Page 33 of The Road to Hell

“The beginning. I guess that would be when Lucifer murdered my mother simply because she wanted to keep me safe from him. She stole me from the palace, and that was all the excuse he needed.”

Eliza winced.

“Then when he deemed me old enough to begin training, he handed me to his fallen with orders to teach me. To break me. And they did. To them,trainingwas just a fancy word for torture. They would give me a sword, then beat me bloody just to see how much pain I could take before I’d scream. They would starve me for days to ‘build endurance,’ then throw me into fights to see if I’d survive. If I failed—which happened a lot—they would drag me back by my hair and force me to do it again. Until I succeeded. They would tell me it was all for my own good, that they were shaping me into something better. Stronger.”

A bitter laugh escaped me. “The funny thing is, they weren’t wrong. I did get stronger. I just didn’t do it for them—I did it for me.”

“Goodness,” Eliza whispered, her brow furrowing. “And Rathiel took part in that?”

“No,” I admitted. “He was different. He did as Lucifer commanded—he had no choice. But he always found a loophole. A way to work around Lucifer’s orders while still obeying. He never did more than train me. He taught me how to stay alive, how to fight back, how to wield a sword. And whenever I stepped out of line?—”

“Which I imagine happened a lot,” Eliza murmured.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, more than he even knew. When I stepped out of line, it was always his job to rein me back in. I resented him for that—loathed him, even. I saw him as my father’s favourite lackey. As far as I was concerned, Lucifer put him in my life to piss me off, annoy me. Both things he did very well. But he was never cruel. Not like the others.”

“Do you still resent him?” Eliza asked. “After everything that was done to you? After everything that’s happened with you two? Taking your memories, sending you to Earth, and all that.”

I thought about it. Really thought about it. For a long time, I’d held onto that anger like a shield. But now? The truth was clearer than I wanted to admit.

“No,” I said finally. “I don’t. He did what he had to do in order to keep us alive. Yeah, he took some very important memories from me, and I can’t get those back. But he did it to save my life. It wasn’t an act of malice—it was desperation. He was just as trapped as me, caught in the same impossible situation, and he made the only call he could. I can’t blame him for that no matter how much I want to. But the truth is, he saved me. And that’s not something I can hate him for.”

Eliza shot me a grin. “Feel better?”

I blinked at her. “Huh?”

“Getting that all out—did it help? Do you feel better now?”

“Uh…what?”

“Ugh, she’s dense,” Vol chirped. He rose from his spot next to Purrgy and stared at me, his little face twisted with annoyance. “Listen, Meat Sack, you’ve been going on and on about how you can’t trust anyone. But look at you—baring your soul like we’re in some group therapy session.” He puffed up and cupped his wee hands around his mouth. “News flash, you trust vamp-boy.”

I scowled at Vol. “Go find somethingelseto do.”

He stuck his little tongue out at me in response.

“He’s not wrong,” Eliza commented. “You obviously trust Rathiel. And personally, I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how you two feel about each other. But that’s a conversation for another time.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Eliza sighed. “Let’s just agree that you trust him and move on. We have more important things to discuss.”

“We do?”

“My god, Vol is right. Youaredense.”

“Told ya so,” the imp muttered.

Eliza shook her head, a look of exasperation twisting her features. “Let’s circle back to this crusade of yours.”

“It’s not a?—”

“Nope, it’s not your turn to speak yet,” Eliza said.

Vol howled with laughter, then ducked beneath Purrgy’s tail when I shot him a glare sharp enough to cut stone.

Eliza leaned forward, her expression serious this time. “You trust Rathiel. And you obviously trust me—you said so yourself. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have invited me along. Sotrustus to help you. Let us in. Communicate with us.” She drew a deep breath. “Let’s start with you telling me how you intend to kill your father.”

“I haven’t gotten that far yet,” I admitted.

“But you still think this little plan of yours to sneak into the palace is the best option?”

---