Page 84 of The Road to Hell

A million questions flooded my mind. But I settled on the one I deemed the most important. “Which fallen?”

The hellspawn hesitated. “I—I don’t know. But?—”

I was already moving, Gorr tucked tightly at my side.

Levi kept pace beside me, tension rolling off him in waves.

Korrak and the others followed, their hellspawn instincts screaming for blood.

I shoved past the gathered hellspawn as I stepped into the open wasteland air. Hellspawn clustered in a loose, agitated ring around the center of camp, weapons drawn and snarling.

Then I saw him.

My breath caught, my body locked so tight I thought my bones might snap from the sheer force of it.

Rathiel.

He knelt in the dirt, chains shackling his wrists. His clothes were torn and stained with blood, and his face a mess of bruises. Next to him lay a tattered sack, torn but zipped closed.

Rathiel lifted his head, his exhausted gaze locking with mine.

I couldn’t move. Couldn’tbreathe.

He had come for me.

Or maybe… Maybe someone had sent him. The thought sent a violent shudder down my spine. I didn’t want to imagine the alternative, didn’t want to think about why my father might have sent Rathiel here.

But before I could ask, a massive shadow passed overhead. Hellspawn scattered as a sudden gust of wind blasted through the encampment.

And then, with a thunderous boom, Mephisar landed beside Rathiel. A fraction of a second later, Sable’s massive form coiled around Rathiel like a living barricade, her serpentine body a wall of gleaming scales.

The entire camp lost its mind.

Hellspawn shouted, scrambling back. Weapons snapped into hands.

Korrak went rigid. “What in the fuck?—?”

I barely heard him, too focused on the sight of my hellwyrms protecting Rathiel from the rest of the camp. Mephisar and Sable had only ever protected me.

But now they flanked Rathiel, wings flared, tails shifting, guarding him.

Both Mephisar and Sable had been there when Rathiel helped me escape Lucifer’s palace. Rathiel had ordered Mephisar to protect me. And whether hellwyrms were capable of true intelligence or just ran on deeply ingrained instinct, it didn’t matter—because they remembered. TheyknewRathiel wasn’t the enemy.

Mephisar spread his wings and let out a low, reverberating snarl when a few hellspawn edged closer. Sable mirrored him, then lowered her head and sniffed at Rathiel’s chains, her bright, intelligent gaze shifting between him and me.

The group of hellspawn nearest me edged forward, testing the waters.

And just like that, my body unlocked.

I moved before thinking, closing the distance in a flash and grabbing the closest netheron by the back of the neck. He twisted with a snarl—one that vanished the second he caught sight of me. Hellfire surged across my torso and down my arms, heading straight toward my hands. I released the netheron before the flames touched his skin, shoving him back toward the others.

“No one touches him!” My voice cracked through the air like a whip. Hellfire surged, blasting out of me in a wave of heat.

The hellspawn nearest me flinched away from the flames. Some recoiled, others stiffened, but none moved closer.

Gorr paced in tight, agitated circles around me, lips peeled back over his fangs in a silent snarl. His stance was clear—protective, unwavering, a warning to anyone stupid enough to think of making a move.

Korrak broke the silence. “Lily,” he said, his voice rough with irritation. “That’s a fucking fallen. What if he led Lucifer to us?”

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