The wave of sound knocked everyone, including Bex, to the ground. By the time she rolled back up, the Queen of War had already grabbed hold of the scarred, masculine hand that had appeared out of the empty air above her. It was the same hand Bex had seen when Gilgamesh showed up to snatch the Princess of Greed’s hand out of her fingers the first time she’d fought a prince in Adrian’s forest. Now as then, though, there was nothing she could do. The moment the Queen of War’sbronze fingers touched Gilgamesh’s, she vanished into thin air, leaving Bex leaping at nothing.
She hit the ground where War had just been with a frustrated scream, pounding her empty fists against the broken stone. She was still trying to catch her breath when another hand appeared in front of her face. A big bronze one that belonged to an even bigger bronze demon.
“Great Queen,” he said, lowering his horns in reverence. “Allow me to help you up.”
Bex didn’t need help, but it felt rude to refuse, so she grabbed his hand and let the demon pull her back to her feet. As she went up, though, everyone else in the room went down, leaving Bex standing on a broken battlement in front of hundreds of kneeling war demons.
“Honored Queen of Wrath,” said the kneeling demon who’d helped her up, whom she just now noticed had an official-looking sash draped across his bronze shoulders. “I am Roga, captain of security for the Upper Hells. The soldiers in this tower are under my command, and I now surrender them to you so that you may render judgment.”
“Judgment?” Bex repeated, confused. “What would I judge you for?”
The bowing demon lifted his horns just enough to give her a nervous look. “We turned against our queen,” he explained. “We have broken the oldest law of our kind. You were the one who should have dealt with her, not us.”
“I was dealing with her,” Bex reminded him, relaxing a little now that she understood the problem. “But I stopped when the rest of you spoke up because you deserved that victory more than I did. You say you broke the law, but the Queen of War broke faith first when she turned her sword on the people she’d been made to protect. She betrayed her goddess and behaved ina manner unworthy of her sacred name, so it is my judgment that you acted rightly.”
That should’ve been obvious to everyone, but proper old demons like this Roga always liked for things to be spelled out formally. Sure enough, the captain looked enormously relieved when she finished. All the war demons did, though not enough to stop bowing.
“Thank you for your respect,” Bex said, doing her best not to sound impatient. “But if you really want to honor me, go help my people. They’re evacuating into the Hell of War through a hole we blew in the ceiling.”
Roga jolted upright. “You blew aholethrough the Hells?” he cried before he remembered himself and ducked his horns again. “How was such a thing possible?”
“It was pretty simple, actually,” Bex told him with a smile. “Gilgamesh’s power isn’t as absolute as he likes to pretend. As you all proved just now when you defied your queen, most of his control depends on us being too scared or beaten down to challenge him. That’s how men like him work, but we’re not his cowards any longer. Just as you threw off your queen, we can throw all of Heaven off our backs, but we have to work together.”
The big war demon nodded. “Then we shall do whatever we can. I know the word of a traitor doesn’t carry much weight, but we—”
“War demons aren’t traitors,” Bex interrupted. “You’re soldiers of the Riverlands and Children of Ishtar just like the rest of us. Kirok gave his life to prove that, and I will honor his name and sacrifice. I refuse to hold you responsible for what your queen made you do, and I humbly ask the people of War for help.”
“And we are happy to offer it,” Roga said, rising to his feet at last. “Where are your people?”
Bex’s mouth made it all the way open before she realized she didn’t actually know. She’d been so focused on burning her tunnel, she hadn’t actually looked to see which part of the ceiling Iggs was blasting. She was still scrambling to come up with something useful to say when Adrian came to her rescue.
“It’s on the far western edge,” he said as he pushed through the crowd toward her. “Directly above the exit for the Lust banishment gate into the Middle Hells.”
That sounded like a great description to Bex, but the war demon captain was glaring at Adrian even harder than he’d glared at the Queen of War.
“My queen,” he whispered, reaching for one of the many swords strapped to his waist. “This man is—”
“I know,” Bex said quickly. “But it’s fine. Adrian’s an involuntary prince who hates Gilgamesh as much as we do.” She smiled at her witch, who was still elbowing his way toward her. “I couldn’t have made it here without him.”
Captain Roga looked deeply skeptical, but he must not have wanted to rebel against two queens in one day, because when Adrian finally made it all the way up to Bex without doing anything princely like threatening to gut them all, he eventually ducked his horns and turned to yell at his men.
“Squadrons three and four,” he bellowed. “Go to where the prin… where thequeen’s companiondescribed and offer whatever help you can. Squads one and two, go tell the forge workers they can finally rest. We’re not slaving anymore!”
An enormous cheer went up at that as the war demons ran off on their assignments. Bex was starting to think this might actually all work out when the captain dropped back into a bow.
“If you would permit it, Great Queen,” he said solemnly. “I must thank you one more time for my own sake. Kirok was my combat trainer when I was rising through the ranks. He was agreat warrior and an honorable demon, and he deserved better than this.”
They both turned to look at the bloody stain that was all that was left of Kirok’s body, and Bex sighed.
“I wish he could have had a kinder ending,” she said. “But I disagree that this wasn’t what he deserved. Kirok died bravely fighting for what he believed in. He said what no one else was able, and without his sacrifice, we wouldn’t be standing here right now.” Her face split into a smile. “I think he’d be proud to see what his death accomplished, so please don’t say it wasn’t deserved. He’s the reason I was able to stand against the Queen of War, and he deserves all the credit I can give.”
The captain dropped his head again, but not in a bow this time. “Then I was wrong,” he whispered in a voice that shook with real emotion. “I will remember him as you say, Great Queen.”
“Thank you,” Bex said, reaching out for Adrian, who’d just made it to her side. “Now if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I need to sit down.”
The war demon looked shocked, but he moved out of the way at once, clearing space for Bex to sink to the floor in a controlled collapse.
“Whoa,” Adrian said as he went down with her. “Are you okay?”
