices the blade across Diripo’s throat, who gurgles and grabs at his neck before falling to the ground, lifeless.
“Diripo!” I stare at the body of the demon who’d protected me since I was a child, my jaw agape. Frozen, I wait for him to heal and stand up, but he doesn’t move. The blood drains from my face, and my throat clenches.
He’s gone. Forever. And I never told him how sorry I was for betraying him.
Tears sting my eyes, but I blink them away. “Why, Ferus? He did nothing wrong.”
Ferus brandishes the blade in my direction. “To prove that you need me. I’m an innovator, Princess. Your father wasted so much time marching traitors to the Ignis River. Imagine how they would’ve stayed in line if they knew he had a weapon that could kill them in seconds.”
“You’re not an innovator.” I swallow the bile rising in my throat and study the ground as he pokes at the demon. “You’re a monster. And I’ve listened to you long enough. It’s time for you to go away for good.”