Lucille #3
I forced my shadows out, struggling to dig into the infecteds’ minds, barely managing to tear open another path.
Lightning rained down a second later, a tunnel of fire following.
Before we luscelered, I felt her.
All of her.
Her soul touched mine—gentle, unwavering, breathtaking.
My lungs filled with the sweetest air, infused with winter berries and all that was her. My chest thrummed with an undeniable warmth, one carrying infinite acceptance.
Home.
Life surged open inside me, unbound and hopeful, healing the wound on my collarbone.
I was undone by the magnitude of it.
That she was mine, and I was hers.
Absolute.
Eternal.
For all the days I breathed, and every silence after.
Her beautiful energy poured into me, her Infernus and Glory threading through my shadows in a locking caress. Any drain I’d felt vanished. She remade me.
Our pain softened, reduced to a whisper as it was shared between us.
Then I sank to my knees, gasping as my chest split open.
Lucille
The stunned confusion on my father’s face was priceless. She didn’t know whether to be joyous or furious as blood pooled from my chest, saturating the ground.
This was how she would’ve opened the gates.
But with the Unmaking Rune, I controlled the intention of the blade.
I could become Queen of Hell.
But that wouldn’t release Aspen.
Nor would it open the gates.
My birth had unbalanced this world. There was only one way to set it right.
As the power of the land transferred to me in glowing light, my father frowned. He lifted his hands to his face, and they slowly dissolved to ash. Then his arms, legs, and torso.
The last to dissolve were his eyes.
But I swore, before they whisked away on a rotten breeze, I saw pride.
And I knew I’d see my father again.
I slumped back against the ground, pain a living, breathing thing inside every inch of me.
Aspen raged nearby, and he wasn’t alone.
In the distance, I heard another.
Darkness bled into the sky, his shadows on a vengeful hunt.
He was coming for me.
Aspen slammed to his knees beside me, and the rest of my squad circled us as a flaming dome erupted overhead.
“Lucy?” he begged, his eyes darted from my face, to my white hair, to the dagger sticking out of my chest. “We need to get you to Sam.”
“No,” I rasped.
The groan of Hell’s gates signaled our limited time.
Melanie’s kingdom still beat against the iron, seeking to overtake Hell. And with every shuddering breath, with every second my blood spilled across the mud, they slowly opened.
“What the—” Dusty began.
“I’m the key.” I coughed, a copper tang hitting the back of my throat.
I twisted my head toward Ichi.
“Find Ronen. Get everyone still alive behind his shadows.”
Panic vibrated through our bond.
Aspen’s head whipped from side to side, searching for a healer who would never come. He dug his arms beneath my body, wrenching a scream from my throat.
Then a large blade lowered to his neck.
“She will die before you reach a Virtue,” Ichi declared, her voice thick.
“I will end you,” Aspen spat. “Move.”
The sky was nearly pitch-black, the gates opening wider, demons slipping through.
“Aspen,” I pleaded. “We will not survive this without me releasing you.”
My voice was weakening, the power of Tsal-mawet ripping waves of pain through me and muddying my thoughts.
Horror and betrayal washed across his face, two glistening tracks cutting through the dirt caked to his skin.
“You planned this.”
My lip wobbled, but I kept the tears from my eyes, remembering our mothers’ words.
This was how I saved Hell.
How they all survived.
And possibly how we stopped Etan’s corruption.
“You need to take out the dagger, Aspen.”
He shook his head vehemently.
“Fuck my powers. Fuck your choice.”
I just stared at him, showing him the certainty I felt, waiting for him to realize this was the only way.
His fire dome eventually split open, letting out my squad. They fought through the lingering infected and luscelered away.
Now I just hoped Ronen didn’t kill Ichi before she forced him to listen.
Aspen pulled me close, pressing his forehead against mine.
“Why?” he whispered, the wet ache in his voice breaking my heart. “Why did it have to be you?”
“I’m sorry.”
He laugh-sobbed.
“You’re sorry? For what? Meeting me in your forest? Saving me from Lilith and myself? Putting up with my manipulative bullshit? Having my mother mark you for death?”
I touched his cheek, and he lifted his head.
“For thinking you were supposed to be the one to catch me when we fell. I was always supposed to be the one to catch you.”
I smiled through my tears.
“I’ll give you anything. The moon, my heart, anything but this. Never this.” He dropped his lips to my forehead. “I love you. I love you. I love you,” he whispered against my skin.
“I know,” I breathed. “I know.”
The throbbing pain in my body grew duller, my vision spotting with Tsal-mawet’s manipulations and blood loss.
Then a bellow ripped through the sky, so loud it vibrated through the darkness as it flew toward us.
It rocked the ground with the force of his anguish.