She was alarmed, too. All her life, Drox had always called her Rebexa, but that wasn’t her name anymore. It couldn’t be, because the ground of Heaven didn’t crack under her feet when she hopped off Bran’s broomgrass wing. She was the one who’d picked it, but it still hadn’t quite sunk in yet that her name was really and truly just Bex now, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
You can decide how to feel later,her sword said sternly.But so long as the weapons of the enemy are facing us, we are on the battlefield. Accurate information is the most important factor here, and the truth is that you are no longer Rebexa. You are Bex now, and Bex has allies. Whatever Gilgamesh hasin store for us, you do not have to face it alone. The witches of the Blackwood stand with you, as do all the demons of the Nine Hells. Even the wild Morrigan, who never participated in anything back when Paradise belonged to the gods, has come to lend her aid. This will not be like all the times you died alone. This last life has already been your greatest. Let us keep moving forward and see how we can make it greater still.
“Sounds like a plan,” Bex said with a nervous smile. “You’ve gotten a lot better at pep talks.”
Thank you, my queen,Drox replied proudly.I’ve been working to improve.
“I’m sorry,” Adrian said, confused. “Are you talking to me?”
“Her sword is back,” Nemini explained before Bex could answer. “I’m sure he has a lot to say.”
“Drox has always been a blade of many opinions,” Bex agreed, striding into the stone circle to get away from this topic since talking about Drox in front of Nemini felt cruel. The former Queen of Pride might have her horns and name back, but her sword was still broken into a thousand pieces.
Bex had thought about asking Adrian to examine it since he was so good at fixing things, but there’d been no time. She was already running late again. By the time they walked in, the huge circle of gray stones was full of witches. They were all wearing the same black clothes and pointed hats, so it was hard to tell who was in charge, but Bex recognized several of the women who’d run the festival back in the Blackwood as well as the three Old Wives. She’d only seen the white-haired old crone once before, but she recognized Adrian’s mother and Muriel, the young-faced Witch of the Future.
All three of them were standing in front of the circle’s biggest stone. The Morrigan was there as well, watching everything from the top of the rock in her crow form. Thegathering wasn’t only witches, though. Captain Roga, the war demon in charge of the tower where Bex had defeated the Queen of War, was there, along with three salty-looking war demons in modern clothes that Bex vaguely remembered pulling out of the Lowest Hells. Desh was nowhere to be seen, which meant Lys probably had him busy helping with the evacuations. But while the Hells demons were an expected sight, the wrath demon standing next to the witches with her horns respectfully lowered was a total surprise.
“Zargrexa?” Bex said, running to meet her. “I can’t believe you’re here!”
“I could be nowhere else, my queen,” the village leader replied, bowing her horns even deeper. “You stormed the Hells and freed Ishtar’s children from bondage. Had you not specifically wanted a small team, we all would have gone to fight beside you. I thought we would have to wait for your return to rejoin the war, but when the witches announced they were coming to Heaven, we knew the moment was upon us.”
The old demon raised her graying head with a proud smile. “I’ve brought ten thousand demons from those you saved at the Seattle Anchor. They’re coming up the roots as I speak, along with this.”
She handed Bex a small bottle full of something that looked like freshly-squeezed pomegranate juice.
“What is it?” Bex asked, holding the bottle up to the dappled light. “A potion?”
Zargrexa’s smile widened. “The best sort of potion. That is a bottle of liquid wrath.”
“Did you say ‘liquid wrath’?” Adrian asked, suddenly darting over to join them. “You mean someone finally figured out how to bottle emotions?”
Zargrexa shot her queen a nervous look. This confused Bex for a second before she remembered the village leader had neveractually met Adrian before. She was about to start frantically assuring her that he wasn’t a prince despite how he looked when she noticed Adrian’s eyes were back to their usual blue-gray.
The realization went through her like a jolt. There’d been so much going on she hadn’t even noticed, but Adrian’s creepy mirror prince eyes were gone. It must have happened when he’d used up all his white blood to grow the tree, because Adrian finally looked like himself again, which in turn made Bex so happy she couldn’t keep the goofy smile off her face.
That must have been proof enough for Zargrexa. The old demon changed her tone at once, clasping her hands in front of her and bowing her horns before Adrian in a show of great respect.
“I’m not sure who discovered it, Honored Witch,” she said, answering his question. “The Old Wives of the Blackwood, may Ishtar’s blessings be forever upon them, knew of our hunger problems and were working on a solution. Shortly after the queen left, the witch in charge of our camp came by with a cauldron full of this liquid as well as barrels of other bottled sins for all the different types of demons. It’s not as energizing as true sin from the rivers, but it held off starvation, especially for the demons of Hate and War, who have trouble finding proper sustenance during happy events like festivals.”
Adrian stared at the little bottle in wonder, but Bex’s eyes were still locked on Zargrexa. “How much wrath did you bring?” she demanded. “I found the rest of our people, but they’re on the edge of starvation.”
“We figured they would be,” Zargrexa said. “I told the witches that my queen was certain to find the rest of our tribe and that the exit from Limbo would leave them starving. We would be in need of much sustenance, and the daughters of the forest provided. When I left, every wrath demon who could notjoin the fight themselves was tending a cauldron full of liquid wrath. We should have enough to feed our entire population.”
She looked past the standing stones at the crowd that still swamped the entrance to the Hells. “Where are they, my queen? I see many of our horns in the crowd, but not nearly as many as I expected. Have you ordered them to hold the perimeter?”
Her red eyes were full of hope when she turned back to her queen, but Bex’s throat was so tight she couldn’t answer. She didn’t want to tell this woman who’d been through so much already that Gilgamesh had worked half their people to death before she’d even arrived. This was supposed to be their glorious victory, but Bex’s mouth tasted like ash when she forced herself to tell Zargrexa the truth.
“They didn’t make it,” she said. “We saved as many as we could, but Gilgamesh had already…”
Her voice broke apart despite her best efforts, and Zargrexa lowered her head.
“I’d feared as much,” the wrath demon whispered, clutching her wrinkled hands tight. “I can’t explain it, but I knew in my bones that something horrible had happened. I worried it was your death since we could no longer feel you, but this…”
She stopped there, wiping the tears from her eyes before looking back at her queen.
“We will fight,” she promised. “It’s what the others would have wanted, for we are the demons of Wrath, the only tribe who never kneeled! I know they would want us to avenge their deaths and take back our home from that false and murdering king. I will go now to make sure those who survived are fed, but I will not leave this place until Gilgamesh is dead.”
“Then we will fight together,” Bex said, reaching up to grab the taller woman’s shoulder. “Welcome to the final battle of the war, Zargrexa.”
