Chapter Twenty-Seven
LILY
I landed in front of the gates and, with a flick of my hand, threw them wide open.
Then I stepped through, smoke and dust swirling around me like snow.
My boots scraped over the stone flooring as I entered the actual palace.
Every sound, every tap of my boots, carried through the cavernous foyer like a hammer.
The vast entry stretched before me, all ebony columns and spires of stone carved into the likenesses of angels bound in chains. My father’s favourite motif. The statues’ eyeless faces followed me as I moved.
When last I’d walked these halls, I’d been running, escaping my father. Now, I came to take what was mine. Came to claim these hallowed halls as my own. Power sang in the walls, from beneath the floors, from the statues. And soon, it would all be mine.
Guided by memory and a distant calling, I turned and headed straight for the throne room.
Someone had sealed shut the great doors, but they opened of their own accord the moment I stepped within reach.
There, at the head of the room, seated upon a small dais, was his—now my—throne.
And resting on the cushion, as though summoned by my will, sat a crown made of infernal metal, one I’d never laid eyes on before.
Was it presenting itself to me now, because I’d defeated my father?
It only shows itself when needed, came that tempting voice in my head. Take the crown, and all will bow.
My fingers twitched at my sides, not from nerves, but reflexes. A small part of me knew this wasn’t right, but I could barely hear my thoughts above the darkness’s voice.
Now, take your place.
Yes. My place. My throne. My crown.
The realm belonged to me, won through combat. My father’s blood ran through my veins, and now I held all his power plus mine within me. The darkness was right—no one would dare challenge me.
The thing inside me crooned its satisfaction.
“Lily!”
My eye twitched, but I didn’t turn. Not even at the sound of Rathiel’s voice—frayed, rough, panicked.
I continued into the throne room and began my approach. Ahead, the crown consumed all my attention. It seemed to swell with pride and power with every measured step I took. As if it knew I approached and yearned for me as much as I did for it.
Another voice, higher, urgent. “Lily, stop!” Eliza.
The scrape of boots against stone, the patter of hurried steps, chased after me.
I kept walking. Nothing would stop me from claiming my power, my title.
A hand caught my arm. Warm fingers, familiar.
“Lily, please,” Rathiel said, closer now, breathless.
Without thought, I lifted my hand. But not to comfort. The darkness answered before I could draw a breath, and magic surged out of me in a single, effortless wave.
Rathiel flew back as though struck by a hurricane. His shout echoed through the room, and the wall shuddered when he struck it.
“Rathiel!” Eliza cried.
Footsteps closed in—Calyx, Eliza—too close. I raised my palm again. The darkness lashed out like a whip, striking them hard enough to throw them clear across the room.
I heard their choked breaths and stunned cries, but they meant nothing to me.
“Lily, don’t make me do this!” Eliza shouted.
I didn’t respond.
“No!” Rathiel cried out.
“I have to,” Eliza snapped back, her voice wavering with something close to fear. “Rathiel, I promised her. She didn’t want this, you know that! Please don’t try to stop me.”
Footsteps pounded closer. I heard the hiss of blades leaving their sheaths.
I snapped my head around.
Eliza was already in the air, daggers flashing silver in the dim light, every muscle coiled to drive them home. Rathiel launched after her, his body angled to knock her aside.
My power reached her first. Black tendrils shot up and caught her by the throat. Eliza’s eyes widened, her blades frozen inches from my face. I stared at the gleaming edges, unmoved by the sight of them. Another shadow burst outward and clipped Rathiel mid-leap, throwing him to the floor.
“Foolish,” I said in a voice wholly not mine. In what world did this siren think she could kill me?
My tendrils tightened, tightened, tightened, until Eliza’s breath came out as a strangled choke. The daggers slipped from her fingers and clattered to the stone as she fought for breath.
I flicked my hand and hurled her clear across the room. She sailed through the air, her cry echoing in my ears. Calyx blurred with movement and took to the air. He barely caught her in time, but he took the brunt as the two slammed into the farthest wall.
Together, they scrambled to their feet and came at me again.
The darkness sighed, more with annoyance than impatience.
No more interruptions.
Yes, I agreed.
I swept my hand sideways. A wall of black erupted from the floor and climbed toward the vaulted ceiling, a barrier of shadow thick as iron that separated me from them.
Calyx and Eliza cursed and stumbled back to avoid slamming into it.
Rathiel stood on the other side, his fist slamming into the barrier over and over as though he could break it through sheer will.
“Lily!” Rathiel shouted, striking the wall again. “Don’t do this!”
I ignored his pleas and continued toward the throne and the beckoning crown. The darkness whispered its pleasure, a velvet murmur that drowned their cries.
This is yours. Claim it. No one can stop you now.
I came to a stop in front of the dais. Heat rolled off the black stone chair, beckoning me.
Sit.
The single word rang like a command and invitation all at once.
I climbed the steps, my wings outstretched.
The siren call of the crown grew louder in my head.
It sang a mystical song until it was all I could hear.
I reached the final step and stopped. My throne loomed inches away, its heat searing against my skin, its heartbeat matching the dark pulse in my chest.
Behind me, the pounding on the barrier grew frantic—Rathiel’s voice breaking as he called my name again and again. Eliza shouted something I couldn’t make out.
My fingers hovered over the obsidian arm of the throne. The darkness inside me held its breath.
Yours, it whispered again, the single word curling through me like smoke. Forever.
Yes, mine. Always.
I touched the crown.
The instant my fingers met the cold metal, the world went white.
Light burst from behind the throne and spread through the room, so sudden and absolute it burned my shadows right out of the air.
The barrier crumbled into nothing, and Rathiel’s shouts broke off mid-word.
The throne’s heat vanished under a wash of cool radiance, and for a heartbeat, I forgot how to breathe.
Then, something stepped out of the light.
No, not something. Someone.
I blinked at the sight of another celestial gliding toward me.
She was soft in appearance but burned with an inner strength that rivaled my own.
The instant she stepped clear of the light, she unfolded her wings in a slow, effortless stretch, each feather as luminous as the sunrise.
Her hair fell like starlight down her back, and her face—
My heart slammed into my ribs as painful, aching recognition lit within me. I knew her. I’d never seen her before, but I knew that face. As well as I knew my own reflection.
The celestial’s gaze found mine, and the smallest, saddest smile touched her lips. “My daughter,” she said. Her voice rang like the most beautiful bells, and my knees buckled, threatening to spill me to the floor.
Inside, the shadows snarled and withdrew, as though being in the presence of so much light hurt them.
For the first time since I’d killed my father, feeling swept back in, my emotions exploding within me in a flood I could barely stand.
I drew a rough, stuttering breath, and tears spilled down my cheeks.
My mother.
I didn’t move. I couldn’t. But she did. She stepped closer and lifted her hands, her light holding me as gently as though she were holding me herself.
“I don’t understand,” I rasped.
“I know.” Her eyes were the blue of the clearest sky I’d ever seen on Earth. They shone with love and every other emotion possible. “You were so small,” she whispered. “I just wanted to protect you.” A flicker of grief crossed her features, and the sight of it drove a knife through my heart.
“How is this possible? You’re…you’re dead.”
Her smile deepened, sorrow touching the edges.
“I am. But I’ve been waiting your whole life for this moment.
” She strode barefoot across the dais until she came to a stop in front of me and touched my free hand—the one not resting on the throne.
The second we connected, the darkness fled completely, almost as though it feared her.
“He forced this life upon you. And for that, I’ll never be able to apologize enough.”
I didn’t have to ask who he was.
“You are destined for so much, my darling girl. You’ve been so brave and come so far. And you survived him. Very few can make such a claim.” Another smile that shredded my heart.
But behind her, the crown still beckoned. Her light dulled its song, but I still felt the pull.
Sofiel touched my cheek. “Don’t,” was all she whispered.
“But it’s mine. It belongs to me now.”
“It belongs to the darkness. Where there is good, there is evil, my darling girl. And there is so much good in the universe. The darkness is here to balance that. But it’s not needed for one to rule this realm.”
“I don’t understand,” I whispered again.
“Your father was full of love,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “Do you know why his people fell alongside him?” She gestured with a sweeping arm to Rathiel and Calyx, who, without the barrier blocking them, now stood beside the dais, awe blanking their faces.