CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO #3
I hadn’t expected to be this afraid. I hadn’t been ready for the reality of seeing all these people, who were only here because I’d asked them to be. How many of them would die because I’d let the devil out of his cage?
“Hey,” a familiar voice said softly. I looked over at Collith, my eyes wide and horrified. His expression was encouraging, one corner of his mouth tilted up, as if he’d just told me a secret.
He didn’t say anything else, because there were no magic words that would ease the grim reality of what was about to happen. The army behind me may have responded to my rousing speech, but I could feel their fear in the air and taste a thousand flavors on my tongue.
No, it was in the way Collith looked at me that I found comfort. Steady, no trace of doubt, and maybe with a hint of that fae wildness he usually kept contained. Collith wasn’t afraid.
Just as I had with Laurie, I thought of how we’d begun. The Collith I’d known was ruled by his fear. But now …
He had become the king he’d once longed to be.
Laurie rode to my other side. When our eyes met, his lips curled in a faint, challenging smile. I’d been considering whether I should tell them to stay put, but when I saw that smile, I swallowed a sigh and signaled to Sarod to move forward. Laurie wanted me to compromise? Fine, I could compromise.
Once we were close enough to make out the color of the devil’s eyes, I stopped. I turned to Collith, then cast a hard look at Laurie over my shoulder to include him.
“Wait here,” I said. It wasn’t a request. Before either one of them could respond, I added, “You’re close enough to help me if anything happens. But bringing you both would only add gasoline to the fire, and you know it.”
Lines of tension deepened around Laurie’s mouth. “The entire world is about to burn, Fortuna. I don’t think a little gasoline is going to make much difference,” he answered tightly.
“We’ll be here,” Collith put in. He nodded at me once, his gaze holding mine. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to dissuade Laurie for long. Without another word, I dismounted from Sarod and left them behind. I lifted my gaze reluctantly to the King of the Underworld.
Gusts of wind scraped at my cheeks as we walked toward each other.
Lucifer’s expression was unreadable. His golden skin almost seemed to glow in the faint moonlight streaming through the wisps of clouds above.
Closing the distance between us felt like a blink and a small eternity, all at once.
Once we were so close that we could touch, Lucifer and I halted.
The wind continued to push at me, making a hollow sound as it rushed past.
I was the first to speak. “The tradition is to wave a white flag, not wear white armor, but you’re new here. I’ll let it slide.”
Lucifer didn’t smile, or show any sign of irritation, which was what I’d really been hoping for. The angrier he became, the sloppier he’d get. I had seen the devil’s temper, and I was one of the few who could get under his skin. I intended to utilize every weapon we had during this battle.
But Lucifer wasn’t biting tonight.
“Last chance,” he said. “Join us. Why die defending their world? Our true enemy created them, this place. He deserves to feel the pain we did when he cast us from our home.”
For a moment, I just looked at him. Lucifer was still as beautiful as the first time I’d seen him in that mirror.
Still a flawless, otherworldly thing that promised seduction and power.
But now I felt nothing. Not temptation, or love, or even pity.
My voice was hard with certainty as I said, “Because this is our world, too. And we are home.”
Sorrow made the corners of Lucifer’s mouth tighten. “So be it,” he said.
We looked at each other for another beat, snowflakes and dark promises filling the air between us. His face had changed, somehow—he’d put away any part of himself that might actually care for me. Now only the devil looked back, and the devil did not love.
He just destroyed.
I was the one to turn away first. I felt Lucifer’s eyes linger on me while I retraced my steps through the grass, my armor clinking softly.
Moments later, I reached the point where I’d left Collith and Laurie.
Collith had gotten off his horse, and both of them were staring toward that distant figure, who hadn’t moved, I noted when I glanced over my shoulder.
I put my back to him again and focused completely on the two males in front of me.
“Come on,” I said quietly, inclining my head. “We’ll deal with him when the time comes.”
There was another beat of frozen, swollen tension, and then Collith finally shifted.
We both got back on our horses. Laurie, however, kept looking toward the Dark Prince.
A strange, small smile hovered at the corners of his mouth.
As I watched him, a sense of foreboding gripped me, even stronger than the dread I’d already been feeling.
“Laurie,” I said, more sharply this time.
He kept his focus on Lucifer for another beat, and then Laurie turned.
He mounted his stallion and began walking back toward our forces, so Collith and I did the same.
My gaze lingered on Laurie’s profile, and I couldn’t contain another flood of terror.
Laurie was too brave, too defiant for his own good.
As we rode away from the immortal he’d just taunted, his mother’s words whispered through me.
He has a weakness, and I fear that it will lead to his ruin—his heart.
We were nearing the army, and I knew it was important they didn’t see any hint of fear in my expression.
So I buried it deep inside me, just as Olorel had once hidden a magic Door—the Door that started all this.
My jaw hardened at the thought. Tonight, I would fix Persephone’s mistake, and I’d do it before it cost the lives of anyone I loved.
I didn’t allow myself to look at the males riding on either side of me as we rejoined our other companions at the front.
Sarod turned without any prompting and placed himself at the center. In an instant, I realized why everyone had gone silent, their gazes fixed in the same direction.
Something was happening across the field. The crowd was … shifting.
Dread gripped my stomach like ragged fingernails. A moment later, three figures emerged from an opening that appeared in the front line. Two of them were demons, some species with round horns that curved beneath their square jaws, fangs poking at their bottom lips.
The third figure was Thuridan.
The area around them was lit by torches, held aloft by more hideous-faced things that could’ve only been born in the dark. It allowed us to see clearly as the creatures holding Thuridan forced him to his knees. Even from a distance, it looked painful.
My hands clenched into fists around the reins, my muscles locking into place as I fought the urge to charge across the field.
I searched the ground near Lucifer as if I could see the spell preventing me from doing exactly that.
There was no sign of it, of course. Savannah had said there would probably be no way to discern the exact moment the barrier fell.
The only thing we knew for certain was that it would remain in place until the Gate opened.
My thoughts were cut short when Lucifer shifted and an object glinted in his hand.
I peered closer, concentrating so hard that I hardly noticed what his demons were doing.
My heart quickened when I realized the object was a knife, and it looked identical to the one that had been next to the pool in Lucifer’s tower.
It was also similar to the knife I’d used down in the cells, where Lucifer tortured demons and souls alike.
I’d been oblivious then, but now I understood what that black blade meant. Demon glass.
More demon glass.
Those fingers in my gut went deeper, sending a burst of torment through me. I knew what would happen next.
So did Lyari.
Without taking her eyes off Thuridan, she nudged her mount forward.
Its hooves made dull sounds against the earth.
Stiff with worry, I was about to go after her when Lyari pulled on the reins again and halted.
She’d only gone a few steps—just far enough to put her back to us, and give Thuridan a chance to see her.
Don’t look, Ly, I wanted to say. But I understood why she had to. If it had been Collith or Laurie across that field, I would’ve stayed, too.
Across the field, Thuridan stared back at Lyari.
He didn’t look away, even when a stooped old woman appeared.
She seemed to be giving orders to someone.
A moment later, two more demons came out of the crowd.
They held something dark and bulky between them.
When I figured out what they were carrying, my stomach lurched, threatening to upend everything I’d eaten earlier.
It was a cauldron.
Lucifer moved to stand behind Thuridan and placed the knife against his throat.
Firelight flickered over the scene like a chilling painting.
The demons, the fallen angel, the knife.
I stood there, frozen, desperately trying to think of a way to stop this.
Lucifer’s lion eyes caught the light as he found me again.
I felt a muscle in my cheek tic, but it was the only outward sign of my hatred and helpless rage.
I knew that Lucifer would get off on any reaction, so I refused to give him one. I was done being his plaything.
The devil didn’t look away from me as he drew his arm back.
He could’ve made the kill quick—he certainly had the speed and strength.
Instead, Lucifer did it slowly. Drawing out Thuridan’s suffering as the knife sliced over his throat.
The horde roared and stomped its approval.
They were so loud that I couldn’t hear the sound Thuridan made as he died.
But I saw the agony in his expression and the terror in his eyes.