“You need to understand, little one, that defeating your father will not be enough. You must also defeat the crown.”
Little one? Seriously? The angel suddenly didn’t look quite so bright anymore. And wait, what did he say? I must also defeat the crown?
I waited for him to elaborate, but the longer I waited, the clearer it became that he had no intention of doing so. He just stared at me like this mysterious message was something I should have already known. Which, spoiler alert, I did not.
“Yeah, see, that’s not helpful,” I said, my voice hitching at the end like I’d asked a question. “Perhaps you could give us a little more information?”
Cael’s mouth almost twitched—almost—but then his expression smoothed again into something unbearably serene. “You will understand when the time comes.”
“How about you just tell us now?” Rathiel demanded.
But Cael didn’t so much as spare his fallen brother a glance. In fact, he hadn’t once looked at Rathiel since stepping through the gate. My gaze bounced between the two of them. Was itpersonal? Had they hated each other back in Rathiel’s glory days? Or did it go deeper than that? Were angels not allowed to look at or converse with their fallen brethren? Levi did. But again, Levi’s circumstances were unique.
“We may not assist beyond this moment,” Cael continued. “But I was permitted to bring this last message to you, with the hope that it’ll help you in the coming battle.”
“Permitted?” I repeated. “By whom…” But my voice drifted off when I realizedwhowould permit an angel to do anything.
“Holy shit,” Eliza repeated, her voice a squeaky imitation of herself.
Okay…I couldn’t focus on that right now. Focus on the angel in front of me. Not the big kahuna sitting in Heaven currently.
“You can’t tell me anything more?” I pressed.
Cael smiled but shook his head.
“Of course not,” Rathiel muttered, his jaw tight. “Because Heaven never bothers to give straight answers. Or helpful answers. Orhelpat all.”
I laughed, but it came out sharper than normal.
Once again, Cael ignored Rathiel. “You must prepare yourself, Lilith. For the darkest battle of all awaits you. Not with your father, but within yourself.”
“Yeah, see, cryptic messages like that are what keeps a girl up at night, haunting her,” I blurted, before Rathiel combusted with impatience.
Cael, again, didn’t respond.
“Alright then. Really appreciate the, uh, warning?” I said.
Rathiel practically shook beside me, all but choking on his frustration.
Cael’s focus shifted from me to Levi. Apparently, he waspermittedto look at the only other pure-blooded angel.
Levi stilled until he, too, resembled a statue brought to life. Cael’s gaze sharpened, searching his face.
“I do not know you,” Cael said finally, a frown cutting across that impossibly perfect face. “I sense something familiar about you, but your aura is…strange.”
Levi merely nodded. “Unsurprising, given how I’ve been trapped here for a millennium.”
“Yes,” Cael said, his upper lip curling. “You reek of Hell. Its stench is…off-putting.”
Ah, so we did stink then.
“A necessary sacrifice,” Levi said. “For the cause. For Him.”
Something flickered in Cael’s expression then. Not recognition—something else. Something softer. He smiled. And when he did, I forgot how to breathe. It wasn’t a mortal smile. It was like light itself breaking open, spilling through every crack in the world until nothing remained but warmth and radiance.
Tears sprang to my eyes without warning. Gods, if this was what my mother had looked like—if Sofiel had ever smiled like this—I suddenly understood why my father had hated her light so much. It wasn’t something you could fight against. Nor was it something you could possess. You either basked in it or let it destroy you.
But it also broke my heart to think that Rathiel had given this up, that he’d chosen to fall alongside my father, to become dark. Maybe he hadn’t known what he would give up, and if that was the case, my heart hurt all the more for him. It had to cause him pain to see his brother again. To see all that he’d lost—only for Cael to not even acknowledge him.
