When I didn’t respond, he cleared his throat and gestured to my army. “Take a moment, enjoy this victory. Then we’ll start planning our next move.”
I nodded and quietly thanked him, but he was already striding away to rejoin the others. A chorus of cheers followed, and soon, the crowd swallowed him, dragging him into their reverie.
Which left Rathiel and me in a rare bubble of space.
I turned toward him. “Don’t be mad.”
One dark brow lifted. “Why would I be mad?”
I hesitated, then exhaled. “Because I didn’t use your power. Or Calyx’s. I only used mine.”
His eyes searched mine, his thumb brushing once against my knuckles. “And why would that make me angry?”
“Because…” I gestured vaguely toward the crowd, toward the sheer size of what I’d accomplished. “It’s risky. It could’ve drained me, hurt me. I didn’t know if it would work.”
“Lily,” he said, his expression clearing. “I’m not mad. Was I scared? You bet. But then, I always am when it comes to you. You scare the hell out of me, but in a good way. Look at what you accomplished.” He stopped and slowly exhaled. “You did what you set out to do. You brought them back. Once again, you’ve proven yourself. And not just to them. To everyone.”
Heat pooled in my chest.
“You just showed every soul here,” he continued gently, “that you are powerful enough to command them. That you don’t need my magic, or anyone’s, to lead them. Not even Lucifer can say that.” His fingers tightened around mine. “You are absolutely incredible. Though, I’ve always thought that.”
I tried to look away, but he caught my chin with his free hand and tilted my face back toward his. “I love you,” he said simply, without hesitation. “And nothing you could do—least of all this—would make me feel anything less than that.” Then he shrugged. “Plus, I’m relieved you didn’t need to siphon any of my essence.”
That made me chuckle.
I leaned in and kissed him, but the sound of Korrak’s booming laugh quickly interrupted us as he and Rathgor got into a shoving match.
I laughed as I drank in the sight of reunited friends.
Rathiel squeezed my hand, then released it. “Go on,” he said. “You should be celebrating with them.”
Grinning, I stepped away from him and approached my army. My legs still felt heavy, every step slower than I wanted, but pride carried me forward. The second I reached them, a singular cheer rose from the crowd, rippling outward until everysingle soldier joined in. They chanted my name, and I couldn’t stop the smile that curled my mouth.
I had my army back. My friends. My allies.
Nothing—absolutely nothing—could ruin this moment. Not even the darkness creeping through me.
Chapter Twelve
LILY
By the timeHell’s version of night rolled in—which was really just a darker shade of miserable—my army had come alive like the last ten years had never happened. They’d gathered around dozens upon dozens of fires, swapping stories loud enough to scare off any hell beasties. Rathgor had designated the closest geyser as an arm-wrestling station and was currently wrastlin’ a selection of hellspawn into submission, while Korrak had started a fight club I had zero interest in supervising.
It was jarring to comparethisnight to every other night since we’d returned to Hell. We’d gone from hiding in caves and staying out of sight to, apparently, broadcasting our presence to the entire realm. I couldn’t stuff a thousand soldiers into a cavern, but Icouldmake sure nothing caught us off-guard. Maybe my saviour complex, as Calyx had called it, was running wild, but I needed to ensure we had the strongest safeguards in place. A dragon had found us once already. Another was only an hour’s flight away. And who knew what other tricks Lucifer had up his sleeve.
So while everyone celebrated, I’d taken the time to send scouts to every cardinal point and stationed runners alongside them to report back the second anything looked wrong. If we were going to this exposed, then we would be vigilant about it. Because like I’d said earlier, I refused to make the same mistake twice.
Once the safeguards were in place, I moved on to the food issue. We were currently roasting the harvested dragon meat over the largest bonfire in camp, but it wasn’t nearly enough to feed a thousand hungry bellies—plus my inner circle. Thankfully, the ravagers had taken that as a personal challenge. They’d stormed into the wilderness, Mephisar in tow, with all the enthusiasm of a blood sport, clearly competing for the biggest kill.
They eventually began trickling back in, hauling game twice their size: bristleback boars, a surprising number of hellcats, and even a tusked stag. Mephisar dragged in the biggest beastie of them all and proudly dropped it next to the roasting dragon, before slithering off to entertain himself.
Soon enough, everyone was chowing down. As for me—Rathiel had all but ordered me to eat and wouldn’t take my refusal for an answer. He claimed I needed to replenish whatever energy I’d burned off during the resurrection. He wasn’t wrong. My limbs were heavier than earlier, and the darkness, rather than dissipating, had been steadily growing within me. Even breathing took conscious effort right now.
I’d tried to pass off my food portion—too tired even to eat—but Korrak stomped over and jammed a skewer of hellcat meat into my hands like I was about to starve. When I eyed it, he threatened to force-feed me if I didn’t cooperate. For the sake of peace, I took a begrudging bite.
The meat was tough, gamey, and tasted vaguely like brimstone and a little like rat. Not that I knew what rat tastedlike. But it had a distinctrat-likequality I couldn’t explain. Maybe it was just me and my state of mind, but the flavorless food didn’t appeal to me.
Now, I threaded my way through the chaos, rubbing the stiffness from my neck as I dodged two vampires locked in a heated debate over who could take down a hellcat faster. I assured them the correct answer wasme, then pressed forward.
