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“She believed—and she was most likely right—that no one would help her if they knew she wanted to save Lucifer. So she had to pretend.”

“So she lied to Khendril?”

“Well, I think she told him mostly the truth, just kept her ultimate end game to herself. She had to keep me alive until I came into my magic and could find the mirror, and she needed help. I was a late developer—it must have sent her crazy.”

“I can’t believe that all along, she’s been working for Lucifer.”

I shake my head. “No. I think she only contacted him recently. She always planned to come with me and likely thought it wouldall work out peaceably and everyone would be happy. She’s totally deluded, in denial, and probably a little insane.”

“More than a little.”

“But she’s not basically evil.”

“Tell that to fucking Fury.”

“I know. I’m sorry. My point is she really genuinely believes that Lucifer can be restored and be the good man he once was. And that we can all live happily ever after. But she’s wrong. There’s no coming back from what he’s become. Can you imagine if he did, and he realizes everything that he’s done? He loved my mother, but he tortured her for five thousand fucking years. All the thousands he has killed. The shadowguard—no one deserves that, even if they did betray their oath to your father.”

Khaos runs a hand through his hair, then presses his finger to his skull. “My father. He’s the real villain in all this. Everything that happened is down to him.”

He’s not wrong there. I don’t rub it in, but my one regret about this—okay, maybe I have more than one, but this is a biggie—is I won’t get the chance to go and repay him for what he did to my father and my mother and even Hecate. And the shadowguard—all those guardians who just wanted to be free of Khronus and have a better life. And all for power and the need to be worshipped.

A black, burning hatred lodges inside me. I want to see him suffer so badly; it’s like a living thing. Death is too good for him. I want him writhing in agony for a million years. And then a few more.

I push the thought away, because it’s making my teeth hurt. Someone else will have to take care of Khronus. Maybe Thanouq. Or maybe they should just destroy all the mirrors and cut off the Astral Plane forever and they can worship themselves. Assholes.

“Have you tried praying?” Khaos asks. “After all, Selene did say this was your destiny. You’re doing their work; they could give a little help.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Yes, I’ve prayed.” For just about the first time in my life. “And no. I didn’t get an answer. What about you? You’re supposed to be getting some magic. Where is it? Because some magic would come in very useful right about now.”

“I prayed as Fury was fighting for his life. You saw what happened.”

I lean back against the wall and close my eyes, giving Khaos a little time to think about everything I’ve told him. And what we have to do. And what will happen if we succeed.

I glance at him sideways. He’s leaning back against the stone wall, long legs stretched out in front of him, hands loosely at his side. I thought he’d be…angrier. Or more distraught. But he almost seems at peace.

“So,” he finally says, “you have to smash the pendant while he’s close, say the spell and it will destroy Lucifer and everything else in Hell, including us.”

“Yup.”

“Unless we can get through the mirror.”

“And what are the chances of that?”

He ignores my comment. “But Hecate has the pendant, and you can’t do magic because of the collar, and we’re locked in a cell.”

“All that is totally true.”

“We need something else.”

“Well, we have Grimlet. I think he can get us out of the cell.”

“Grimlet?”

I realize I haven’t mentioned Grimlet. “He’s a gargoyle. He was a…friend of my mother’s. He can do stone magic. How did you think I got in here?”

“I thought you’d dug your way through.”

“And ruin my fingernails? I don’t think so.” I wave my hand at him; the fingernails are grimy and mostly broken and ragged. “No, Grimlet broke through the wall. Hopefully, he will be able to get us out of here once he gets his strength back.”