Page 144 of Grave Revelations

“It’s simple. You would sit atop your throne and pass your reign to Simon.”

“But I don’t have a throne.”

“You killed Sanura. I did say there were two ways.”

“So we make a throne,” Simon said.

Rebecca turned to him. “You understand him completely now?”

“I'm good with languages, Bec. I always have been. It’s a bit like Greek, maybe something older, but similar.”

“He’s right,” Sophia said. “It's like I can almost make out the words.”

Rebecca reached for Simon, but he moved out of her grasp. “Simon, I can’t let you waste your afterlife, too. This is my burden. You already gave your whole life to me. You deserve to move on.”

Simon’s brows dipped low, forming dark slashes over amber eyes. “I’m not doing this for you.” The bite in his words made her flinch, and his face softened. “I need this.”

She gave him a skeptical look. “You need to trap yourself in a realm with the dead, where you’ll be alone forever?”

“Actually,” Asher cut in, “this place won’t exist forever. It can only exist until the last soul has moved on.”

Rebecca, Simon, and Sophia all stared at the sphinx. Some of his words must have been clear to Sophia because she looked as confused as Rebecca.

“What do you mean, Asher? People will die and continue to come here.”

“Not true. At the end, no new souls will be brought into existence, and none shall perish. When we reach the end, all souls will rest where they were meant to be.”

“But this is the end,” Rebecca said. “Gabriel killed Samael. The battle is won.”

Asher shook his head. “Not yet, I’m afraid.”

Chapter 97

Gabriel

Gabriel glided over the new settlement the humans had created for themselves, landing beside a tall oak tree. With the help of the seraphim, they had cleared the land, dug deep grooves in the soil, bent trees to their will, and called water from beneath the earth.

With the treaty broken, demons were no longer bound by height to wriggle over the ground as serpents, so the seraphim did not instruct the humans to build their houses tall. Instead, they would need to teach them to be on their guard for the creatures who remained. Though the seraphim hunted, it would be a long time before demons were wiped entirely from the mortal plane. Humans would have to learn to defend themselves.

A tug at Gabriel’s bond sent a flurry of warmth through his chest. She’d been doing that more and more since he’d sent Sophia with the news. Whether as a comfort to herself, a reassurance that he was still out there somewhere, or testing her ability to call to him, even through realms, he wasn’t sure, but he tugged back.

Rebecca tugged again, harder this time. He tugged back. She tugged again, and again, and again.

Alarm bells rang through him as he raced through the settlement, sweeping his gaze over the crowd. A yellow-eyed creature darted between humans and nasdaqu-ush, beating a path straight for him.

“Gabriel.” Sophia stopped in front of him. “Gabriel. The war is not won.”

He let out a breath. “What has happened to Rebecca? Is she injured? Has the Fallen…” His throat went dry. He’d never considered the possibility that his brother could breach the divide in death.

“No. Asher warned us that the end is not here,” Sophia explained. “There’s something else coming.Someoneelse.”

Gabriel ran a hand over his face. “What can you mean? There has only ever been one ruler in Primoria.” As he said the words, ice slid down his spine. How, in all that had transpired, had he forgotten Mahazael and Azrael? Where were they? What had happened to them?

He spread his wings. Could he chance returning to Primoria? It was a cold, empty place now, no longer separated across realms, but to go there might mean entrapment or a return to his former state. It was too great a risk.

“Who is Asher?” he asked.

Sophia wrapped a piece of hair in her finger, twisting and untwisting it. “He’s a guard in Sheol. He says Sheol will no longer exist when the end comes.”

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