A faint laugh escaped me. “It definitely fits.”
“It does,” she said. “Figures you’d forge something born of dragons into something that can kill them.”
Before I could comment, a small group of hellspawn wandered over. One of them, a scarred netheron with scales like burnt obsidian, jabbed a claw at Eliza.
“We heard you’re a siren,” he grunted. “That means you can sing, right?”
She raised her brows. “How?—”
“Hellspawn are made of human souls,” I reminded her. “They don’t lose their memories when they take the long trip south. And sirens are legendary creatures—everyone’s heard of them.”
“Right. Well, no. Not happening.”
“Come on,” another chimed in, a venerath with a sharp grin. “We want to see these mythical powers of yours. Sing!”
Eliza shot me ahelp melook. I smirked, far too tired to intervene.
“You heard them,” I said, gesturing lazily toward the crowd. “You can’t refuse a challenge.”
“Yes, I can,” she hissed.
“Nope,” I said, pushing her gently off the rock. “Consider this your initiation.”
Her glare could’ve slaughtered a tharnox, but she straightened, brushing off her pants as the hellspawn whooped and crowded closer.
“Fine,” she muttered under her breath, flicking her hair back. “But if I do this, and they all start howling at the non-existent moon or something, that’s onyou.”
I chuckled and leaned back on my hands. “Can’t wait.”
Eliza rolled her shoulders, muttering something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like a curse, then lifted her chin. A couple hellspawn guided her atop a rock, and when she began to sing, it was like the entire realm fell quiet.
Her voice was soft at first—low and smoky—then rose until she sounded like a songbird, a beautiful contrast in a place like Hell. She sang a tune that was old and wistful, one that spoke of oceans and home. It didn’t take long before my tired mind stopped tracking the lyrics and instead let her voice wrap around me like a blanket. I hadn’t felt this calm and safe since Earth.
Little by little, the weight in my shoulders pulled me down, and I sank back against the rock. Each blink came slower than the last, the fires around us flickering longer, softer, until I stopped opening my eyes and everything went black.
Chapter Thirteen
LILY
Something was wrong.
No, scratch that.Everythingwas wrong.
The ground, the sky,everything. Nothing looked normal. Where I expected to find my raucous army, I saw nothing but a desolate hellscape. A dark sky hung above me, smooth and glassy black, like polished obsidian. Except, it had no texture, nor was the air thick with smoke or ash. The ground was black and felt hollow beneath my feet, yet when I walked, my steps didn’t make a sound.
Hellsucked, but it always had a presence about it. This place didn’t. It was silent. Dead. And completely unnerving.
I moved across the odd terrain with no destination in mind. Ten minutes into this odd little hike, something shifted beneath my feet.
I paused and glanced down just in time to see the ground suddenlycrackin half. The two sides quickly began to spread, forming a massive void beneath me.
“Oh, fuck!” I shouted, diving to one side before the chasm swallowed me whole.
I scrambled up and whirled around in time to watch assomethingpushed upward from deep within the fracture.
Great. The darkness wanted to go another round. Just what I needed.
At the sight of the familiar, black, spindly root—thick, gnarled, and dark as pitch—I burst into a sprint. I knew exactly where those came from, and I knew exactly what they wanted. But the last thingIwanted was to submit to it again.
