Yes, I agreed.
I swept my hand sideways. A wall of black erupted from the floor and climbed toward the vaulted ceiling, a barrier of shadow thick as iron that separated me from them. Calyx and Eliza cursed and stumbled back to avoid slamming into it. Rathiel stood on the other side, his fist slamming into the barrier over and over as though he could break it through sheer will.
“Lily!” Rathiel shouted, striking the wall again. “Don’t do this!”
I ignored his pleas and continued toward the throne and the beckoning crown. The darkness whispered its pleasure, a velvet murmur that drowned their cries.
This is yours. Claim it. No one can stop you now.
I came to a stop in front of the dais. Heat rolled off the black stone chair, beckoning me.
Sit.
The single word rang like a command and invitation all at once.
I climbed the steps, my wings outstretched. The siren call of the crown grew louder in my head. It sang a mystical song until it was all I could hear. I reached the final step and stopped. My throne loomed inches away, its heat searing against my skin, its heartbeat matching the dark pulse in my chest.
Behind me, the pounding on the barrier grew frantic—Rathiel’s voice breaking as he called my name again and again. Eliza shouted something I couldn’t make out.
My fingers hovered over the obsidian arm of the throne. The darkness inside me held its breath.
Yours,it whispered again, the single word curling through me like smoke.Forever.
Yes, mine. Always.
I touched the crown.
The instant my fingers met the cold metal, the world went white.
Light burst from behind the throne and spread through the room, so sudden and absolute it burned my shadows right out of the air. The barrier crumbled into nothing, and Rathiel’s shouts broke off mid-word. The throne’s heat vanished under a wash of cool radiance, and for a heartbeat, I forgot how to breathe.
Then, something stepped out of the light.
No, not something. Someone.
I blinked at the sight of another celestial gliding toward me. She was soft in appearance but burned with an inner strength that rivaled my own. The instant she stepped clear of the light, she unfolded her wings in a slow, effortless stretch, each feather as luminous as the sunrise. Her hair fell like starlight down her back, and her face?—
My heart slammed into my ribs as painful, aching recognition lit within me. I knew her. I’d never seen her before, but Iknewthat face. As well as I knew my own reflection.
The celestial’s gaze found mine, and the smallest, saddest smile touched her lips. “My daughter,” she said. Her voice rang like the most beautiful bells, and my knees buckled, threatening to spill me to the floor.
Inside, the shadows snarled and withdrew, as though being in the presence of so much light hurt them. For the first time since I’d killed my father, feeling swept back in, my emotions exploding within me in a flood I could barely stand. I drew a rough, stuttering breath, and tears spilled down my cheeks.
My mother.
I didn’t move. I couldn’t. But she did. She stepped closer and lifted her hands, her light holding me as gently as though she were holding me herself.
“I don’t understand,” I rasped.
“I know.” Her eyes were the blue of the clearest sky I’d ever seen on Earth. They shone with love and every other emotion possible. “You were so small,” she whispered. “I just wanted to protect you.” A flicker of grief crossed her features, and the sight of it drove a knife through my heart.
“How is this possible? You’re…you’re dead.”
Her smile deepened, sorrow touching the edges. “I am. But I’ve been waiting your whole life for this moment.” She strode barefoot across the dais until she came to a stop in front of me and touched my free hand—the one not resting on the throne. The second we connected, the darkness fled completely, almost as though it feared her.
“He forced this life upon you. And for that, I’ll never be able to apologize enough.”
I didn’t have to ask whohewas.
