“Honorem, sacrificium, et redemptio, Saraqael.”
I waited for him to stand like all the rest, but he didn’t. He bowed his head and lowered his voice.
“Thank you for bringing her into this world. I will do as you did and protect her with everything I am. May the Weaver carry your soul to peace.”
Then he slowly stood and turned. “Ready?”
All I could do was dive headfirst into his steady golden gaze, hating myself for it but needing the strength he offered, if only for a moment. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to look away and stepped around him.
The sight of her dead, glowing body weakened my legs. I sank, and a strong arm immediately wrapped around me, holding me close.
She lay on an icy funerary dais, naked. Blue light filled her body, and pulses shot from her into the dais and then the ground. That was why the forest burned brighter here. Why the ground hummed and shuddered.
The Eternal Forest was feeding on her soul.
A sob worked up my throat, and a whimper escaped. Aspen’s guilt and sorrow piled onto mine, and I was grateful Ronen had hisemotional block up. I clenched my necklace, the metal piercing my skin as I tried to breathe, to move, to think of my parting words.
But I didn’t know what to say, especially in front of my father.
His glare drove into my cheek, cold and punishing. My mom deserved a poem, a story, something that expressed every wonderful detail about her. Yet beneath my father’s presence, all I could think about was how I blamed myself. How I wanted to scream and tell her that her death was destroying me.
But those weren’t the confessions you told your mom on her deathbed.
I called on the power that once matched hers. I didn’t think about the consequences. I didn’t care if anyone saw. I just wanted to feel connected to her.
White flames burst from my palm, and a swarm of shadows covered the display of light. I squeezed the amulet for a few seconds, just the way my mom used to, and then let go of my Glory. Ronen pulled back his shadows, and I opened my hand.
The luminous white center hurt to look at after always seeing it purple. I leaned down and placed the necklace over her heart. My finger brushed her warm, humming skin, and I flinched. She—she felt alive.
For a moment, I stared at her as my lungs pumped with panic, foolishly hoping she’d open her eyes. But her chest didn’t rise. Her skin, though glowing with light, appeared waxy and drained of color. Her face… I swiped away my tears. Her face was sunken, bony. Dead.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” I whispered, my voice cracking.
“As you should be,” Lucifer remarked coldly.
My eyes shut as if in an attempt to cut off the emotional blow. But he’d gouged yet another slice into my already bleeding chest.
Aspen’s anger and guilt grew, and I wondered if this was what would kill me. My emotions and his, crushing me until I was an unrecognizable mess next to my mother.
“We have honored. We have sacrificed. Now, she must be judged,” Lucifer called out to the crowd. “Lucille, would you like to do the honors?” he asked.
What did he expect me to do?
“Lucifer,” Ronen snapped. His voice came from beside me.
Not behind me as I’d expected.
“GeneralRonen?” My father’s eyes lit with an icy white, the tension between them mounting. “Is there a problem? I know you have a difficult time understanding when an honorable offer is presented. But Lucille has the privilege to send this renowned angel’s soul to Limbo to await her sentence of Heaven or Hell.”
Every word from his mouth sounded sincere, but by his dark expression and Ronen’s fury, I knew something was wrong.
“She doesn’t have the power,” Ronen said pointedly.
Power for what?
My father stepped closer to Ronen. Malice thickened the air during their quiet staring contest. Ronen should have backed down, but he didn’t.
My father gave him one last glare before turning to me and raising his palm. A large icicle grew, the tip dangerously sharp. “Ice can separate the soul just as well as fire,” he stated. “Slam it into her chest.”
