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Chapter Twenty-Six

LILY

I drifted, weightless and untethered, caught between the waking world and the abyss. Time had no meaning here. Seconds. Minutes. Hours. I didn’t know. I only knew that I wasn’t alone.

Somewhere, just beyond the haze, a voice broke through.

“…not healing…why isn’t she healing?”

I recognized it. Familiar, grounding, but laced with something I’d never heard before. Fear.

Rathiel.

I tried to move, to reach for him, to force my body to respond, but nothing happened. My limbs were heavy, unresponsive, my breath shallow and ragged in my own ears. I could barely register the pain anymore—it was distant, like a memory rather than something I was still experiencing.

“…too much damage…why isn’t she…”

The words came faster now, closer, edged with frustration, with panic. I’d never heard him like this. Rathiel didn’t panic. He didn’t falter. He didn’t break.

But I could hear it. The cracks in his voice, the helpless rage in every breath he took.

Something warm pressed against my forehead—a touch, fleeting, gentle.

“…please, Lily.”

I wanted to answer. I needed to answer.

I couldn’t.

The darkness tugged at me again, pulling me under before I could fight it.

The next time I surfaced, another voice had joined Rathiel’s. Deeper. Rougher. Familiar in a different way.

“…not normal…look at her…destroyed her…”

Levi.

Relief curled through me, weak but real. I fought to focus on what they were saying.

“Celestials don’t just not heal. If she’s not improving, then this isn’t just blood loss,” Levi said.

“She needs more time,” Rathiel snapped.

“We don’t have time,” Levi shot back. “If he finds us, finds her , he’ll finish what he started. I thought she’d succeed. I truly thought she would fulfill the prophecy. I never…”

Silence. A beat stretched between them, thick with tension. I wanted to say something, to tell them to stop, to tell them I was still here. But the effort was too much.

I slipped under again.

The next time I gained awareness, it was to the sound of raised voices, carving through the fog in my mind.

“…have you lost your mind?” Levi’s voice was raw with disbelief, edged with fury. “Do you hear yourself?”

“She can’t stay here,” Rathiel shot back. He sounded different now. Hollow. Desperate. “If she does, she’ll die.”

“She’s already dying, Rathiel!” Levi’s voice cracked with frustration. “Look at her! She hasn’t healed, hasn’t improved. She hasn’t once woken up?—”

A pause. Silence stretched between them, thick enough to suffocate. “You truly think this is the solution?”

“It’s the only way.” Rathiel’s voice was steady, but barely. I could hear the edge beneath it, the strain pulling him tight, fraying him at the seams. “I don’t have any other options.”

“This isn’t an option! It’s a condemnation! ” Levi’s fury crackled in the air, raw and seething. “If you do this, if you erase this, she won’t just forget the war. She’ll forget you . ” A heavy silence. Then, quieter, almost broken, Levi whispered, “She’ll forget everything. ”

“Not everything,” came Rathiel’s quiet voice. “Just…everything that matters. Everything that will get her killed.”

“And what about you?”

Another silence. Then, “I don’t matter.”

Levi cursed under his breath. “I won’t stand by and watch you do this. If you go through with this, you do so alone. And know this: she’ll never forgive you. If she ever remembers, she will hate you.”

“But she’ll be alive,” Rathiel snapped. “You think I haven’t heard the talk? You think I don’t know that Lucifer is scouring the entire fucking realm looking for her? That he has plans to string her corpse up in his courtyard like a fucking trophy? He will never stop. I have to get her out of Hell, Levi. It’s the only way. Somewhere she can heal, safely. Without the threat of her father hovering over her. You and I can’t protect her alone—Lucifer decimated our forces. There’s nothing left.”

Levi didn’t speak. The silence was louder than their argument.

Then, finally, in a voice so low I almost didn’t hear it, he said, “But her memories?—”

“If I don’t erase them, she will come back.” Rathiel’s voice cracked. “Nothing would stop her. Nothing would keep her from finding me, do you understand? We would do anything for each other, and this…” He released a ragged breath. “It’ll kill me, but it’s necessary.”

I tried to move, tried to lift my head, tried to force my body to do something, but I couldn’t. I was weightless, untethered, caught between consciousness and the void. My eyelids were impossibly heavy. My limbs were stone, and my voice was lost in the darkness.

There was a scoff, and then heavy footsteps as someone walked away.

Levi.

I wasn’t exactly clear on what Rathiel wanted to do—my muddled brain hadn’t yet made sense of everything—but clearly, Levi disagreed.

I wanted to disagree as well, to open my eyes and tell Rathiel no . But I hadn’t the strength. Which was the entire problem.

I heard Rathiel sigh, felt a soft brush of lips against mine.

“I’m sorry, Lily,” he whispered. “Sorry I couldn’t protect you. I swore I’d keep you safe, and I failed you. But I won’t let Lucifer kill you. I know you may never understand, but I’m doing this because I love you. You’ll be safe on Earth, away from all this.”

Another deep breath, and then something sparked deep inside me. Something foreign.

A strange pressure built behind my eyes, not pain, not exactly, but something deeper. Something enclosing.

A wall.

It started at the edges, rising slow but inevitable, brick by brick, sealing away the battlefield. The screaming dimmed, the blood-soaked earth blurred, the chaos pulled back behind cold stone.

A knife slipping free from my fingers.

Another brick.

A flagon raised in a silent toast.

Another brick.

A pair of burning blue eyes in the dark.

The wall grew higher. Stronger. Unyielding. Walling me off from what made me me .

The rebellion.

My soldiers.

Their names.

Their faces.

Sealed away, buried beneath layers of stone, their voices reduced to whispers until they became nothing at all.

A sword in my hand.

A name on my lips.

A voice— his voice—calling my name.

I knew him. I knew his face. His touch. The way he looked at me when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. I knew the warmth of his hands. The sound of his laughter. The quiet, steady presence of him at my side, in battle, in the dark, in the stolen moments between battles.

I knew him.

But the wall rose higher.

No.

No, no ?—

I fought to tear it down, to see past it, but more bricks slammed into place, each one cutting me off, sealing more of me away.

Fingers brushing my cheek.

A whispered promise.

A kiss, stolen between breaths.

The light in his eyes, the way they softened only for me.

Gone.

Another brick. And another. And another . Until the wall stood tall and unbreakable, and I couldn’t remember what I’d been fighting for.

* * *

I snapped awake, my breath catching in my throat. For a moment, I didn’t know where—or when —I was. But then the memories came rushing back, slamming into me like a tidal wave.

I was no longer trapped in my own mind. I was no longer reliving the past.

I was awake. In Hell. Present day.

I blinked up at the hellish sky, the haze of memory finally giving way to harsh reality. The sky churned overhead, deep red streaked with black, thick with ash and smoke, pulsing with the glow of distant fire. The air was hot, acrid, and unmistakably real.

My poor head throbbed behind my eyes, dull but insistent, as my mind tried to rearrange itself and make room for all the memories. My brain felt like a half-finished puzzle, trying to put together all the pieces. I remembered everything individually, but now came the task of putting the memories in order.

I took a slow breath and let my body catch up with my mind. First thing I noticed—I wasn’t in the cave. The walls were gone, replaced by open air and the exposed sprawl of Hell’s twisted landscape.

Second thing I noticed—something warm and heavy pressed against my side.

I turned my head, and there, curled up against me, was Purrgy. The sight of him was so ridiculously normal that for a second, my brain short-circuited.

It almost felt like I was two people at once. Lily from Earth—coffee barista, bartender, professional avoider of supernatural bullshit. And Lily from Hell—warrior, rebellion leader, the daughter of the monster who ruled this place.

Two versions of me, tangled together, trying to fit into the same skin.

I inhaled slowly, trying to steady myself as I processed the obvious: I had all my memories back. I had asked for this—fought for this—but now that they were here, crowding every inch of my mind, I wasn’t sure how to hold them all at once.

A breath hitched near me.

“Lily?”

Eliza’s voice. Soft, uncertain, like she wasn’t sure if she was imagining things. I turned my head just enough to see her sitting a few feet away, her eyes locked on to me with a mixture of disbelief and overwhelming relief. She had her knees drawn up, arms resting over them, but the tension in her frame, the way she stared at me like she hadn’t dared to hope. Yeah, they’d all been waiting.

“Hey,” I rasped. My voice barely sounded like mine, raw and wrecked from whatever I’d just clawed my way back from.

For half a second, Eliza didn’t move. Then she surged forward so fast she nearly tripped over herself, sliding onto her knees beside me. “You’re awake.” Her voice cracked. “You—” She pressed her hands to her face before dragging them down. “You scared the shit out of us.”

I blinked, my brain sluggishly catching up. I wanted to say something reassuring, something to smooth over whatever I’d put them through, but my throat ached too much. My head pounded like a hellspawn had stomped on it, and I still wasn’t sure how much time had passed.

“How long was I out?” I managed.

Eliza hesitated. “A while.”

Vague. Not a good sign.

Still, my body felt stiff, my limbs sluggish in a way that told me I’d been out for more than just a couple of hours. I swallowed and winced as my throat protested the movement.

“It hasn’t been easy,” Eliza said, her voice a bit quieter now. “You wouldn’t wake up, and Rathiel got pissed, and Calyx couldn’t tell us how long it would take for you to get better—because, well, he didn’t know, and?—”

“Eliza,” I said, “you’re rambling.”

A chuckle slipped past her lips. “Yeah. Sorry. It’s been an exhausting few days.”

Days. Whoa.

I gave a slight nod, then started to sit up. The movement sent a dizzying pulse through my skull, and I paused, bracing my weight on my elbows while I waited for the world to stop spinning.

I must have made a sound because Eliza shot to her feet. “Calyx!”

Calyx? Not Rathiel?

I slowly scanned the area—careful not to upset my brain any more than it already was—and took in our surroundings. No broad-shouldered silhouette standing guard, no crystalline blue eyes watching me. I looked to the edges of a familiar valley, expecting—hoping—to find him striding across the grounds to me.

Nothing.

Disappointment swelled in my chest. With my memories in place, I wanted to see him. Talk to him. Punch him.

But before I could ask where he was—and where we were—a slow, lazy voice rose behind Eliza.

“Do my ears deceive me?”

Footsteps approached, unhurried, deliberate.

I turned my attention toward the fallen angel and the tiny, grey imp perched smugly on his shoulder.

Calyx grinned, all amusement and arrogance, while Vol sat like some kind of deranged parrot, claws hooked into the fabric of his shirt. His beady black eyes locked onto me, wide at first, before his usual mischief slid back into place.

“Ah,” Calyx drawled. “Sleeping Beauty has finally deigned to grace us with her presence.”

“About time,” Vol muttered.

But before I could respond, Vol launched himself off Calyx’s shoulder without warning. He darted down the fallen angel’s arm, his claws barely scraping fabric before he hit the ground in a blur of movement.

Vol scampered straight for me, moving with the speed of impish delight. Without hesitation, he hopped up onto Purrgy, who let out an aggravated grumble, then clambered up onto my shoulder, his little hands holding onto my hair for balance.

I turned to look at him, only to find him peering at my face. “You look awful.”

“Worried, were you?”

Vol scoffed, immediately offended. “What? No. I was worried about who was gonna feed the cat if you kicked it.”

“It’s good to see you too,” I said, chuckling softly.

“Well?” Eliza said, drawing my attention back to her and Calyx. “Check her out, will ya?”

“Oh,” Calyx took a large step backward, hands held up peaceably. “I like my hanging bits where they are, thank you. And I hardly think Rathiel would appreciate me checking her out .”

Regardless of his stupidity, I found Calyx’s words reassuring. That he referred to Rathiel meant he was here somewhere.

Eliza growled something under her breath, then gripped Calyx’s arm and hauled him toward me. “You know what I meant. Is she okay?”

Laughing, Calyx crouched down beside me, assessing me as one did when they found a particularly interesting specimen. His presence whispered through my mind, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, so I let it pass.

“Still breathing,” he said. “So that’s good. And your brain doesn’t seem fried—well, no more fried than it was before. Impressive.”

Eliza rolled her eyes. “She literally just woke up, Calyx. Could you hold off on the sarcastic commentary for two minutes?”

“I could,” he said. “But why would I?”

I pushed myself completely upright, ignoring the way my body screamed in protest. My head still felt like some enthusiastic hellspawn had been using it as a punching bag, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me.

Instinctively, I reached back—fingers grazing the space where my wings should’ve been.

Nothing.

Just air and scar tissue.

The absence of my wings hit harder than I expected. I’d lost them ten years ago. But thanks to Calyx’s magic and everything I’d just lived through, the memory of losing them was a lot fresher than I would’ve liked.

I took a moment and allowed myself to grieve their loss— again —then cleared my throat, which still felt like I’d been swallowing glass. “Where’s Rathiel?”

Eliza’s lips pressed together. The way her gaze darted away told me everything before she even opened her mouth.

“He’s…handling things.”

My stomach tightened. “Handling what, exactly?”

Eliza cursed and averted her gaze, clearly debating how much to tell me.

Calyx, on the other hand, had no such hesitation. “Oh, you know,” he said, tone light, “throwing himself into unwinnable fights, making dramatic, self-sacrificial gestures, generally being an idiot.” He shrugged. “It’s a real hobby of his.”

I clenched my jaw. “Enough of the quips. Where is Rathiel?”

“The fallen attacked us when we were traveling here,” Eliza finally said. “We were about to fight when another celestial showed up. He had these…” She blew out a heavy breath, shaking her head. “I don’t even know what to call them. I’ve never seen anything like them before?—”

“They’re hellwyrms, darling,” Calyx supplied, waving a lazy hand. “And friends of your dear Lily here. I never learned their names, of course?—”

“Mephisar and Sable,” I whispered, my heart quickening. “They’re alive?”

The last time I’d seen them, they’d been falling. Plummeting to the ground. Motionless.

A fresh wave of urgency surged through me, shoving away the exhaustion, the ache, and the lingering fog in my head.

“Very much so,” Calyx confirmed. “Along with that ravager you’re so fond of. And that chap of yours, the one with the golden hair.”

“Levi and Gorr.” Their names rushed out of me. “They’re here? Where?” My gaze darted between them, searching their faces. “Wait…the fallen attacked? And Rathiel remained behind to fight? You left him behind?”

Eliza pressed her lips together.

“He told us to leave,” she said. “We had to get you somewhere safe.”

Somewhere safe. Here. Which I now recognized as the ruins of the rebellion encampment. The valley. The half-burned wall. The ashes and remains of all the tents. Lucifer must have razed this place after our last battle.

My body moved before my mind caught up.

I stormed across the encampment, Vol clinging to my shoulder.

“Lily,” Eliza called.

“No. I’m not sitting here while he’s out there?—”

“You’re not exactly in prime fighting condition,” Calyx pointed out.

“I don’t care,” I snapped. “Rathiel’s out there, alone, and you expect me to just sit here?”

“He’s not alone,” Eliza interrupted, her voice tight but steady. “Those friends of yours are with him.”

I shook my head, trying to clear it. Rathiel and I were due a long conversation, and I refused to let him die before I could kill him myself.

“Lily, please!” Eliza shouted. “You just woke up five minutes ago. Would you take a second and think? You don’t even know where we left them!”

“I’ll find them,” I muttered, not caring about her so-called logic.

“Well, at least we can say you’re committed,” Calyx commented.

I turned on him. “Either help me or get the hell out of my way.”

Calyx lifted his hands. “Fine, fine. No need for threats, darling. I like my head exactly where it is.”

“Ah, yes,” Vol mused. “We’re charging back into chaos on wobbly legs. Brilliant idea.”

I ignored all their comments, determined to find Rathiel.

I’d barely made it two steps when a thunderous roar split the air.

It rolled through the ruins like a shockwave, shaking the very ground beneath my feet. My body reacted before my mind did—I froze, heart pounding, head snapping toward the sound.

That was not a cry of pain. That was a victory roar.

I turned just in time to see the first massive shape emerge in the ashen sky.

Mephisar.

His enormous wings cut through the air, powerful beats sending gusts of wind tearing through the encampment ruins as he descended. Blood caked his body—I only hoped none of it was his—but he was alive. He angled his flight, banking toward me before landing with a ground-shaking thud.

A second shadow followed, weaving through the air like a blade slicing through silk.

Sable.

She twisted mid-flight before diving, her wings folding at the last moment as she landed beside Mephisar with effortless precision. Her molten eyes locked onto me instantly, her mouth splitting into a horrifying grin that would have had a grown man shitting himself.

Gorr jumped off her back, his feet landing on the dusty ground. He spared me a single glance before his mouth split open into a demonic grin, and he barreled toward me, his speed increasing with every step.

“Incoming!” Vol shouted. He barely managed to grip my hair before Gorr’s massive body collided with mine. The impact was instantaneous, and I hit the ground hard, the air emptying from my lungs with a heavy oof .

“Oh, hell no,” Vol growled in my ear. He released my hair and scurried away from me. “I’m not getting flattened by these beasts!”

Gorr stood over me, his massive legs braced on either side of my body as he loomed over me, growling deep in his chest. But there was no menace in it, just fierce, unrelenting adoration and affection.

He lowered his giant head, his blunt snout pressed against my neck as he breathed me in, sniffing every inch of me. Then he nuzzled me, his bony plating rough but familiar, his tail swishing behind him like an overgrown, deadly hellhound.

I groaned under his weight. “Okay, okay, you’re happy to see me. Gorr, you’re crushing me.”

A second later, two larger shadows loomed over us.

Mephisar and Sable.

They closed in, their huge forms blocking out the sky, their heads lowering in tandem.

Mephisar sniffed at me first, his nostrils flaring before he let out a deep, chuffing sound, something almost approving. Sable followed a second later, her razor-toothed grin still stretched across her snout.

Then came the tongues.

Massive, bisected, warm, wet, and entirely too much as both wyrms licked me in unison.

I sputtered, shoving at Gorr, who was still nuzzling me with enough force to bruise ribs.

“Oh, yuck!” I shouted. “Stop!”

From a safe distance came a smattering of chuckles. Glad we were amusing everyone.

Mephisar’s massive head bumped against my shoulder, almost knocking me back down.

“Look, I’m happy to see you guys too, but I can’t breathe!” I said.

Mephisar gave a low, amused huff and backed away, but Gorr refused to move.

Sable tilted her head, then simply curled her massive tail around Gorr’s shoulders and dragged him off me like he weighed nothing.

The second the pressure lifted, I sucked in a full breath, rolling onto my side to regain some semblance of composure.

Gorr protested his displeasure, his thick tail flicking once before he shoved his head back into my side, more careful this time, but still clearly unwilling to let me out of his reach.

I dug my fingers into his hide, feeling the warmth beneath the thick plating, and the deep, steady rise and fall of his breath.

“I know, I know,” I said, wrapping my arms around his thick neck. “I’m happy to see you too.”

Bracing my hands against Gorr’s thick side, I pushed up onto my knees, and stared at Mephisar and Sable’s massive forms. I had so many questions. Like, how were they even here? The last time I’d seen them, they’d been falling from the sky. I could have sworn Lucifer had killed them. Yet, here they stood, strong and proud. All those questions would have to wait, though. Because there, standing a short distance away, were Levi and Rathiel.

I was happy to see Levi—truly—but he wasn’t the one I couldn’t stop staring at.

No, that was Rathiel.

My breath caught at the sight of him. His dark hair was still damp with sweat and blood, strands clinging to his forehead. Blood stained his ripped clothes, but he stood tall and strong.

And the best part? I remembered everything. Not just fragments or glimpses—but everything . I remembered us . From every kiss to every fight. All the confusion I’d felt, the war raging inside my heart, the tangled mess of emotions I’d been struggling with since he re-entered my life—all of it was gone.

I loved him. Truly.

But I also wanted to punch him for everything he’d put me through.

I stood and marched forward, unsure of what I wanted to say or do.

Rathiel didn’t move.

“Oh, he’s in for it now,” came Vol’s voice from behind me.

Calyx hummed in agreement. “It’s been nice knowing him.”

I barely registered their voices. My blood was rushing too loudly in my ears.

Rathiel squared his shoulders, his jaw tight, his blue eyes locked onto mine with a calm acceptance. As though he was prepared to take whatever punishment I dished out.

Good.

I came to a stop in front of him, my heart hammering against my ribs, my hands clenched at my sides. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to kiss him or hit him—a feeling I was very familiar with when it came to Rath.

Without a word, I surged forward, grabbed the collar of his torn shirt, and yanked him down.

Someone sucked in a breath—maybe Calyx or Eliza—but I didn’t care. Because the second Rathiel was close enough, I crashed my mouth against his.

For a heartbeat, he didn’t react. His entire body locked up, shock radiating off him in a wave.

Then he snatched me into his arms, gripping me so tightly it stole the breath from my lungs, and kissed me back—hard.

A shudder rippled through me, along with relief and longing. His mouth was urgent, unrelenting, the taste of battle still clinging to him. But beneath it, there was him . The kiss wasn’t careful, nor was it slow. It was desperate, fevered, a clash of heat and breath and everything we had both lost and found again.

I remembered this. The way he kissed, the way his body felt against mine. The way he held me, like he was afraid I might disappear if he let go.

Our tongues warred for dominance, neither willing to yield, each stroke and clash setting fire to something deep inside me. His grip on my waist tightened, his fingers digging into my back as if he needed me closer.

I fisted my hands in his shirt, pulling him harder against me, deepening the kiss, swallowing the sound that rumbled in his chest. Fuck, I had missed him so much.

Somewhere in the distance, someone let out a long, slow whistle.

The sound pierced the lusty haze filling my head, and I ripped away from Rathiel, breathing hard. Our gazes met, and his shone with love.

A few feet away, Levi looked completely unbothered. “Well. That’s one way to say hello.”

Eliza laughed behind me. “I thought for sure she was going to deck him.”

“I’m deeply disappointed,” Calyx commented in a bored tone.

Still reeling from the kiss, I glared up at Rathiel and said, “Don’t think for a second I won’t punch you later.”

His lips twitched, a small, knowing smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I’d expect nothing less.”