Page 16

Chapter Sixteen

RATHIEL

Lily fell.

One second, she was standing—the next, she collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. No sound. No warning. Just down.

I moved without thinking, catching her before she crashed to the ground. I laid her down, then my hands were on her shoulders, her face. I turned her toward me, searching for signs of life. Her skin was warm, her chest still rose and fell in shallow, unsteady breaths, but she didn’t react to my touch. Her eyes were closed, her expression slack.

Too still.

Too quiet.

A violent tremor shot through me, but I shoved it down, pushed it aside, focused on the immediate—the tangible. “Lily,” I said, my voice hoarse. No response. I shook her gently. “Lily. Open your eyes.”

Nothing.

My heart slammed against my ribs, a dull roar rising in my ears. I whipped toward Calyx. “What did you do?”

Calyx blinked, looking vaguely disoriented, like he’d just been sucker-punched. “That…was unexpected.”

Something inside me ruptured. A violent, twisting crack that split through my ribs and sank deep into my bones. My breath hitched, then vanished altogether. A cold void swallowed my chest, leaving behind something far more dangerous.

Something black. Something feral.

And Calyx was still breathing.

I didn’t think. Didn’t hesitate. I simply moved.

One second, I knelt beside Lily—the next, I slammed Calyx into the cavern wall with enough force to crack the stone. The impact reverberated through my bones, through the cavern itself. Dust rained from the ceiling, disturbed by the sheer force of it. But I wasn’t done. Not even close.

Calyx let out a grunt of pain, his head snapping back against the rock. Before he could recover, before he could flash that smug grin of his, I grabbed the front of his shirt and threw him.

His body crashed against the opposite wall like a ragdoll.

I was on him before he even hit the ground.

He barely had time to lift his head before I drove my fist into his face.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

The third punch split the skin of my knuckles, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t feel anything except the deep, writhing rage that clawed its way up my throat, demanding blood.

Calyx let out a strangled laugh, hands coming up to grip my wrist. “Well, that escalated quickly.”

“You think this is funny?” My voice shook with rage. My wings flared, my grip tightening around his throat. “Fix it. Now.”

Calyx’s bloodied lips curled, his usual arrogance bleeding into something darker. “You think I did this on purpose?” he rasped. His fingers dug into my wrist, but he made no move to fight back. “She fought me. Harder than I expected. I got her past the door, but whatever’s inside? That’s all on her.”

I bared my teeth, my patience snapping like a thread stretched too thin. “Bring her back.”

Calyx let out a slow breath, his head turning toward Lily’s still form before he turned back to me. “I don't know if I can.”

Rage sparked anew. Before I could stop myself, I slammed him into the ground. Calyx uttered a pained grunt, but he still didn’t fight back.

Before he could gather his wits, I unsheathed my sword and pressed the edge against the thin column of his throat. A bead of blood welled against the metal blade, stark against his pale skin.

Lily never should have trusted him. Nothing good came from Lucifer’s fallen. I knew that better than anyone—had lived that truth. Lucifer had created us to destroy, to wage war, to tear the world apart at its seams. And Lily was the one who had pulled me from that darkness. She was pure goodness, the only light in my desolate world.

Without her, there was nothing but darkness.

Without her, I was nothing but another one of Lucifer’s monsters.

I stared at the blood on Calyx’s lips, and something deep inside me stirred. The hunger surged, hot in my gut. My fangs ached and for a single moment, all I wanted was to tear out his throat and drown in the violence of it.

“Rathiel.” Eliza’s voice cut through the pounding in my skull. “You kill him, and then what?”

My breathing turned ragged, and my vision blurred at the edges with fury. Calyx coughed beneath me, shifting slightly, but I pressed down harder on my blade, daring him to move.

“Think, Rathiel!” Eliza snapped. “If he dies, we lose the only person who has any idea what’s happening to her. He might be the only person capable of waking her up.”

I tore my gaze away from Calyx long enough to glance back at her, my fangs still bared and fingers still trembling around my sword’s hilt. Her eyes briefly widened, but then she walked toward me and laid a hand on my shoulder.

“You can kill him later. But right now, Lily needs you,” she said, her words slow and voice calm, as though sensing just how close I was to completely losing it.

I inhaled through my nose, every fiber of my being screaming at me to spill his blood. But Eliza was right.

Lily came first.

With a growl, I shoved off Calyx and stalked back to her side, kneeling beside her once more. My hands hovered over her, useless. I didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know how to reach her.

Calyx sat up with a wince, rubbing his bleeding throat. “Well,” he rasped, “that was fun.”

I ignored him, my focus solely on Lily. “What do we do?”

“There’s nothing we can do,” he said, rubbing his already bruising jaw. “At least, not yet. She has to sort this out herself. The mind is a fragile thing, you know. And you fucked with it when you took her memories in the first place. What exactly did you expect to happen?”

I forced myself to focus on Lily. On the rise and fall of her chest—too slow, too shallow.

“How long?” I demanded.

Calyx wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. “Depends. Could be minutes. Could be hours. Could be days.” He tilted his head, considering. “Or she might never wake up at all.”

“Great response, dumbass,” Eliza muttered.

“She’ll wake up,” I said, more to myself than anyone else.

Calyx rolled out his shoulders like he could shake off the tension seeping into the cavern. “Maybe.”

That was it. No elaboration, no reassurance—just maybe.

I ground my teeth, staring at the bastard for a long, weighted second before exhaling through my nose. My rage hadn’t lessened, but I could shove it down—for now.

Eliza crouched beside Lily. “She looks normal. Breathing and everything.” She turned to Calyx. “How do we even know if she’s…y’know, okay?”

He considered that, then lifted a brow. “I could check.”

I immediately stiffened.

He laughed, sensing my reaction. “Easy, big guy. I wouldn’t dig, just…skim.” He wiggled his fingers in the air. “See if her mind is still intact, if she’s following a thread or trapped in a loop. It won’t be invasive. Just a peek.”

My immediate instinct was to refuse, to keep him as far from her as possible, but what if— what if —she was slipping? What if she was screaming inside her own head, trapped in some fractured, crumbling nightmare, and we were just sitting here, waiting?

I ran a hand through my hair, barely concealing my frustration. “You swear you won’t do anything that’ll harm her?”

Calyx lifted a hand. “On my rotten little heart.”

Eliza groaned. “Not reassuring.”

“Fine. Do it,” I said.

Calyx shifted, stretching his fingers before reaching toward her temple. The second his fingertips brushed her skin, his eyes fluttered shut. His face twitched, his brows drawing together.

The cavern went silent. Seconds stretched, slow and suffocating. Then his eyes snapped open.

I was on him before he could speak, my hand fisting in his collar. “Well?”

Calyx disengaged from me and smoothed his shirt. “Well, she’s not dead.”

I bared my teeth. “Calyx?—”

“She’s fine,” he finally said. “She’s reliving something. Not stuck, not spiralling. Just…remembering.” He tilted his head slightly, gaze drifting toward her. “I don’t know how long it’ll take, but she’s not breaking.”

Some of the weight eased from my chest, but the anxiety didn’t fully relent. “You’re sure?”

Calyx wiped more blood from his split lip. “Sure enough.” He shifted, leaning back against the cavern wall. “Whatever she’s seeing, she’s deep in it. We can’t do anything but wait.”

Wait.

I hated that word.

I sat back on my heels, scrubbing a hand over my face, my jaw still locked tight.

Eliza sat down beside me with a sigh, stretching her legs out in front of her. “Guess that’s that.”

No one spoke for a long time. The cavern was quiet, save for the faint crackle of Lily’s orbs still clinging to the walls.

I turned back to Lily, watching for any sign of movement, anything that would tell me she was still in there, still fighting her way back.

“Come on, Lily,” I murmured.

But she didn’t stir.

* * *

LILY

Darkness swallowed me whole.

It was vast. Endless. A black void stretching in every direction, without shape, without sound, without substance. Just nothingness.

I turned, searching—though for what, I didn’t know. There was no floor beneath my feet, no air to fill my lungs. Just the heavy press of silence, wrapping around me like an unseen shroud.

Then something moved.

The darkness stirred, tendrils curling and unraveling, stretching toward me. I tried to recoil, but there was nowhere to go. No ground, no sky, no up, no down. Just shadows slithering toward the edges of my mind, pressing against something I hadn’t known was there.

A wall.

Thick. Solid. Unyielding.

The shadows stirred at my feet, then rose, forming a long malleable body. One that struck at the wall. Again. And again. And again .

Each strike sent a tremor through me, rattling my bones, cracking something deep within. The pressure built, an unbearable weight crushing against my skull.

Until the wall shattered, the blocks crumbling into ash. The shadows recoiled, and I fell through nothing .

Until—

A voice.

Familiar. Warm. A tether slicing through the void.

“We need to keep moving. We aren’t safe yet.”

Sensation slammed into me all at once—heat searing my skin, smoke curling around my legs, sulphur burning my lungs. My boots hit solid ground with jarring impact, my knees buckling. My heart pounded and I panted for breath.

A hand clamped around my wrist, yanking me forward.

I gasped, my head snapping down to see long, firm fingers wrapped around my arm. I followed the line of his grip, up his arm, to the broad set of his shoulders.

Rathiel.

My heart lurched at the sight—and feel—of him. He looked younger somehow, which was strange considering he would have stopped aging a very, very long time ago. And did his jaw lack a scar? I remembered touching it. But there was nothing there. His skin was smooth, perfect, kissable.

I cleared my throat. “Where are we going?” The words spilled past my lips without me thinking them.

Rathiel spared me another glance, then led me outside. “The kennels.”

The moment he said it, the memory slammed into place like a blade driven straight through my skull. Clarity swept through me and my senses cleared.

I cast one last look over my shoulder, my father’s palace looming behind me, its towering spires piercing the smoke-choked sky.

We were escaping.

Because of my father—because of Deidre.

Betrayal. Torture. Belial. The words echoed through my head. I’d learned the truth about the prophecy. I’d learned about the rebellion. And now Lucifer wanted to break me.

And Rathiel?—

My head snapped toward him.

He was saving me.

He’d driven a blade through Gremory’s chest. We’d hidden from the guards. And now, we were running. Running for the kennels, where Mephisar and Sable waited.

Elation surged through me. The hellwyrms. My hellwyrms.

I could fly myself out of here, but Mephisar and Sable would incinerate anyone who dared come near me. They were the perfect allies for this daring escape.

We fled the palace, Hell’s heat hitting me like a wall. My lungs burned as we ran, the air, like always, thick with sulphur and ash. Rathiel’s hand remained firmly gripped around mine as we navigated the familiar terrain.

The moment the kennels came into view, I almost cheered. Mephisar’s familiar growl reached my ears, and I grinned, knowing he’d recognized me. I pushed through the last stretch and stumbled to a halt in front of his cage.

“Hey, buddy,” I whispered. “It’s time for us to leave, for good. You ready for that?”

He butted his massive head against the cage bars, his horns nearly catching me in the eye.

I evaded them, laughing breathlessly. “Careful, big guy. I kinda need my eyes to see, deal?”

Mephisar huffed a mewling sound, then backed away from the door, giving me space to free him. I immediately reached for the latch on his cage, my heart racing. The metal was hot against my fingers, and I fumbled with it for a moment before it finally clicked open. Mephisar nudged the cage open with his massive head, his eyes gleaming with what I liked to think was loyalty and fierce protectiveness. But really, it was likely something more akin to hunger.

“Good boy,” I whispered, running my hand along his scaled neck and unclasping his chain. “We’re getting the hell outta here. Sound good?”

Rathiel popped open Sable’s cage, his movements quick and efficient. Sable uttered a low, threatening growl, one that had Rathiel stepping back before she blasted him with fire. Eyeing him warily, Sable slithered over to me and Mephisar, her attention all on the fallen angel.

“Be nice,” I chided her. “The four of us are in this together, so we all need to get along.”

She ducked her head, as though chagrined. I smiled and patted her side, softly cooing to her.

“It’s time to go,” Rathiel murmured, his voice quiet. “You need to get out of here.”

“You mean we need to get out of here,” I corrected.

When he didn’t respond, I glanced back at him. His tight expression sent a spike of fear through my heart.

“You meant we , right?” I demanded, stepping closer to Rathiel. “You’re coming with me.”

His gaze darkened and his mouth pressed into a grim line. “I can’t leave, Lily.”

I barked a laugh. “Are you kidding me? You can’t stay here. Not now. He’ll kill you.”

“I can’t, Lily,” Rathiel repeated, his voice breaking. “I can’t leave. Just like I couldn’t tell you about the prophecy. Do you understand?” He gripped my shoulders. “I am bound to Lucifer in every way possible. I am physically and mentally unable to disobey him.”

My eyes slipped closed as his words clicked in my head. Finally— finally —I understood. Everything made sense now, in a way that made me want to weep. Why hadn’t I realized this before? I wasn’t the only one trapped here. Of course Lucifer would strip his generals of their free will. They couldn’t do anything without his permission. And since my father had commanded him to keep the rebellion and the prophecy a secret, those were orders Rathiel couldn’t break, no matter how much he may have wanted to.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I whispered.

Rathiel ignored my question. “He told me to take you away, but he didn’t explicitly command me to take you to Belial. It gave me some freedom,” Rathiel continued. He cleared his throat, then took that final step toward me until our bodies touched. “Now, listen to me. Find Levi. He’ll protect you.”

Surprise widened my eyes. “What? How do you know about Levi?”

Rathiel shook his head. “Now’s not the time. You have to go.”

“Will I ever see you again?” I asked, tears pricking my eyes.

He didn’t answer. Instead, he yanked me closer and his lips crashed down onto mine. For a split second, I was too stunned to react. This was Rathiel, after all. But then he tilted his head, deepening the kiss, and my world exploded. The next thing I knew, I was leaning into him, my hands fisting in his shirt as I kissed him back with everything I had.

I’d never been kissed before, obviously. And now that I had, I wasn’t sure I ever wanted him to stop. The feel of Rathiel’s mouth, his tongue stroking mine, lit a fire within me unlike anything I’d ever experienced before—and I could summon hellfire. His lips were demanding, insistent, and I mindlessly abandoned myself to him. Everything else seemed to melt away until there was only us.

Rathiel was the one to break away first, tearing his lips from mine as if it physically pained him to do so. His breath came just as ragged as mine, but the moment was already slipping away—already being buried beneath the crushing weight of reality.

His hands found my waist.

Before I could speak, before I could protest, he lifted me onto Mephisar’s back with effortless strength. My hands scrambled against the thick scales, grasping for something solid as my heart slammed against my ribs.

“Rathiel—”

He stepped back, his hands falling away, his wings shifting slightly at his back. “Go.”

I shook my head. “No. I can’t leave you here.”

“Yes, you can,” he said, his voice strained. “And you will.”

He reached up, pressing his palm firmly against Mephisar’s massive neck. “Go. And protect her.”

The hellwyrm let out a deep, guttural rumble, his massive body tensing beneath me. His wings flared open, catching the smoke-choked air.

Then, with a powerful push, he launched skyward, with Sable following immediately behind us.

I adjusted easily, my body moving with the momentum as the world below shrank away. The heat of Hell faded. The wind tugged at my hair, curling around me like a phantom’s touch, but I barely noticed. Flying had never unsettled me. It was as natural as breathing.

Still, I twisted, looking down.

Rathiel stood where I left him, motionless, his wings partially flared as if he ached to follow.

The distance stretched. But still, he didn’t move.

My fingers curled against Mephisar’s scales, my chest tightening with dread. Fear that I’d never see him again nearly shredded my insides, but I couldn’t let it. Instead, I just watched as Rathiel faded into nothing—a lone, dark figure swallowed by the looming shadow of my father’s palace.