Page 20

Chapter Twenty

LILY

Korrak was talking again.

I did my best to look interested, nodding at what seemed like appropriate moments, but honestly? I had lost track of the conversation somewhere between “ hit them hard ” and “ let’s throw more bodies at the problem until something sticks .”

Classic hellspawn strategy.

It also gave me a clearer understanding as to how the outpost we’d raided a few weeks back had so many prisoners.

Gorr sat beside me—his location of choice ever since we’d raided the outpost—and his eyes occasionally drooped, like he too was struggling to stay engaged. Every so often, his ears would perk when someone raised their voice. But other than that, he didn’t move. Seemed I’d found myself a new friend. I didn’t mind. He could go places Mephisar and Sable couldn’t, and it made me feel secure having another set of eyes watching my back.

Across the crude war table, a massive slab of rough-hewn stone, Levi stood with his arms crossed. He looked as unimpressed as I felt. I shifted my weight and crossed my own arms as I listened to Korrak and his generals discuss war tactics. Well, tactics was a strong word.

Rathgor—massive, mean, and apparently allergic to new ideas—slammed a clawed fist down on the table, his eyes narrowing. “We take the fight to Lucifer. Full force. Catch him before they expect us.”

Drek’thar, the wiry netheron beside him, shook his head. “And then what? Let him slaughter us like last time? We barely have enough fighters to hold the territory we do have.”

“We take what we need,” Rathgor shot back.

“From where?” Drek’thar snapped. “Lucifer rules Hell and every damned soul living here. We can’t outnumber him. You’re not thinking !”

Rathgor’s lips peeled back to expose his lengthy fangs—as though that was frightening. I was the only one here without fangs, so truly, the sight did not inspire any fear whatsoever.

Korrak let out a low growl and gripped the table so hard it cracked. Probably to keep himself from ripping apart his so-called “generals.” A title that, after listening to them bicker, I was using very loosely.

“Then what do you propose?” Korrak ground out. “Just sitting here and waiting for him to find us?”

Oh, for Hell’s sake.

Not for the first time since arriving at this encampment, I sympathized with Levi, who’d been dealing with this brand of military genius on a daily basis. That he hadn’t strangled anyone yet was a miracle. But I also now understood why Levi had sought me out for this job. These hellspawn weren’t just struggling—they were helpless. And understandably so.

My father created hellspawn by fusing the souls of condemned humans with the essences of his fallen. Lucifer wanted soldiers, not leaders. So intelligence and strategy were not qualities he gave when creating them. If anything, he avoided them. He wanted mindless creatures, and he’d succeeded—quite spectacularly.

I shared a glance with Levi. When I lifted a brow, he nodded and gestured toward the war table. This was, after all, my party. I’d taken over as the rebellion leader after returning from the outpost with every single prisoner in tow. Calder had announced to anyone with ears that he would follow me into any battle, and once he’d regaled the other vampires about how I’d let him feed to his heart’s content, they’d also switched their loyalties to me.

“All right,” I said, stepping forward and drawing the three hellspawn’s attention. “Since Levi and I are the only ones at this table with functional brain cells, let me spell this out for you.” I tapped a point on the map—one of Lucifer’s key supply routes, and something the generals had completely ignored. “This is our next target.”

Confusion furrowed their brows, and I almost laughed.

Rathgor scoffed. “That’s just a supply route.”

“Yes,” I said patiently, reminding myself that these were my people now, and if I wanted them to succeed, I needed to lead, not insult. “Supply routes are incredibly important. When you cut them off, your enemy loses supplies. Things they desperately need. Like weapons, food for their ranks, etcetera. And do you know what happens when you cut off a supply line?”

Silence.

When no one answered, I tapped the map again and answered my own question. “They will pick another route.” I glided my fingers across the map, tracing the most likely path they would take. I’d sat through many of my father’s council meetings, after all. “And when they do, we’re waiting, and hit them again.”

Korrak studied the map, his thick brow still furrowed.

“We hit the supply runs, the food stores, the armories. We don’t just burn outposts—we gut them. You want to win? Stop throwing your people at him. Start choking him from the inside. So far, he hasn’t suffered any losses except the one outpost. But you’ve had many. Your supplies are practically nonexistent. We need to turn the tables on him. He won’t expect this. He keeps reinforcing his outposts, knowing that he can outnumber us. So we need a new tactic, a new means of depleting his numbers.”

Levi nodded, his expression smoothing into understanding. “You want to starve him out.”

“I want to destroy him,” I reiterated. “But I’ll settle for starving his people until they can no longer fight us. Plus, we get to keep the supplies for ourselves. Spoils of war, and all that.”

That got their attention.

All three generals’ heads lifted, their dark expressions shifting just slightly. Maybe it was awe. Maybe just begrudging respect. Either way, I’d take it.

Drek’thar traced the same route I did with his main claw. “And if Lucifer catches on?”

“He absolutely will catch on,” Levi said. “He’s hardly unintelligent. But by the time he does, we’ll have already cut his supply route off.”

“Exactly,” I said. “The weaker he gets, the stronger we become. Remember that.”

Silence stretched. Then Drek’thar grinned. “Well, celestial. Let’s see if you’re as good as you think you are.”

I laughed. “Oh, Drek’thar. I’m very good. And you’re about to see why.”

Rathgor opened his mouth to speak, when a chorus of shouts rose to our ears, followed by the unmistakable clash of weapons and the dull thud of something heavy hitting the dirt.

Gorr’s ears perked instantly, his tail going rigid. Levi straightened beside me, celestial power humming faintly in the air.

Then another sound—like something being dragged over stone.

Korrak’s expression darkened. “What now?”

I was already moving before he finished speaking.

The tent flap burst open as a hellspawn stumbled inside, panting, blood streaking his face. “There’s—there’s a prisoner,” he gasped. “One of Lucifer’s fallen.”

I stiffened.

One of my father’s fallen?

How had they found us? The encampment was a well-guarded secret. Without Levi, I never would have found this place. Had they tracked us? Or had someone betrayed us and led them here? But also, why just one? The fallen didn’t do anything alone. They fought together, like a well-oiled machine. And if a fallen knew our location, then did that mean Lucifer was coming? Was this a precursor to an attack?

A million questions flooded my mind. But I settled on the one I deemed the most important. “Which fallen?”

The hellspawn hesitated. “I—I don’t know. But?—”

I was already moving, Gorr tucked tightly at my side.

Levi kept pace beside me, tension rolling off him in waves.

Korrak and the others followed, their hellspawn instincts screaming for blood.

I shoved past the gathered hellspawn as I stepped into the open wasteland air. Hellspawn clustered in a loose, agitated ring around the center of camp, weapons drawn and snarling.

Then I saw him.

My breath caught, my body locked so tight I thought my bones might snap from the sheer force of it.

Rathiel .

He knelt in the dirt, chains shackling his wrists. His clothes were torn and stained with blood, and his face a mess of bruises. Next to him lay a tattered sack, torn but zipped closed.

Rathiel lifted his head, his exhausted gaze locking with mine.

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe .

He had come for me.

Or maybe… Maybe someone had sent him. The thought sent a violent shudder down my spine. I didn’t want to imagine the alternative, didn’t want to think about why my father might have sent Rathiel here.

But before I could ask, a massive shadow passed overhead. Hellspawn scattered as a sudden gust of wind blasted through the encampment.

And then, with a thunderous boom, Mephisar landed beside Rathiel. A fraction of a second later, Sable’s massive form coiled around Rathiel like a living barricade, her serpentine body a wall of gleaming scales.

The entire camp lost its mind.

Hellspawn shouted, scrambling back. Weapons snapped into hands.

Korrak went rigid. “What in the fuck?—?”

I barely heard him, too focused on the sight of my hellwyrms protecting Rathiel from the rest of the camp. Mephisar and Sable had only ever protected me .

But now they flanked Rathiel, wings flared, tails shifting, guarding him.

Both Mephisar and Sable had been there when Rathiel helped me escape Lucifer’s palace. Rathiel had ordered Mephisar to protect me. And whether hellwyrms were capable of true intelligence or just ran on deeply ingrained instinct, it didn’t matter—because they remembered. They knew Rathiel wasn’t the enemy.

Mephisar spread his wings and let out a low, reverberating snarl when a few hellspawn edged closer. Sable mirrored him, then lowered her head and sniffed at Rathiel’s chains, her bright, intelligent gaze shifting between him and me.

The group of hellspawn nearest me edged forward, testing the waters.

And just like that, my body unlocked.

I moved before thinking, closing the distance in a flash and grabbing the closest netheron by the back of the neck. He twisted with a snarl—one that vanished the second he caught sight of me. Hellfire surged across my torso and down my arms, heading straight toward my hands. I released the netheron before the flames touched his skin, shoving him back toward the others.

“No one touches him!” My voice cracked through the air like a whip. Hellfire surged, blasting out of me in a wave of heat.

The hellspawn nearest me flinched away from the flames. Some recoiled, others stiffened, but none moved closer.

Gorr paced in tight, agitated circles around me, lips peeled back over his fangs in a silent snarl. His stance was clear—protective, unwavering, a warning to anyone stupid enough to think of making a move.

Korrak broke the silence. “Lily,” he said, his voice rough with irritation. “That’s a fucking fallen. What if he led Lucifer to us?”

I ignored him. Rathiel would never lead Lucifer to us.

Right?

Then came the darker, more realistic thoughts. Rathiel didn’t have free will. If Lucifer ordered him to find me, he wouldn’t be able to disobey.

But that didn’t stop me from going to him. Mephisar rumbled a warning as I approached, his massive body shifting slightly, his wings flaring just enough to remind the others who really had the power here. But the moment my hand pressed against his hot, scaled hide, he went still. Sable, coiled protectively around Rathiel, flicked her forked tongue in the air before unwinding just enough for me to kneel in front of him.

Up close, the damage was worse. A gash lined his jaw and seeped blood, his wings hung limp behind him, the feathers bent and torn. He looked thrashed, but he held himself strong. Because he never cowered.

I grasped the chains shackling his wrists and summoned more heat. Hellfire seeped into the metal until the links softened, warped, then fell to the ground with a dull clatter.

Before I could pull back, his hands shot forward, catching mine. His grip was firm despite the raw wounds, his fingers curling around mine.

I looked up, and for a moment, the rest of the world blurred to nothing. Because Rathiel was smiling at me. It was small, but it tugged at the corner of his bloodied lips.

And then, in a voice rough with exhaustion, he rasped, “I found you.”

Something cracked open inside me. My throat tightened, my chest ached, and my pulse pounded hard enough to make me dizzy.

He was here. I just stared at him, my mind struggling to process that he was here, in front of me, alive.

His smile faded just slightly. “Lily?”

My lips parted, but I didn’t know what to say. I never didn’t know what to say.

I swallowed past the tightness in my throat, gripping his hands in return. “How are you here?”

A low growl cut through our moment.

Korrak.

The brimlord stood rigid, arms crossed over his chest, his gaze dark with suspicion. “Touching reunion,” he said flatly. “Now, tell me why I shouldn’t cut his throat.”

Neither Rathiel nor I flinched.

My eyes snapped to my general, my wings slowly flaring outward as my voice turned threatening. “Because if you try, I’ll burn you from the inside out.”

It wasn’t a warning. It was a promise.

The tension in the camp coiled tight. The gathered hellspawn shifted, and they exchanged wary glances.

Mephisar let out a warning growl, his massive tail curling tighter around Rathiel and me. Sable followed, her forked tongue flicking out, tasting the unease in the air. Even Gorr moved closer, his muscles bunching beneath thick hide, a silent declaration of his loyalty.

I forced myself to think past the suffocating weight of emotions clawing at my ribs. There were too many questions, too many unknowns. I needed to get Rathiel alone. I needed answers.

I remembered what he’d told me at the palace, that his will wasn’t his. That my father controlled everything he did. Did that mean my father knew he was here? Where we were? These were all questions I needed answers to.

But I also needed to remind the hellspawn exactly who was in charge.

I rose slowly to my feet, my gaze sweeping over the gathered rebellion. “He is not our enemy,” I said, my voice carrying over the uneasy murmurs. “Stand down.”

They didn’t lower their weapons, but they didn’t raise them either.

Korrak’s jaw tensed. “We need more than that,” he snapped. “That’s one of Lucifer’s most trusted. He doesn’t get to just walk into our camp and?—”

“I am not loyal to Lucifer. Not anymore.”

The words cut through the encampment and a stunned silence followed, every pair of eyes turning to Rathiel.

He lifted his head, his bruised, exhausted gaze locking onto Korrak’s. “I am here for her,” he said. His voice was hoarse, but there was no hesitation. No doubt. “Only her.”