Page 104 of The Road to Hell

A ravager tore into a netheron. A brimlord skewered a vexori. A vampire latched onto the throat of a venerath. My soldiers—mypeople—were turning on each other.

Rage flared hot in my chest.

I would not—couldnot—lose this battle! If I did, Lucifer would massacre us all. Levi, Rathiel, my allies, all of us. He wouldn’t allow a single soul off this battlefield.

“Focus!” I roared, my voice carrying over the field. “Don’t let the fallen control you!”

I took a blow to the side of my head. Pain shot through me, and I stumbled back. Before I could so much as glance up, Zera was on me again, her shadows encircling me. I blocked one, dodged the second, but the third found me, curling around my legs, holding me in place. A fourth encircled one of my wrists. A fifth, the other wrist. The shadows had me trapped—and no matter how much power I poured into them, they refused to let go. Zera’s control over the shadows had always been stronger than mine. I flapped my wings, attempting to overpower the shadows, but they held strong and tight.

“Lily!” Rathiel’s voice roared distantly over the battle.

The shadows gripped me tighter, holding me in place. Zera’s grin widened, but before she could press her advantage, a force crashed into her side—a streak of white and gold slamming her off her feet.

Levi.

His blade flashed as he drove her back, forcing her into the swirling abyss of her own shadows.

I had no time to thank him. No time to process anything.

Because through the chaos, I saw the truth. We were losing.

Korrak was still tearing through Lucifer’s forces, but I saw him falter as a wave of Miriel’s sickness spread through the battlefield. Calder fought desperately against Raelia, her magic corrupting him, turning his movements sluggish. Varz had vanished into the fray, but I saw the remnants of his fight—bodies left in his wake, but not enough. Not nearly enough.

And Rathiel?—

My heart clenched.

He still fought against Gremory, neither giving the other an inch, but I could see it—the blood on Rathiel’s side, the way he favoured one leg, the way his strikes had slowed.

I ground my teeth. This wasn’t working.

I raised my hands, fire coiling between my fingers. I’d burn through the shadows that bound me, reduce this battlefield to nothing but ash and ruin, if that was what it took.

But before I could, the ground beneath me trembled.

A chasm split open with a thunderous crack, tearing through the battlefield. The land on the other side crumbled away, swallowed by the abyss, until I stood alone on a fractured island of scorched rock.

Then the air shifted and a shadow descended.

Lucifer landed in front of me, his cold gaze burning through me. “Hello, daughter.”

ChapterTwenty-Five

LILY

Lucifer’s wings stretched wide, blotting out the twisted sky behind him. He stood with the ease of a god surveying his domain, his presence pressing down on me.

I gritted my teeth and tried to step forward—but the shadows around my wrists and ankles refused to budge. I flexed my arms, twisted my ankles, focused on the command thrumming in my blood.Mine. Release me.But the magic refused to release me, because they obeyed Lucifer now.

He smiled, and it wasn’t meant to soothe me. It wasn’t the loving smile of a father. It was cruel and knowing. “You’ve come a long way, Lily,” he said, his voice carrying through the battlefield as if the war itself bowed to him, went silent for him. “I’d almost be proud—if only you weren’t such a disappointment.”

“Disappointment?” I laughed. “That’s a bit funny, considering you’re the family disappointment.”

Lucifer’s expression didn’t shift, but something in the air did. His wings twitched slightly, tension simmering beneath the surface. Then the chasm around us deepened, widened, as if the very ground wanted no part of this fight.

I forced my breathing steady, rolling my shoulders as I shifted my stance. “I suppose I should be honoured,” I said, voice steady. “The great Lucifer, here to kill his own daughter personally. Guess none of your little lapdogs were good enough for the job.”

“Tell me, Lily,” he said, his voice deceptively calm. “Do you truly believe you’ve won anything? That your little tantrum—this rebellion—is anything more than a child lashing out, desperate to be seen?”

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