Chapter Twenty-Four #2
“Eliza.” Lily’s tone softened, but only a fraction.
“Stay close. The lines will break, and when they do, I need you where I can see you. No wandering off, no heroics. Your daggers belong in my shadow. Don’t be afraid to use your voice if you can do so without affecting our ranks.
We need Lucifer’s forces distracted. Not ours. ”
Eliza gave a quick salute.
“Calyx.” She shifted her attention, and the fallen straightened. “You hold the flank. If they press us, you cut through them. Fast. Clean. No mercy.”
For once, he didn’t grin or quip. He just gave a single, grave nod.
Finally, Lily turned to Mephisar. She pressed her palm to his scaled side, her voice dropping into something close to reverence. “You’re with me. I need you to protect me while I find Lucifer.”
The hellwyrm rumbled his agreement low in his throat.
Lily stepped back then, sweeping her gaze over us all. “We don’t get another chance after this. So be sharp. Be ruthless.” No one spoke. No one needed to. The weight of her words sank into us like steel driven deep.
And then, as if she hadn’t just handed out life-or-death orders, she exhaled once, squared her shoulders again, and turned back to the field.
“Just one thing,” Levi said. He stepped forward and caught Eliza by the waist.
She frowned. “Now’s not the time—”
But he didn’t let her finish. He swept down and kissed her with all the passion of a new lover. The rest of us fell quiet, though Calyx went unearthly still. Too still. Then he turned away from the sight, his lip curling.
After a few moments, Lily made a baffled sound in her throat—half scoff, half laugh. “Uh, is now really the time—”
Levi broke from the kiss but didn’t let Eliza go. “One more kiss, if this is to be our last.”
Eliza softened, her lashes lowering. “We’re both going to make it out of this, I swear.”
He stared at her with a soft smile. But it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Instead, he repositioned himself, his hand gripping hers. And from the look of his white knuckles, rather hard.
Eliza sucked in a sharp breath. “Levi. You’re…you’re hurting me.”
This time, when he smiled, it came out almost cruel. A mocking twist of his lips.
And then…the world tilted.
The gold bled from his hair like water sluicing off stone.
That warm, sunlit glow around him blinked out.
The edges of his face sharpened, his jaw widened, his cheekbones tightened.
Wings spread from his back, but they weren’t the alabaster colour we’d all grown accustomed to.
They were black. Blacker than night. And so massive, they nearly blotted out the light.
Everything about him changed, in a way I couldn’t believe, until Levi was gone and someone else stood before us. Someone I never would have thought possible.
Lily’s breath hitched like someone had punched her in the throat. My gut dropped, and everything within me went feral and still all at once.
His eyes found Lily first, and a deep, gravelly voice said, “Hello, daughter.”
Lucifer.
Lucifer stood an arm’s length from us. What the fuck? How was this possible? And where the fuck was Levi?
Eliza screamed, but before she could so much as move, Lucifer gripped her hard, angled her in front of him, then slid the flat of his blade against her throat.
A hair closer and he’d split her flesh. All with two hands.
I almost snarled at the sight of them both.
One shouldn’t have existed. I’d cut it off myself the last time we’d gone to war.
The one now clamped around her waist was gloved, black leather pulled taut.
Too stiff. But still functional. Magic shaped to mimic what he’d lost.
Mephisar snarled and reared back, his mouth opening and fire gathering in the depth of his throat.
“Don’t,” Lucifer said almost lazily, tapping the blade against Eliza’s throat. He shifted the siren, angling her body to shield his own. “Unless you want to watch me paint the sand with your lovely siren’s blood.”
“Mephisar, stop,” Lily rasped. Then she faced Lucifer, fire ablaze in her eyes. She even stole a step toward him. “Let. Her. Go.”
I snatched her wrist without looking, anchoring her to my side. Mephisar’s coils brushed my legs, trembling with restrained violence.
Lucifer’s gaze flicked to me, and a thin smile curved his mouth. “Rathiel,” he purred. “Still the disloyal soldier. Still so predictable.” His attention slid past and found Calyx. “You. Come.”
Calyx’s jaw clenched hard enough to crack enamel. He stumbled a step forward, his body jerking as he fought Lucifer’s command.
“Very good,” Lucifer said, pleased that Calyx hadn’t any choice but to obey. “Return to my army. Gavrel awaits you.”
Calyx’s shoulders jerked like Lucifer had yanked a chain.
Calyx turned his head toward Lily—just a fraction—and for a heartbeat he looked like himself, all edges and defiance.
Then his eyes glazed, pain swallowing the anger.
His wings snapped wide and, with a grimace, he leapt into the air and arrowed straight toward the enemy ranks.
Shit. This was our nightmare come true. We’d hoped to kill Lucifer before he could gain control of Calyx again, to keep our word and win back his freedom. And now, he would side with Lucifer’s army, against his free will.
Lucifer lowered the sword a breath from Eliza’s throat.
Not away—just enough to allow her to speak without nicking her.
He leaned down, mouth near her ear. “As for you,” he murmured.
“Do you remember last night? How you promised yourself to me? How you swore we’d always be together?
” An evil laugh slipped past his lips. “Oh, sweet Eliza. Now we will be. And it’s your own fault. ”
Eliza’s face drained of colour, and her horror-stricken gaze locked with Lily’s. “That—that wasn’t—I promised Levi. Not you.”
“Yes, well, unfortunately Levi’s dead. He has been since that unfortunate dragon attack.
” He pretended to pout. “Your hellwyrm wasn’t the only one to die.
I was there, ready to step into his place before anyone learned of his death.
That means you promised me. And that promise, I’m afraid, is ironclad. ”
Lily moved—of course she did. Her best friend’s life was in danger.
“Ah, ah,” Lucifer said, chuckling as he pressed the blade tighter against Eliza’s throat. “Don’t worry, daughter. We’ll have our moment on the battlefield. In the meantime, Rathiel, you should restrain her if you know what’s good for her.”
For once, I willingly obeyed Lucifer. I locked both hands on Lily’s arms and held her back, even though my every muscle ached to rip him apart. Eliza’s throat worked around her panic, her fingers scrabbling against Lucifer’s wrist as she fought to pry herself loose.
“Let her go!” Lily’s magic gathered under my palms, shadows and heat rising. “She is not yours!”
“Oh, but she is,” Lucifer mocked with a grin. “Shall I demonstrate that to you?” He took a step back, putting distance between them. But before she could run, he said, “Eliza, come,” as though she was nothing more than an obedient dog.
She shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. But she stepped back, her heel touching the toes of his boots. He took another step. And so did she.
“Well, would you look at that? Nice and obedient,” Lucifer mocked.
Lily coiled, ready to lunge. I tightened my grip until she would bruise and leaned in. “Not here. He’ll kill her. We’ll fight him on the field. And we’ll save her.”
“You forced her to promise herself to you!” Lily cried.
“You’d like to think so, wouldn’t you? But I’m afraid not.
She came to me willingly, and oh, so very eager.
Just another one of your friends who’s more loyal to me than you.
” He laughed, eyes sparkling with mirth.
“Thank you for hosting me this whole time. It was helpful to see all that you can do and learn about your plans. I must say, daughter, I truly am proud of all you’ve accomplished.
There’s a place for you at my side, should you wish to live and make something of yourself. ”
“Never,” she vehemently hissed.
“Pity. We’ll talk more soon,” he told Lily, his tone almost warm and caring.
Lily choked on a curse that was mostly my name and shoved against me.
I didn’t let her go. Simply because I saw it all playing out in my head: Eliza’s life pouring out on the sand while he laughed; Lily flying into a mindless fury; Mephisar and I sacrificing ourselves to protect her.
We would lose everything in one reckless, furious rush.
Lucifer stepped back, gathering Eliza with him like she weighed nothing. She fought. Oh, did she fight, but against Lucifer, she was barely a flea.
Holding Lily’s gaze, Lucifer leaned forward and murmured, “I’m very curious to see how those lovely siren powers of yours work against hellspawn, my love.”
Then he unfurled his wings and shot into the air with Eliza in his arms before flying to his side of the battlefield.
Mephisar’s roar split the air. Gorr thundered forward three strides before Korrak’s barked order snapped him to a halt. Our ranks surged and stuttered, the front lines rippling with the urge to break and give chase.
Lily went dead still in my hands.
“Lily,” I said quietly. “Look at me.”
Her stare didn’t move from Lucifer’s back as he landed among his soldiers, Eliza cradled like a prize in his arms. Their line opened to swallow them. A cheer rose—ugly, hungry.
“Look at me,” I repeated.
Slowly, she did. The blue of her eyes had gone flat, a shade I didn’t like. Not grief. Not rage. Broken.
“He knows,” she whispered, her voice thin. “He knows everything.”
“Yes,” I said. No use softening the blow.
Her throat worked. She dragged in one breath, then another, like she had to remind her lungs what to do. “We just lost Calyx, Eliza, Levi.” Her mouth trembled once, then steadied.
“We’ll win this, and we’ll get Calyx and Eliza back,” I assured her.
“Levi—”
“We can’t focus on that right now.”
“He broke us in minutes, Rathiel. Three of our best are gone.”
I turned her fully in my arms. “You still have me. And Dragon. And Mephisar. And yourself. And an army. We are not weak. We are not broken. Do you hear me? I will take out Gavrel, and we will win this fight. We will save Calyx and Eliza. And we will avenge Levi.”
“He was there the entire time, watching us. Watching you and me. How? Why didn’t we know? How could I have been so blind?”
“All questions for later,” I said, pulling Lily close. “Right now, we need to focus, okay? We have a battle ahead of us. You cannot let him distract you now.”
I glanced over her head to find Lucifer now standing at the head of his army, Gavrel at his left, Calyx at his right, and Eliza one step behind him.
“We can do this,” I reminded Lily. “You can do this.”
She closed her eyes, just for a heartbeat. When she opened them again, the steel was back. She nodded once. “Then let’s do this.”