My front ranks surged forward just as Lucifer’s did the same, the distance between the two armies shrinking with every step. Rathiel stepped close, his gaze catching mine.
“Together. Whatever comes,” he said, voice pitched low enough that only I could hear.
The ache in my chest momentarily loosened. I rose onto my toes and captured his mouth. The world blurred into nothing for a moment.
His hands framed my face, his palms rough and warm. The kiss was hard, quick, and oh, so desperate. When we broke apart, he rested his forehead against mine for the barest heartbeat.
“Don’t die,” I whispered.
A corner of his mouth lifted. “Not without you.”
Then we moved as one.
We both snapped our wings out and shot into the air. Below us, the two armies collided at last, netherons and brimlords clashing, plaguebearers attacking, sanguinari sinking their fangs into throat after throat.
Rathgor and Drek’thar led the left and right flanks, their crimson skin gleaming as they carved a path through Lucifer’s soldiers. Every sweep of their claws sent blood spraying. Varzdarted between them, twin daggers flashing quick as thought. On the right, Sareth leapt high over the crush, her dark horns cutting through the air. She dropped into a knot of enemy netherons, her movements too fast to follow, but a breath later, three lay broken at her feet.
Korrak hit the enemy line like an avalanche. Ten feet of molten fury, he caught a brimlord opponent across the chest with his blade, then ripped him open with his other hand and pulled out his innards. Brutally effective.
Mephisar and Dragon flew over me and Rathiel, their obsidian scales shimmering in the hellish firelight. Mephisar broke from my side for a brief moment only to snatch up a plaguebearer and crush the hellspawn between his powerful jaws. Two pieces fell back to the ground.
Rathiel and I scoured the field for our opponents. Gavrel was his, while my father was mine.
When last I’d seen Lucifer, he’d been standing at the front of his army. But that spot stood empty now. I swept the field, my heart hammering in my chest. Hellspawn slammed into hellspawn, ripping each other to shreds in a storm of claws, blades, and fangs.
Finally, I spotted them approaching from the left flank, Lucifer in the lead. He sliced a hand through the air and cut down a path of soldiers—his and mine. He truly didn’t care. Then he pointed at Gavrel and gestured toward my army. I couldn’t hear him from up here, but I imagined he’d just given Gavrel the order to unleash his chaos on my forces. The fallen immediately took to the air and shot toward my army.
I turned to Rathiel, who gave me a nod. Our eyes held for a moment before he banked sharply, black wings slicing through the haze, and arrowed toward Gavrel. I wanted so badly to go with him, to watch his back, to help him take out Gavrel, but Ihad my own task. And we had to trust the other would succeed without help.
Gavrel quickly landed, and I knew the moment he unleashed his chaos. Isawit happen in real time. The moment my forces turned on each other. Gavrel grinned, and more of my warriors staggered. Two brimlords turned on each other, claws raking. A sanguinari shrieked and plunged her fangs into the soldier fighting at her side. We’d anticipated this,expectedthis. This was exactly what Gavrel had done during the last rebellion. He’d torn my army apart from the inside, turned soldier against soldier.
Butthistime, the end result would be different. I had to trust in that.
Rathiel sailed overhead, then tucked his wings in and plummeted, his sword held out. Gavrel’s head snapped up just in time to mark the shadow closing in on him and whirled out of the way before Rathiel could lop off his head. A savage battle erupted between the two brothers, but my soldiers stopped attacking one another. As long as Rathiel kept Gavrel distracted, we had a chance. I just prayed Rathiel was the one to walk away in the end. I couldn’t live without him.
I forced myself to turn away after that. I had my own job. I could not afford distractions. Not even the love of my life battling another fallen angel. So, I changed my path and cut through the smoke-choked air, my focus narrowing on the figure moving along the outer perimeter of the battle.
Lucifer.
This war, years in the making, ended here and now.
He stood at the fractured edge of the field, wings spread like a shroud. As though he could sense me, he lifted his head, found me in the sky, and smiled.
There was nothing friendly or fatherly in that cruel grin.
Then, his lips moved. I couldn’t hear a single word he said, but I didn’t need to.
Eliza stepped forward. My heart gave a hard knock, hard enough to rattle my ribs. She moved like a sleepwalker, her daggers still sheathed at her hips, her face pale against the hell-lit backdrop. Behind her, Lucifer rested a hand on her shoulder, his fingers stroking the side of her neck.
She cringed, and her eyes fluttered closed, but she couldn’t move away from him.
Then her mouth opened, and she began to sing.
I couldn’t hear anything, but Isawthe moment the hellspawn near her heard the notes. The front line of my army shivered as though a sudden wind had ripped through it. Brimlords staggered mid-strike; netherons blinked like men sinking into a dream. All while Lucifer’s ranks continued to attack. Somehow, Eliza had singled out my people. One by one, they turned to her, their gazes hazy and expressions almost wistful. They stumbled forward, some slipping to their knees in reverence of her voice.
I cursed under my breath and flew faster. I was almost there. So close that the sound of her melodious voice rose to my ears. It was beautiful and filled me with yearning, but thankfully, my celestial genes protected me.
I tucked my wings in and shot toward the ground just as Korrak bellowed and slammed a molten fist into the earth in defiance. Drek’thar sank his claws into his own thigh, crimson skin slick with his own blood, using the pain to anchor himself.
