“They’re the only ones that can give me what I want,” he finally said.
“And what’s that?” Ezrion demanded, his attention laser focused on Calyx again.
“My freedom,” he said, his voice hardening. “Lily is the only one who can give me that, because you damn well know Lucifer would never!”
“You’re naive if you think she’ll give you anything at all! You think she can actually free you?”
“Iknowshe can,” he argued. “And if you’d just stop and think about it, you’d side with us too.”
Ezrion’s wings flexed. “You don’t just get to walk away. We pledged ourselves tohim! Does your honour mean nothing?”
“I served him for thousands of years!” Calyx shouted, his face darkening with anger. “It’s finally time I start thinking aboutmyselfand what I want! We chose to fall with him because he had these beautiful ideals. These beliefs that he could do better.That he couldcreatebetter. But look around you! This is all he’s capable of! Hell isn’t supposed to look like this. These hellspawn never should have existed! Their fates were altered by him, their souls tainted. I just can’t stand back and watch that happen anymore.”
“Don’t pretend to be so altruistic,” Miriel shot back. “We all know you aren’t capable of such emotions.”
Calyx sighed and his shoulders slumped. “Then you don’t know the real me at all. Don’t you remember what it was like before we fell? The beauty, the wonder? In Heaven, life had a purpose. But down here, it’s nothing but rot and blackness.”
My eyes widened. I hadn’t realized how deeply Calyx felt about it.
“They’ll never betray him,” Levi murmured. “They’re too loyal.”
Calyx shook his head, as though he refused to believe that. “For the first time in millennia, you have a choice here,” he said, his voice rising. “Denounce Lucifer, fight with us, and win back your freedom. Or?—”
“Or, what?” Miriel hissed.
“Or die,” I said, my lips curling as the word left me.
Ezrion and Miriel both shot me a glare that might have withered a lesser creature. I met their stare head-on, steady and unblinking. I’d spent my whole life cowing before them. No more. The air between us tightened, heat and hatred coiling together, but I didn’t flinch. Instead, I smiled and showed them exactly who they were dealing with.
“It’s your choice,” Calyx repeated, his words breaking our staring contest.
Ezrion faced Calyx. “Are you sure you want to do this, brother?”
“I’m begging you,” Calyx said. “Please, reconsider.”
Miriel stared at him, heartbreak in her eyes. Something passed between her and Calyx, but after a moment, she shook her head. “No. I won’t betray Lucifer.”
Calyx’s jaw tightened. “Ezrion?”
“I stand with Miriel. With him.”
I glanced at Rathiel and spotted the disappointment in his eyes. He’d wanted his brethren to join us. I could understand that. Levi, though—he just smiled. I met his eager stare and found myself grinning back. His reaction didn’t surprise me. Angels didn’t look too kindly upon their fallen brethren, so them staying gave us a chance to exact some righteous fury.
A beat of silence passed. Then Calyx shook his head. “So be it.”
He’d barely finished uttering the words when Ezrion attacked. One moment, he stood there glaring at Calyx, the next his blade was slicing through the air, arcing toward Rathiel’s throat. Steel rang when Rathiel lifted his own blade to deflect, while Miriel launched herself at Calyx, her own blade flashing in Hell’s fiery glow.
“Vanguards! Attack!” I shouted, the order sparking through me like a live wire. For a heartbeat, I suddenly understood why my father liked giving orders.
Both sides surged forward, the two front lines meeting in a clash of steel, fists, and claws. Levi instantly took to the sky and raced toward the watchtowers.
“Go, Lily!” Rathiel shouted.
I cursed under my breath, heart hammering as I snapped my gaze toward the outpost, its gate still wide open. My instincts screamed at me to stay, to help Calyx and Rathiel, to kill Ezrion and Miriel. But I had to trust that Calyx and Rathiel knew what they were doing, that they would survive. I had a job to do, and it was finding and killing the damn dragon before it killed us.
I broke into a mad sprint, shoving through my own ranks and into the enemy’s. We’d discussed me flying into the outpost, but Rathiel had felt it best that I remained on the ground, where he could flank me with my army. To him, the sky equalled target practice. Down here, surrounded by my people, it would be harder for Lucifer’s hellspawn to reach me.
As proven now when a massive brimlord barreled toward me, one Gorr instantly took down. He fell into step beside me, muscles rippling and horns dripping with blood. His heavy paws struck the ground hard enough to kick up dust and ash, and his barbed tail lashed at anything that dared to stray too close.
