Chapter 44
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
RUE
Michael rushed me and I tensed, ready to evade, ready for the dance that would keep him occupied. My mind screamed at me that this was insane, that there was no way to beat him, but Soul Reaper hummed in my hand, funneling conviction into me.
Michael’s sword arched toward me, and I brought Soul Reaper up on instinct to counter.
The clang of metal on metal, the hiss of power, a shockwave of impact up my arm, a flash of light, and I swung away from him, giving in to muscle memory and allowing the sword to lead me.
Because it was.
It was driving me.
Another clang. Another impact. I cried out in pain at the shockwave that rocked my muscles.
My body wasn’t equipped for this.
Michael stepped back, shoulders heaving. “You are truly formidable, Rue. I cannot wait to have you writhing beneath me. To taste you. To own you.”
What? No. No way. “That’s never going to happen.”
But Gabriel and the watchers were still pinned, screaming words that I couldn’t hear from behind a shield that Michael had created.
I was alone.
I was tired.
And the power in the sword was burning through my body. An involuntary cry fell from my lips.
“Drop the sword,” Michael said. “Before it damages you too much.” He frowned in concern. “Rue, please, drop it. It doesn’t have to be this way. Just come with me. I can heal you.”
“I’d rather the sword kill me than be with you.”
His expression shuttered. “Then so be it.” He swung at me, and this time I knew it would be a killing blow. Knew that I wouldn’t be able to counter, even as the sword brought my arm up to do so.
A primal roar shattered my eardrums, and Michael was knocked off his feet by a crimson blur.
Shem!
He was awake. He was fucking awake, with his fist pummeling into Michael’s face over and over.
The blade in my hand glowed brightly, and Shem’s voice filled my head. “The relics, Rue. Use the sword to destroy the relics. It will free Lucifer. Hurry, I won’t be able to hold him off much longer.”
I turned and ran toward the nearest relic shard and swung the sword at it.
The blade connected with a thunderous crack, and the fragment disintegrated, cutting off that stream of light.
No time to stop. I hit the second fragment, then the third, aware of Michael’s yell of rage and Shem’s counter bellow.
There was only one relic left.
Jilyana.
Her eyes were no longer white.
She was awake, trapped but conscious, the relic glowing inside her chest like a beacon.
“Please…” she begged. “Save her. Save my daughter.”
Daughter? She had a child? That’s how the Dominion had controlled her? It made sense. My will faltered, and her expression hardened.
“Do it, Rue. You have to do it. It’s the only way to stop them and save us all. I know that now. I’m sorry, so sorry for not having faith before. For believing their lies.”
“Rue, hurry up,” Shem cried in my mind.
Fuck. “I’ll find her. I’ll find your child. I swear it.”
I struck hard and fast, piercing her body and shattering the relic.
She exploded into embers, and the final stream of light went out.
“No!” Michael cried.
I spun in time to see Shem palm-punch him in the chest to send him flying across the chamber.
Gabriel, Sarq, and Zaq hit the ground as an echoing voice filled the chamber—not one voice but many speaking together.
“You will not fall Michael. You are one with us. You are the Dominion.”
Michael rose to his feet, his body glowing with inner light that lit up his golden hair so it looked like embers of the sun had been woven into each strand. His sapphire eyes blazed like blue fire as they raked over us.
“You will all fall!” His voice reverberated around us, pure power. Lethal and irrevocable.
We were screwed.
To my left, Lucifer’s voice filled the chamber. “My sword!”
Soul Reaper yanked itself free from my grip and shot across the room to land in Lucifer’s hand.
She stood tall and commanding, hair flying about her face in a phantom breeze, eyes like twin stars blazing with wrath.
Michael’s gaze whipped toward her, and the fire in his eyes dimmed. “No…”
“Yes.” Lucifer advanced.
“No.” This time Michael’s voice was not his own. “You will not win. We will not allow it.”
Michael’s arm came up, sword arching toward Lucifer and stopped, midair. “No…” Michael whispered. He dropped to his knees and tipped his head up to look at her in a dawning comprehension that I didn’t understand. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
I wasn’t sure what was happening here, and I didn’t care. I had Shem back, and that was all that mattered.
I rushed toward him, and he gathered me to him, crushing his lips to mine in a kiss that was filled with the aching throb of no more tomorrows.
No, this was wrong. He was back. He was mine.
I clutched him to me, fingers digging into his biceps, his shoulders, because I knew…
somehow, I knew that once this kiss ended, he would be taken from me.
I channeled every unsaid emotion into that kiss, every ounce of love and longing as my heart slowly shattered.
“Shemyaza, we must hurry,” Lucifer said. “More celestials are coming. I must ascend now. I cannot save this world otherwise.”
Shem broke our kiss and briefly pressed his forehead to mine. “I love you, Rue, with every fiber of my being. Nothing and no one can take that from you.”
Michael’s mouth parted and his irises went white. “No. You must not. You cannot,” the Dominion cried.
Oh…fuck. Michael was fighting them. He was fucking fighting them, and Shem was trying to pull away from me.
I gripped him tighter, but he broke free and crossed to Lucifer. She held out her sword to him, which he took and flipped, pressing the tip of the blade to his chest.
Suddenly it all made sense. My foreboding, the sense of impending doom and loss. Everything.
He was the key.
The anchor.
Lucifer couldn’t be free while he existed, and that sword…That sword would end him for good.
Movement above us and around us signaled the arrival of more celestials.
“Now, Shemyaza!” Lucifer said. “It must be now.”
But she was wrong. It wouldn’t be enough. Because a piece of his soul existed intertwined with mine. And there was only one true way for her to be whole.
A calm conviction settled over me.
This was always how it was meant to be.
Shem plunged the sword into his chest, and I threw myself against his back.
My body jerked as the blade sliced into me, burning, tearing as it pierced and bound us together.
“NO!” Gabriel’s heart-wrenching scream was followed by several bellows of shock.
But it was okay.
Shem was in my arms.
“Rue…” Shem’s voice was a rasp. “Oh…my Rue…”
“I’m here, Shem.” I laid my cheek against his back. “Always and forever.”
The world exploded with warm light as we tumbled into oblivion together, because God had never meant this proud brave watcher to die alone.