Page 29 of The Road to Hell

“You’renotwicked,” I emphasised. “Not even close.”

She held my gaze for a fraction too long before looking away. “If you say so.”

I knew that tone. Whatever thoughts were running through her head, she wasn’t ready to voice them. And I wasn’t about to force her to.

Instead, I focused on the more pressing issue at hand. “We need to talk about the gate.”

Her expression changed in an instant—humour gone, walls up.

“You opened it,” I said. “Easily. Effortlessly.” I paused, letting my words sink in. “I’ve never seen that before. The first time your father tried, the gate threw him clear across the wasteland. But not you.”

Still no answer.

“Lily, we can’t ignore this.”

After a moment, she sighed. “I know. I’ve been thinking about it too.”

“I think we need to consider what this means.”

“It means I can open the gate and nothing more,” she sniped.

I turned my head to stare at her, but she refused to meet my gaze. That told me everything I needed to know. She’d formed her own opinions regarding this matter. And I could only imagine they aligned with mine, which was why she was avoiding discussing it.

“Do you remember the details of the prophecy?” she finally asked, her voice a mere whisper.

My eyes briefly closed. So, our thoughtsdidalign then. “I do.”

Her mouth twisted. “I still remember the day I learned about it. It spoke of a celestial offspring who would restore Hell to its rightful state and bring an end to Lucifer’s tyrannical rule.” She rubbed her hands down her face. “I didn’t believe it referred to me. Who would believe such a thing about themselves? But now, I’m questioning everything. When I touched the gate, Rathiel, it feltright. Like the gate belonged to me. And while trying to sleep, I swear I could hear whispering in my head. Maybe it was just a dream, but there was this voice, telling me to take what belongs to me.”

She finally looked at me. “But how can the prophecy be about me? You told me we lost the war. If I’m really theone, then why did we lose?”

“I can’t answer that,” I said gruffly. “I don’t know.”

“Maybe we’re wrong? Maybe it isn’t me?”

Iwantedto believe that, for her sake. But… “I don’t think it’s wrong.”

“You don’t?” she asked, her eyes widening. “Even after everything you said happened?”

“I’m more convinced now than I was last time.” Especially after hearing about this voice speaking to her in her dreams. If anything, that only confirmed my worst fears.

“Okay, well let’s say I really am the one. Lucifer’s special little usurper. Then what’s the plan? Because I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to go throughanyof this again. Losing my wings, my memories, my home, you—” She snapped her mouth closed and averted her gaze, as though she hadn’t meant to say that last bit.

I bit back my smile, knowing she wouldn’t appreciate me enjoying that slip up.

“And how exactly do we findanyonewilling to help us? After our last disastrous attempt, they'd have to be the most foolish hellspawn alive to even consider it. And an army built on stupidity isn’t exactly a winning strategy. Lucifer proved that not even I—his daughter—could take him out. If anything, we likely strengthened his hold on Hell. Who would dare follow me after that?”

I opened my mouth to reassure her that we would find an army for her. Hellspawn were plentiful here, thanks to her father’s desire to create. So long as we could convince them to fight for us, we’d be fine.

But before I could speak, she said, “Maybe it would be bestnotto build an army.”

I frowned. “What?”

She stared out over the landscape beyond the cave. “You said we had an army last time. And clearly, we lost. I assume we made plans and strategized, because I wouldn’t lead any other way. We went to war with Lucifer, and he crushed us, yes?”

She shot me a glance, so I nodded.

“So what makes this time any different? Why would I expect us to win now if we failed last time?”

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