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“Of course. But the mirror is mine. Just as you are mine. They have poisoned your mind against me. But don’t you want to learn the truth? Discover what happened to your mother?”

“You killed her.”

“That’s what they told you. But how do you know the truth from the lies? Why not wait and judge me as you find me?”

“I judge you by your dark deeds,” I say. “Now fuck off back to Hell. Oh, I forgot, you’re still there because you can’t get out.”

He was silent for a moment. “You know this is pointless,”he says.“We are too many. Your friends don’t have to die. Come to me. Together we can rule the world.”

“Thanks, I’ll pass.”

“You may win this fight.”Lucifer’s voice is silk and steel, wrapping around me like a cage.“But I will send another army. And another. And another. I will burn this world to ashes and only you can stop me. Just think—maybe you can temper my evil deeds.”

I grit my teeth, fighting the pull, but it’s there. A whisper beneath my skin, a promise of something desirable.

“Come to me now, and I’ll spare them.”

My heart pounds. I know it’s a lie. Well, most of me knows it’s a lie. And I know if I listen—if I let myself feel the pull—I’ll lose everything.

“Refuse, and I will grind this city into nothing.”

A second passes. Then another.

“Amber,” Khaos shouts, and his voice breaks the spell. I straighten, the fire in my veins roaring back to life.

“You can try.” I slam my magic outward. The sorceress screams, as the flames engulf her, and a bellow of infinite rage fills the air. I watch as her body burns and then crumbles.

And the battle roars back into focus.

I stumble back, breathless. Khaosti is staring at me, his eyes wide.

“Watch out!” I yell as someone leaps toward him, and he spins and stabs them with his sword. And we’re surrounded and I burn them all. But still more come.

I won’t let him win.

My world becomes nothing but fire, fury, and raw power that shoots from my body and sends destruction out over the land, engulfing all it encounters. And I watch them burn.

I don’t know how long this continues, I am beyond time, but then, as the celestial fire flashes from my fingers, my chest tightens, and the blood ignites in my veins, scorching me from the inside out as cold sweat slicks my skin. My vision blurs, bright lights pulsing at the edge of my sight.

I remember Selene telling me that all magic has a price. Is this what she meant? Am I paying? But still, I can’t stop.

I lift my hands, but they feel like stone, and my ribs ache, squeezing tightly with every breath. I can sense the magic weakening, tangling sluggishly, like pulling fire from dead embers. My thoughts scatter, and it’s hard to focus. I feel myself unravelling, the magic turning wild and uncontrolled.

Deep inside me, I know I should stop. I know that if I survive this day, I’ll have to live with my actions—my guilt, maybe even my reckoning. Because every choice has a cost, and I’m racking up a debt I may never be able to repay. But even knowing that, I’m filled with this wild instinct to burn everyone. Because that’s all I have left.

But what if I’ve already lost? What if there’s no chance, no hope?

That’s what he wants me to believe. But I won’t—can’tgive in.

I reach for my power one last time, but it twists away, slippery and distant. I know I can’t hold on much longer.

Just one more blast.

But as it sputters weakly from my fingertips, my muscles lock, my legs collapse, and my vision tunnels. I can hear Khaosti shouting my name, but it’s distant, as though through the blood of all those I’ve killed.

And I hear the whisper of my father’s voice.

See? This is what you are. We are the same.