Page 27

For a heartbeat, the chamber was suspended in shocked silence—Rhodes and his guards frozen in disbelief, my family wide-eyed with hope, and my friends positioned strategically around the room, ready for battle.

Then chaos erupted.

The doors to the chamber burst open, and dozens of angel warriors poured in, summoning their weapons with flashes of light. The peaceful crystal walls that had reflected gentle rainbows moments ago now blazed with the harsh glare of angelic magic and darkfire as the fighting began.

“Ariella!” Levi shouted, fighting his way toward me. A guard moved to intercept him, but Levi dispatched him with a brutal efficiency that left no doubt about his intentions. He reached me, his eyes blazing with determination. “Let's get these off you.”

He grabbed the shackles, straining against the enchanted metal, but they resisted even his demonic strength. Lacey appeared at his side, her face tight with concentration as her fingers traced glowing patterns over the bindings.

“Hold still,” she commanded. “These are complex.”

A wave of magic flowed from her fingertips, seeping into the shackles. They heated, then cooled rapidly, becoming brittle. With a final surge of power from Lacey and a sharp wrench from Levi, they shattered, falling to the ground in fragments.

Power flooded back into me, my magic rushing through my veins like a river breaking through a dam. I flexed my fingers, feeling the light magic crackling at my fingertips, ready to be unleashed.

“Thanks,” I said, already turning toward Rhodes, who had retreated several steps, the dagger still clutched in his hand.

Around us, the battle raged. Farrah and Wyatt fought back-to-back, her ice magic freezing angels in their tracks while Wyatt, partially shifted with claws and fangs bared, tore through any who got too close.

Erin and Rey moved with the practiced coordination of long-time partners, their demon-hunting weapons finding weak spots in angelic armor with deadly precision.

The Lost Legion had engaged Rhodes's elite guard, angel fighting angel in a blur of wings and light magic. Aspen and Boise had created a barrier near one of the exits, preventing reinforcements from flooding in too quickly.

Rhodes's eyes darted around the chamber, assessing the situation with the cold calculation of a seasoned warrior. His gaze landed on my mother and sister, still bound on the floor, and a cruel smile twisted his lips.

“Guards!” he barked. “Kill the prisoners if anyone comes near me!”

Two warriors broke away from the fighting, moving toward my family with swords drawn.

My heart lurched, but before I could react, Abbie was there, her hands moving fast. A shield of silvery light sprang up around Sanvi, Adriel, and the unconscious Ezekiel, deflecting the first strike from the guards.

Lacey joined Abbie, her own magic bolstering the shield as she worked to free the prisoners from their bonds. “Go!” she shouted to me. “We've got them!”

I hesitated, torn between protecting my family and stopping Rhodes, but Levi's hand on my arm steadied me.

“Trust them,” he said, his voice low and urgent. “Rhodes is the priority. The dagger?—”

“I know.” I steeled myself and turned away from my family, focusing on Rhodes. “Let's finish this.”

We advanced on Rhodes, who had backed toward Adona, the dagger held before him like a talisman. Haines moved to his side, his own sword materializing in his hand.

“This changes nothing,” Rhodes snarled, his composure cracking. “You're outnumbered, outmatched. Elysium is mine!”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Levi replied, darkfire crackling around his hands. “Maybe it'll be a comfort when you're dead.”

We attacked simultaneously—me with a bolt of light magic aimed at the hand holding the dagger, Levi with a stream of darkfire directed at Haines to keep him occupied. Rhodes deflected my attack with a shield of his own magic, but the force of it knocked him back a step.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Ezekiel regaining consciousness as Lacey finished removing his shackles. Adriel was at his side instantly, helping him sit up, while my mother looked on with concern.

“Get them out of here!” I called to Ezekiel, ducking under a slash from Rhodes's conjured sword.

Ezekiel pushed himself to his feet, his injured wings folded painfully against his back. “Ariella?—”

“Please, Ezekiel.” I blocked another strike from Rhodes, countering with a blast of light that forced him to retreat. “Take them somewhere safe.”

He hesitated, clearly torn between helping me and following my request. “I won't let you down this time,” he finally said, determination hardening his features. He turned to Adriel and my mother. “Come on, we need to move.”

“But Ariella—” my mother protested.

“Will be fine,” Ezekiel assured her, already pulling them toward the exit where Aspen and Boise maintained their barrier. “She has help this time.”

I allowed myself a moment of relief as I saw them reach the exit, Aspen dropping the barrier of a side entrance just long enough to let them through before reinforcing it. One worry eased, but many more remained.

Rhodes and Haines had regrouped, fighting with the ruthless efficiency that had made them legendary among angel warriors. Levi and I pressed our attack, trying to separate them, to create an opening where one of us could disarm Rhodes and take the dagger.

“Getting tired, Ariella?” Rhodes taunted, parrying one of my strikes. “You've been away from Elysium too long. Grown soft among the humans and lesser supernaturals.”

“Funny,” I retorted, feinting left before striking right, “I was about to say the same about you. All that time sitting in council chambers has made you slow.”

His face contorted with rage, and he launched a barrage of attacks that forced me back several steps. But his anger made him predictable, his strikes powerful but lacking finesse. I used his momentum against him, letting him wear himself out while I conserved my energy.

Levi, meanwhile, had managed to push Haines away from Rhodes, engaging him in a separate battle that drew them toward the balcony doors. Darkfire met light magic in explosive bursts that shook the crystal walls of the chamber.

I saw my opening and took it, diving low and sweeping Rhodes's legs out from under him. He fell hard, the dagger nearly slipping from his grasp. I lunged for it, my fingers brushing the hilt?—

A deafening crash from above stopped me in my tracks. The domed ceiling of the chamber shattered as two more angels burst through, sending crystal shards raining down on the battle below.

I recognized them instantly: Sariel and Julien, two of Rhodes's most loyal supporters.

Not long ago, Levi had ripped one of Sariel’s wings, and now she had a fake one made of light tucked behind her back.

“Rhodes!” Sariel called, her voice booming over the sounds of battle. “The lower levels have been breached! The rebels are inside the tower!”

Rebels? My heart leapt. It seemed that other angels in Elysium had heard Rhodes's confession and decided to act.

Rhodes seized the moment of distraction, kicking me away and scrambling to his feet. “Hold them off!” he commanded, already moving toward where Abbie was working to free Adona from her bonds.

The angels didn't hesitate, diving into the fray with terrifying speed. Julien headed straight for me, his sword a blur of light as he attacked. I parried desperately, my own sword materializing in my hand just in time to block a strike that would have taken my head off.

Sariel engaged Levi, forcing him away from Haines, who immediately moved to join Rhodes. The two of them converged on Abbie, who stood protectively in front of the still-dazed Adona.

“Levi!” I shouted, unable to break away from Sariel's relentless assault. “Rhodes is going for Adona!”

Levi tried to disengage from Sariel, but the angel was too skilled, too determined to let him pass. Lacey saw the danger and rushed to help Abbie, her magic ready, but Haines intercepted her with a blast of light that sent her crashing into a pillar.

“Lacey!” I cried, fear for my friend momentarily distracting me.

Julien seized the opportunity, his sword slashing across my arm, drawing blood. I hissed in pain but managed to block his follow-up strike, forcing him back with a surge of light magic that momentarily blinded him.

But it was too late.

Rhodes had reached Adona, shoving Abbie aside with a blast of power that left her dazed on the floor. He grabbed Adona by the throat, lifting her partially off the ground, the dagger raised in his other hand.

“No!” I screamed, fighting to reach them, but Julien was there again, his attacks pushing me back, away from where Rhodes held Adona.

The chamber seemed to slow, sounds fading to distant echoes as I watched Rhodes press the dagger against Adona's chest, right over her heart. The red gem in the hilt pulsed with a sickly light that spread along the blade, seeping into Adona where it touched her.

“With this dagger,” Rhodes intoned, his voice carrying through the chamber despite the chaos of battle, “I reshape your essence, Adona.

Not to kill you—no, you're too valuable for that. I change you into what Elysium truly needs: a leader who will follow my will, who will command the loyalty of all angels, but serve only me.”

The light from the dagger intensified, bathing both Rhodes and Adona in its crimson glow. Adona's back arched, her mouth open in a silent scream as the dagger's magic invaded her body.

“Obey me,” Rhodes commanded. “Serve me. Be the face of my regime, the puppet through which I will rule Elysium!”

Something was wrong. The light from the dagger wasn't just flowing into Adona—it was being somehow reflected, amplified, spiraling outward in patterns that made my eyes hurt to look at. Rhodes's expression shifted from triumph to confusion, then to the first hints of fear.

“What's happening?” he demanded, trying to pull the dagger away, but it seemed stuck, fused to Adona's chest. “This isn't right!”

A high, keening sound filled the chamber, building in intensity until it felt like my eardrums might burst. The fighting faltered as everyone, angel and ally alike, turned toward the source of the noise.

Adona was changing.

Her slender form began to grow, stretching and expanding until she towered over Rhodes.

Her delicate features contorted, sharpening into something feral and predatory.

Her wings, normally hidden, erupted from her back—not two, but six massive appendages that spread across the width of the chamber, their color shifting from pearlescent white to a deep, burning gold.

Her eyes, once the gentle blue of a summer sky, now blazed with an inner fire that held no recognition, no mercy, no trace of the wise and compassionate leader she had been.

Rhodes stumbled backward, the dagger falling from his nerveless fingers as Adona continued to transform. Her hands lengthened into claws, her teeth into fangs, her entire body radiating a power so intense it made the air around her waver like heat over desert sand.

“What have you done?” Haines whispered, his face pale with horror.

Rhodes had no answer, could only stare in mute terror at the creature he had created—a being that bore little resemblance to the Adona we had known. A monster that stood nearly eight feet tall, its golden eyes surveying the chamber with a predatory intensity that sent chills down my spine.

For a long, terrible moment, everything was still, the fighting forgotten as we all stared at the transformed Adona. Then, slowly, deliberately, she turned her gaze toward Rhodes, a low, inhuman growl rumbling from her throat.

Rhodes raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Adona, I command you to?—”

The creature that had been Adona threw back her head and let out a roar that shook the very foundations of the tower, a sound of pure, primal rage that held no hint of understanding or restraint.

Then she lowered her gaze, surveying the chamber once more—Rhodes, Haines, the angel warriors, my friends, me. There was no recognition in those golden eyes, no indication that she remembered any of us or cared who was ally and who was enemy.

There was only hunger, and fury, and power unleashed from all restraint.

And then she attacked.