The palace shook again. This time I knew it wasn’t the underworld, distracting Lucifer from killing my friend. No, it was the bombs Garadiel planted after my father convinced him this was the rebels’ chance. Human technology that would never be suspected, created with demon fire which would ensure a lethal explosion. They were planted at key points that would draw attention, splitting the guards’ focus and killing anyone who was loyal to Lucifer. Although the worst of the explosions would happen soon…
I panted as I made it up the stairs, weak with hunger and shaking with adrenaline.
Pischiel had poured the spell into a flask and hidden it under his bed. Obviously, he was hoping if anyone found it, they’d simply assume he had a drinking problem.
I opened the flask, dunked my thumb in the liquid, and touched it to my cuff. The cuff fell off my wrist, and I suddenly understood what the demoness at the mine had said. My power felt like a whisper.
But I could feel Samael now.
“Hey,”I reached for him and felt him lift his head, eyes wild.
“Danica.”
The word was almost neutral, but I could feel the all-consuming relief that swept through him.
“I’m here. And I’m ready to kick some ass. Tell me where you are.”
He did something down the end of the bond, and suddenly I was through his shields, looking out through his eyes.
I instinctively knew that Samael had given me an incredible gift. Had allowed me into the inner cavern of his mind. If I wanted to, I could see the worst things he had ever done. His greatest shame, his darkest moments. It was an act of incredible trust.
“I love you.”
I blocked out the core of him, focused on what he could see. And my heart stuttered in my chest.
I was looking at a war camp.
Thousands of demons were packed into the palace grounds and beyond. They stood at attention, in straight lines, ready for their orders.
Behind the palace grounds, row after row of tents waited, where soldiers would rest and recover before heading back to the front lines.
And in front of the palace grounds…
At least a hundred thousand demons. Dressed in gleaming silver armor, armed to the teeth, and moving like a well-oiled machine.
Lucifer had been quietly calling his armies together. I knew damn well this was the tip of the iceberg. He’d have more on the way, marching from various parts of his kingdom. But he’d kept these demons hidden, invisible and undetected—obviously suspecting I could still somehow communicate with Samael.
The sheer power it must have taken… I wondered if Pischiel knew. If he did, he had some explaining to do. If he didn’t… Lucifer wouldn’t have let him live unless he had some plan for him. Some way to pay him back for choosing us.
My breath sawed in and out, burning my suddenly dry throat. Samael stayed silent, letting me see our doom.
I’d failed him. I’d been so cocky, so sure Lucifer had no idea…
“I knew,”Samael crooned.“I’ve studied Lucifer for centuries, my love.”
I swallowed.“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He hesitated, and I got it. When it came to deception, I was a novice compared to Lucifer. If I’d learned of this, Lucifer would have immediately known. He would have read the terror on my face, in my eyes. Then he would’ve had his proof that I could still communicate with Samael, and I would have been locked in the cells this entire time, with no way to help.
“I’m sorry,”Samael said.
“Don’t be. I need a few centuries before I’ll be able to lie as well as you old timers.”
A low laugh.
Samael surveyed the camp spread out before him and I examined it through his gaze. The closest portal had been too heavily guarded and would tip off Lucifer too early, so they’d used a portal to the west, close to the mountain chain in the distance. Their own temporary camp was set up beneath the plateau Samael now stood on. From there, he could see not only his own army, but Lucifer’s forces spread out, surrounding the palace on three sides.
“He has his sentries in the forest, many of them hidden from sight. And, of course, we know about the wyverns which he will be deploying to finish us off when he believes we are broken.”
