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“What happened to you?” I ask.

“I was imprisoned by Khronus. I spent many years locked in a tower in his palace on Astrali. Until Hecate rescued me. I stole the amber. My hope was to make things right, to make my husband whole again. And I went in search of Lucifer.”

“And found the devil.”

“I did. But I still hoped that I could fix him, return him to what he once was. I searched for a spell to reverse what was done to him. But instead, I slowly watched him become steeped in evil.”

“Did you find a way to fix him?” Obviously she hadn’t managed to do it, even if she had found one.

“Maybe. There is a spell that will combine the good with the bad and make him whole again. He refused to consider it and now it is too late. He can never be as he once was, can never come back from the evil deeds he has done.” She falls silent, while she gathers her strength to continue. “What I did create is a spell tied to the amber. If it is destroyed in the presence of Lucifer, and the spell is spoken, then he will perish as well.”

And there’s my answer—how I can destroy my father. But I still don’t understand why it was left to me. “Why didn’t you do it?” I ask.

She presses her lips together and turns away. I can hardly hear her when she speaks again, her words whispered into the darkness. “Because I love him. I loved him from the moment we met. And I hoped. So I put it off and then I found out I was pregnant. And I knew I couldn’t allow an innocent baby to be brought up in this place of evil.”

She swallows and turns back to me. “So I prayed to the goddess Selene. And she came to me. She gave me the strength and the magic to create a mirror that would take you forward in time, where he would never think to look for you. He would search and search and eventually, he would believe my tale that you had perished. I waited, as you grew bigger inside me, and I could feel your magic and I stayed close to my husband, showing him how much I loved him.”

“Couldn’t you have just killed him. Like a mercy killing?”

She gives the smallest smile. “Even if I could bring myself to do that, Lucifer can’t be killed. He merely remanifests. That’s another side-effect of the spell, which I’m sure Khronus was unaware of. He no doubt planned to destroy Lucifer once he had played his part.” A smile flickers across her lips again. “Then youwere born, and he named you Lilith. He loved you, but by that time, I knew his love was a twisted thing.”

“So you destroyed all the mirrors in Hell?”

“All but the last. That one I imbued with Selene’s magic and used it to send you forward in time.”

She goes silent, lost in her thoughts. “And then…?” I ask.

Sadness flashes across her face. “I wish that could have been the end. But all magic has a price. I hid the last mirror, the only remaining mirror into Hell, in the Chamber on Astrali where it would not be noticed among so many.”

“But why?” Though I think I know the answer.

“To allow you to come back and do what I did not have the strength to do.”

I frown. “You want me to join him back together? Make him whole again? I thought you said…”

“No. All magic has a price and Selene’s price was Lucifer’s destruction. You must use the spell to destroy him.” She swallows and now there’s a whole sea of sadness in her eyes. “But the spell will destroy Hell and everything and everyone in it.”

And there it is. Something twists deep in my gut. But I’d always suspected this was a suicide mission. I think of Khaosti dying and everything inside me screams with denial, but he knew the likely outcome as well. He didn’t want me to come alone. To be alone at the end.

She reaches out with a frail hand. “It’s not hopeless. You must lure Lucifer to the pergola in the forest clearing, close to the last mirror before you speak the spell. There is a chance you can escape.”

A fucking infinitesimal chance.

How many things have to come together before I can do this. It’s all impossible. For one thing, I’m locked in a cell. How can I do anything? “Does Lucifer know of this spell?” I ask.

“No. I kept that secret.”

I sit there for what seems like a long time, but it’s probably only minutes. I become aware of Grimlet on my shoulder stroking my hair as though he can feel the tension in me. But hadn’t I known it would end this way? Maybe for a few minutes while I listened to my mother’s story, I believed that something good could come of this. I could save my father. But I know deep down he’s beyond saving. And even if by some miracle we restored him to what he once was, how could he ever live with the memories of the monster he’d become and the things he had done. Not least what he did to my mother.

I take a deep breath. Fuck it—we all have to die sometime.

“Tell me the spell,” I say.

Chapter 45

I Didn’t See That Coming…

My mother squeezes my hand and whispers the words that will destroy my father and apparently everyone in the near vicinity, likely including me and the man I love.