Chapter Twenty-Seven
Kara
As I stepped into my dad’s castle, melancholy clung to me like wet clothes. It soaked through my skin, crawled into my bones, and settled in my soul. Every breath felt heavier. Maybe it was because Luke sounded so damn certain he’d win in the end. Maybe it was because…I believed him.
One thought kept echoing through my head, steady and cruel. I didn’t think I’d see this place again.
The stone halls, the torches lining the walls, the faint scent of pine and iron—every piece of my childhood home suddenly looked like a goodbye. A lump clawed its way up my throat.
I should have told Dad goodbye.
He tried. Shadow tried. Even Luke—bastard that he was—tried to force farewells out of me.
Tears blurred my vision.
I’m never going to see him again…am I?
Sensing most of the family in the infirmary, I wiped my face with the back of my wrist and faded there.
And chaos greeted me.
Strapped to a bed was Barron, his red essence flooding across the floor like a spilled flame. He wasn’t even trying to contain it. One minute he sobbed, and the next he snarled at our brothers to let him loose.
August stood nearby, holding up a ghost child by the back of his T-shirt like one would hold a misbehaving cat. The kid kicked and wailed, “Let me go!”
August didn’t even blink. He glanced at Sebastian. “I’ll try this time.”
That’s when I heard a faint sizzle, low and constant.
Turning to the right, I spotted Maureen seated on a medical bed, steam rising from her skin.
It curled around her like smoke off a dying fire.
She was burned nearly head to toe, her injuries severe and still healing, eerily similar to the ones I’d sustained after passing through the portal with Sebastian.
She clutched her chest, exhaling shakily. Jackal sat beside her, one hand rubbing slow circles on her back. His body coiled tight, like he was one wrong word away from shattering.
On the next bed over, Joy rested her head in Payne’s lap, his fingers drawing absent shapes along her collarbone.
Isabella and Nova sat together nearby, both perched on the edge of another bed, watching the chaos unfold. Their lips were tight lines, silent and tense, as their mates struggled to keep hold of the thrashing ghost.
Prudence was the only one missing.
When I reached for her presence, I sensed it in the human world—far from here, with her marked mate.
My throat locked up. My smile wobbled.
They were still trying.
Even after everything, they were still taking turns trying to enter Hell for me.
A sharp squeak echoed as my shoe met the tile. The entire room stilled.
Even Barron went quiet.
“Kitty!” Maureen was the first to move, voice high with disbelief.
“I’m fine,” I said quickly, but that didn’t stop the rush as they took turns hugging me. Fingers brushed my arms and checked for wounds like I might vanish.
Finally, August stepped forward, pulling me into his arms last. “I’m glad you’re here… but how did you escape?”
A sudden yank from behind pulled our attention—Barron, thrashing against the magical restraints holding him down. “Let me up! I want to see our sister, too!”
Sebastian faded beside him, patting Barron’s head in a way so condescending I nearly winced. “Are you going to stop trying to enter Heaven?” he asked flatly.
The veins bulging across Barron’s forehead answered clearly enough.
Sebastian sighed. “Didn’t think so. Then, no. We’ll go after Gwen and Dad after we deal with Harvest and the Devil.” He looked over at me. “Now that Kitty has escaped, that’s one less fire to put out.”
So, Gwendolyn was gone, too. I hadn’t known.
The words lodged somewhere deep in my chest. They felt wrong.
“I didn’t escape.” My voice was quiet but clear. “Luke let me go.”
August stiffened. “Luke?”
I winced. I shouldn’t have said that name aloud. Old habits, maybe. Or just exhaustion. “The Devil,” I corrected quickly.
Maureen crossed her arms, eyes narrowing as she zeroed in on me.
“Don’t give me that look,” I said, frowning. “He let me leave. But… I have to go back.”
My brothers erupted at once—scoffing, pacing, scowling.
“You can’t go back!” Sebastian snapped.
“Now that you’re here, we can finally try Dad’s spell,” August added, stepping forward with grim urgency.
I glanced down at the bracelet wrapped snugly around my wrist, its dark surface glinting with barely contained power. “You can’t keep me here,” I mumbled. “But I can handle Lu—the Devil. Don’t worry about me. Just tell me what I’ve missed. Has the portal opened yet?”
“Don’t worry about you?” Joy repeated, incredulous. “You were trapped in Hell with him. We want to know how you are. You can’t go back.”
“She’s right,” Maureen said, voice firm. Her burns still steamed softly, but her posture was unyielding. “You look like you’re running on fumes.”
A flicker of motion to my left caught my eye. Shadows shifted near Barron’s bed—denser, darker. My gaze snapped toward them. Shadow?
“Are you listening, Kitty?” Maureen’s voice sharpened. “Hades, she’s so traumatized, she’s dissociating.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m not, and I’m fine. Believe it or not, I don’t think I’m in danger there.” Oddly enough, Hell was the only place Harvest couldn’t reach me while I was still mortal.
August threw his hands up. “Are you kidding me? The enemy kidnapped you!”
“Who is also my marked mate,” I muttered instantly regretting the words.
The silence was deafening.
They didn’t yell. Or argue. Everyone just…stared. Worried. Wounded. Like I’d become something they didn’t recognize.
“I know who he is,” I blurted. “I’ve always known my duty—even when everyone assumed I didn’t.”
“Dad kept you safe from the Devil,” Sebastian said, quiet but pointed. A reminder.
“I know,” I whispered, running a hand over my temple, feeling the headache building. “But I’m not a child anymore. He let me go because he was sure we’d lose. I want to prove him wrong.”
August’s jaw clenched, brows furrowed in frustration. “You can’t go back.”
I shook my head. “If we don’t stop them from crossing, it won’t matter. We’ll all be gone. Can we focus on that? I can take care of myself.” I rubbed my grumbling stomach. “Do we have anything to eat?”
“Finally,” Maureen muttered, materializing an apple and slapping it into my palm. “That’s the most normal thing I’ve heard you say.”
There was a satisfying crunch as I bit into the fruit. “Thank you. So…now what?”
“Kitty!” Mom’s voice cracked through the infirmary as she barreled in. Her arms wrapped around me before I could brace myself. I hugged her back, smiling into her hair.
“You guys never tell me anything!” she scolded the others over my shoulder. “When did you rescue her?”
“Just now,” I said quickly before anyone could jump in. “It’s fine. I’m okay, see?”
Her hands cupped my face, scanning every inch like she could detect hidden trauma. “What happened to you?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I couldn’t tell her. No one would understand what it felt like…being with Luke. I wasn’t even sure I understood it myself.
???
Once the shock wore off, the room slowly quieted.
Everyone trickled out until it was just Barron and me.
. I pulled up a stool and sat beside his bed.
His red essence rolled around him like angry waves crashing against the shore.
August and Sebastian must have enchanted the restraints—his curse was subdued, but barely.
Without Gwendolyn, he was a ticking bomb.
And if they didn’t keep him contained, he’d explode trying to get her back.
I crossed my arms. “Look at you.”
He didn’t look at me. Just stared up at the ceiling. “I love you, Kitty.”
I arched a brow. “I’m not removing the restraints.”
“That’s not why I said it.” His eyes shifted to meet mine. “I’m sorry I’ve been more focused on Gwen. I just…I knew the family would focus on you, so I—”
“You don’t need to explain,” I said softly. “She’s your mate.”
I smiled, even though it stung a little. “It’s kind of sweet, actually. Watching you change because of her. You tried to send her away to protect her…and now you’d drag her right back into this hellscape just to have her with you.”
Tears shimmered in his eyes. “When you say it like that—fuck.”
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be with your mate.” I hesitated, my throat thick. “Hades, if I had…”
I couldn’t say it. Not out loud. I had a mate. But he was the Devil. There was no future there. No soft ending like the ones my siblings had found.
So why did it feel like something vital was being torn out of me, watching my brother cry for someone he could still have?
“I want her safe,” Barron whispered. “But I—I want her safe with me.”
I patted his arm gently. “We’ll get her back. But first, we have to stop ourselves from fading.”
He inhaled shakily. “Do you think what we’ve been told about Heaven is true?”
I tilted my head. “Which part?”
“You forget everyone.”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted.
He closed his eyes. “Maybe it’s for the best. Not for me, but for her.”
As another tear slid toward his ear, my chest tightened.
He didn’t need to say more. I understood. If we faded…if we became nothing…it would be easier for her not to remember him at all.
“We need you, Barron.” I squeezed his arm and stood. “We can’t save Gwen until we save ourselves.”