Page 111 of The Road to Hell

The rebellion.

My soldiers.

Their names.

Their faces.

Sealed away, buried beneath layers of stone, their voices reduced to whispers until they became nothing at all.

A sword in my hand.

A name on my lips.

A voice—hisvoice—calling my name.

Iknewhim. Iknewhis face. His touch. The way he looked at me when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. I knew the warmth of his hands. The sound of his laughter. The quiet, steady presence of him at my side, in battle, in the dark, in the stolen moments between battles.

Iknewhim.

But the wall rose higher.

No.

No,no?—

I fought to tear it down, to see past it, but more bricks slammed into place, each one cutting me off, sealing more of me away.

Fingers brushing my cheek.

A whispered promise.

A kiss, stolen between breaths.

The light in his eyes, the way they softened only for me.

Gone.

Another brick. And another. Andanother. Until the wall stood tall and unbreakable, and I couldn’t remember what I’d been fighting for.

* * *

I snapped awake,my breath catching in my throat. For a moment, I didn’t know where—orwhen—I was. But then the memories came rushing back, slamming into me like a tidal wave.

I was no longer trapped in my own mind. I was no longer reliving the past.

I was awake. In Hell. Present day.

I blinked up at the hellish sky, the haze of memory finally giving way to harsh reality. The sky churned overhead, deep red streaked with black, thick with ash and smoke, pulsing with the glow of distant fire. The air was hot, acrid, and unmistakably real.

My poor head throbbed behind my eyes, dull but insistent, as my mind tried to rearrange itself and make room for all the memories. My brain felt like a half-finished puzzle, trying to put together all the pieces. I remembered everything individually, but now came the task of putting the memories in order.

I took a slow breath and let my body catch up with my mind. First thing I noticed—I wasn’t in the cave. The walls were gone, replaced by open air and the exposed sprawl of Hell’s twisted landscape.

Second thing I noticed—something warm and heavy pressed against my side.

I turned my head, and there, curled up against me, was Purrgy. The sight of him was so ridiculously normal that for a second, my brain short-circuited.

It almost felt like I was two people at once. Lily from Earth—coffee barista, bartender, professional avoider of supernatural bullshit. And Lily from Hell—warrior, rebellion leader, the daughter of the monster who ruled this place.

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