“God, you’re disgusting,” I muttered, dragging my gaze away when he smirked at me.
Rathiel and I shared a glance, and I shook my head. Then we pushed on, the strange scent thickening with every step. Why it smelled different to me than Calyx, I had no idea.
With every step, the seam stretched taller, its edges shivering like it wanted to rip wider. Energy bled through, soft and steady in a way that felt purely right. The others must have felt it too, even though no one said a word.
I focused my attention on the other side, trying to figure out what it was. But before I could, something took shape within the brightness, something massive and…were those feathers?
Yup, those were feathers. Ones that clearly belonged to a set of wings.
They weren’t black like Rathiel’s, or tattered grey like Calyx’s. Nor were they made of shadow like mine. These were pure-white feathered wings that practically shone in the light buffeting them from behind.
I narrowed my eyes and saw a figure take shape in front of the wings. A shadow that darkened with every step they took toward us, until finally, they steppedthroughthe gate.
“Holy shit,” Eliza whispered, her voice soft with awe.
Holywas right.
The being stood tall and unflinching, clad in radiant steel that reflected Hell’s light and nearly blinded me. My gaze climbed until it settled on an entirely unfamiliar face, but one that was more beautiful than anything I had ever seen before.
He was an angel.
Arealangel. And he was here. In Hell.
Levi was a real angel too, but even he had nothing on this one. The armor alone screamed both righteousness and fury all at once. It almost hurt my eyes to gaze upon him. Of course, Levi had spent a millennium trying to blend in. Whereas this angel burned with beauty and love and violence.
No one spoke. No one so much as moved. I could honestly say this was the very last thing I’d expected when I’d spotted the gate.
Rathiel was the first to move, and it was little more than his fingers twitching around the hilt of his blade. Was he preparing for a battle? Did he believe this angel had come to hurt us?
My gaze leapt to Levi’s face. I couldn’t read his expression, though. It seemed almost dark. Did he know this angel? Did his presence here make Levi homesick? Did he regret staying behind in Hell to wait for me?
Calyx just groaned. “Great. There goes the neighbourhood. I’m going to go wait with the army. I don’t need front-row seats for this reunion.”
I didn’t argue with him. Calyx was the rudest and crudest of my crew, and whatever purpose this angel served, the last thing I wanted was for Calyx to piss him off. I waved him off, my attention still locked on the angel standing in front of me.
“Lilith,” he said, his voice beautiful and indescribable. It resonated like a chord played on a divine instrument.
Had Rathiel and Calyx once sounded like that? Had Levi sacrificed such a voice during his stay here?
Beside me, Rathiel grumbled a displeased, “Cael.”
The angel—this Cael—inclined his head, though his expression betrayed nothing. If I hadn’t known any better, I might have mistaken him for carved marble, he was just that beautiful. He made the rest of us look like swamp monsters covered in sweat, grime, and blood.
“Lilith,” Cael repeated. My stomach did an odd flip, and not in the fun butterflies-before-a-first-date kind of a way. No, this was more like being dropped out of a plane without a parachute—or wings—and realizing the ground was rushing up real damn fast.
He fixed me with a gaze so piercing, I expected he could see straight through to my soul and knew all my sins. There were many, after all.
Instead, he said, “You must win this fight. Just as we prophesied.”
What was thisweshit, Batman? Last I heard, Calyx had been the one to jot down that little prophecy seeing as how he was the former scribe of Heaven. I didn’t ask that question out loud, though. See? I could restrain myself. Sometimes.
I waited for him to say more. Something, well,helpful. But he just stood there like the marble statue he was.
“Well,” I finally said, my voice a little higher than normal. “Uh, that’s the plan.” And had been since I started this whole rebellion thing.
Eliza coughed into her hand. Rathiel just sighed and glanced away. Levi, though, just continued to glower. Curious.
My sarcasm didn’t deter Cael.
