Page 100 of The Road to Hell

Gavrel followed a heartbeat later. His chaos magic surged in a single pulse. It was just enough to throw dust and debris into the air, to cover his retreat as he shot skyward, his form twisting and vanishing into the haze above.

Miriel lingered. Just for a second.

Her pestilence curled at her fingertips, but she didn’t attack. She just looked at me. Then she turned and fled.

It was done, and our side had won. This time.

Levi dropped down beside me. We stared at each other, then clasped hands and wrists in a silent thanks.

“Well,” he mused. “That was satisfying.”

I huffed a disbelieving laugh, then glanced at Mephisar, still happily feasting on Raelia. My stomach churned, but I’d long-since learned never to question a hellwyrm, lest you become their next meal.

“Thank you,” I said. “Without your timely arrival, I have no doubt Lily and I would be the headless ones right now. How did you find us?”

Levi chuckled and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “The two of you tend to leave a bloody path in your wake. But we can chat later, after we’ve reached Lily. I know of two hellwyrms and one ravager who would love nothing more than to see her.”

“And an angel too. Mustn’t forget you.”

He smiled. “Indeed. Shall we?”

“Let’s,” was all I said. My questions could wait until after I’d fed and we were safe at Lily’s side.

ChapterTwenty-Four

LILY

I stood on the battlefield, wings flared and stared at Lucifer.

Power draped over him like a mantle, the sheer force of it making the air hum. His pitch-black wings stretched behind him, vast and terrible. He didn’t need to speak to command obedience. He never had. He simplywas. The strongest presence in the wasteland. The most dangerous.

And he was looking right at me.

No, not looking.Glaring. Most likely mentally ripping me apart.

I focused on breathing and fought to stay focused. My heart was steady, my hands firm, but something inside me…wavered. Because this wasn’t just an enemy. This wasn’t just another war.

This washim.

My father.

In a perfect world, he would have been the one who raised and shaped me. But inmyworld, he was my biggest tormentor. The greatest risk to my survival.

And now I stood across the battlefield from him, my army at my back, blade in hand. Ready to kill him. Ready to die trying.

I let my gaze sweep over the field, taking stock of the forces gathered on both sides.

The divide between us was a chasm I could never cross, not again.

At his back stood his fallen, the warriors he had forged from Heaven’s discarded.Allof them were here—Gremory, Gavrel, Ezrion, Raelia, Tavira, Miriel, Zera, Calyx—except Rathiel, who stood with me.

But my eyes didn’t stop on any of them.

Because beside Lucifer, just behind his wings, stood Deidre.

Something in my chesttwisted.

The last time I’d seen her, she had betrayed me. Had stood right where she was standing now, beside my father, choosing him over me. But seeing her here—knowing she was stillhis, still serving at his side—hit harder than I expected.

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