Chapter 32

CHAPTER32

Ionce again stand on the dais in the Kur with jizz stuck to my legs.

I shift a little on my feet. My skin tugs where the jizz glues it to my leathers and I groan a little in irritation. “You missed some of your spunk, Reaper,” I whisper to Ashen as he stands to my right, looking over the demons standing before us.

“At least you’re wearing pants this time,” he whispers back.

We fall into silence as the Shub Lugal file into the assembly hall of the Kur, fanning out behind the audience of demons who shift their attention among those of us on the dais. Most linger on the injured angel, their expressions distrustful. I scent the musk of fear in the room.

When the soldiers are standing at attention, Cyrus moves to the front of the platform. “Hail Queen Leucosia,” his voice booms across the hall.

“Hail Queen Leucosia,” the Shadow Realm replies.

It still feels strange to me to hear that, but maybe a little less so now than it did in the beginning. I’ve come to realize that it’s not like a piece of armor that you just put on and it fits. It has to settle over your skin. The links take time to unfold and shift into place. It’s a gradual process to absorb what I’ve taken, and for it to become a part of me.

And now I finally feel ready to wear it. I have to be.

I step forward to the front of the dais. “Shadow Realm,” I say, letting my voice carry over the crowd and echo to the heights of the vaulted ceiling that pierces the fog. “We have gathered you here because the Nephilim have come for the Realm of Light.”

The murmurs swirl from the audience. I let them whisper for a moment as their fiery gazes shift toward the wounded angel on the stage.

“I know what you’ve been led to believe, that the Realm of Light is our enemy. I know many of you question why we should care what happens to the home of the anunnaki. But this was not always the way. It is the deception you’ve been fed over millennia, and all the while both sides were puppeted against one another, until the whisper of war became a shout. We all believed we could take from one another and stand on our own as the world crumbled around us. We believed in good,” I say, holding the hexagonal pendant of the Realm of Light in my left palm, the chain dangling from my hand, “versus evil.” I raise the square of the key to the portals of the Shadow Realm.

The whispers of the crowd rise again as I fit the gems of the two pendants together. I feel them slide into place together between my hands. I press my palms tight and twist the two halves in opposite directions. There’s a click as they lock to one another and a burst of wind surges from behind me, nearly forcing me to steady myself with a step forward. The audience gasps, some of them stepping back, knocking into one another, the flames in their eyes growing brighter as they take in the sudden portal. I turn, meeting Aloros’s eyes for an instant as I pivot to see the rupture of the realms behind me. There’s a section of the air that looks torn and filled with still water, the edges glowing with tiny flickers and flares of light. Beyond, I can see part of an empty art studio, abandoned canvases and paints lit with the flickering glow of flames beyond the windows.

“House Esagila. The art studio,” Aloros says. I nod and click the pendant again with another turn. The scene on the other side of the portal changes. There’s fire and fighting, angels battling one another, and soldiers in golden masks with unfamiliar armor. Nephilim. An angel on the other side takes note of the sudden portal and gasps, lurching backward. The voices of the demons behind me grow louder with alarm. “House Shabarra,” Aloros confirms, his voice grave. I click the pendant again. This time I recognize the location. We see angels gathering the souls of young children, ushering them down a cobblestone road as fire rages from a building down the street. Some of the children cry, tears streaking glistening paths through the soot on their faces. Some carry blank expressions, the fear and confusion too overwhelming for them to process. “House of Virtues,” Aloros whispers, his voice choking around the three words. I twist the two pendants apart and turn to the audience, closing the portal.

“Reapers of the Shadow Realm,” I say, stepping forward until I’m at the edge of the dais. The voices simmer down but the scents of confusion and fear and even rage grow stronger on the thrum of heartbeats before me. “The Nephilim know I have the first stone and are now searching for the second one, which is hidden in the Realm of Light. If they obtain it and find the gateway, they will have access to the fates. Their aim is to seize control of the last of the gods and remake every realm to their design. The Nephilim appear to have found someone who can remove the stone and they will destroy anything that stands in their way. Make no mistake, Shadow Realm. There is no hiding. There is no shutting our borders and believing we can endure. They will come for us, and they will decimate our realm, unless I can get to the Soulfate stone before they do. We need to get it out of their reach.”

I turn away, heading toward Ediye who stands with Eryx and Cole, all three dressed in the armor of the Shadow Realm, weapons sheathed at their sides. “You look like a badass bitch,” I whisper to Ediye as my gaze rakes down the matte black breast plate and the black leathers clinging to her legs.

“You look pretty hot yourself. Very Queenly.”

“Fake it ‘till you make it, right?”

Ediye’s smile fades and she reaches out, taking my hand, her expression turning serious. “You never faked anything but death, Lu. It’s why you were meant for this.”

I try to contain the love I feel for my best friend, but there’s no way I can. I surge forward and grip her in a tight hug, reaching out to take Cole’s hand as I do. “Be careful. I don’t know what you’re going to find on the other side.”

“I know,” she says, pressing a kiss to my cheek. “We’ll be okay, Lu. We’ll take as many as are willing to come.”

When we let go of one another I turn toward Eryx. His wings shift behind him as he straightens. “What can I do?”

“Guide us from the art studio to the ziggurat in House Esagila. The stone is there in the lowest levels.”

Eryx nods and I turn to Hotaru next. “Your grace,” she says, worry weighing heavily in her eyes as they flick to where the portal had just been on the dais.

“I need you to take these,” I say, giving her the two keys. She swallows as she looks at the pendants I drop onto her palms. “I need you to work with Aloros to shift the portals and send whoever is willing to fight to the right places. He will help guide you. Just fit them together and twist,” I say, mimicking the motion with my hands. Hotaru meets my eyes and I smile. “I know you care about this realm. I saw it in you. I trust you, Hotaru.”

A look of concern flashes across Hotaru’s face before she nods. “Yes, my Queen.”

“Wynter,” I say, turning next to the apothecary who stands with Roman in the shadows at the edge of the dais. She steps forward with a bow of her head. “Any demons who wish to come through to the Realm of Light, can you make it comfortable to do that, like you did for Ashen?” I ask, nodding toward my husband whose covered wrists are stamped with bands similar to Eryx’s. “As many as you can manage, if there are any at all.”

Wynter glances to the audience and back to me, determination fueling her beating heart. “Yes. I can do that.”

I place a hand on her shoulder and glance up to Roman, a silent understanding passing between us to keep the apothecary safe. A deep breath fills my lungs as I let go and turn, stepping to Ashen’s side.

Fear pulls the tether taught between us. Pride and determination warms every point of the scepter embedded in my skin. Ashen doesn’t smile as he withdraws his sword. The hellfire ripples as it comes alive on his blade.

I stay close to my husband but turn to the audience one more time. Maybe the last time. That thought crumples the flesh of my heart. I look across the demons who watch me, the thoughts of souls pressing on the veil in my mind, and I worry for all of them. Not just the souls or the crawlers, but for the Reapers themselves. Because I’ve come to realize the most important truth of this realm.

“I will not force any of you to fight this battle. Not even the Shub Lugal,” I say, and a murmur floats through the room, quiet protests joining from the Council behind me. “I can only ask you to. I have felt an echo of what you felt. I know you suffer in the reaping. And I’ve come to believe the soul of a demon is the brightest soul of all. You sacrifice a piece of yourselves to give justice. It hurts you. It scars you. And still you endure. You never asked for that life, and yet you persevere. So, I will not force you to sacrifice anything more when you give so much already. But even though it might not seem like our war today, it is, and it will come for us, sooner or later. There is no way the Realm of Light will win without the help of the Shadow Realm. You are the only ones who can save them now. Because there is no other creature as resilient, as determined, or as powerful as you.”

Before I can see their answers in their eyes, I turn away, nodding once to Hotaru. She presses the keys together and clicks them into place, turning them once to create the portal to the art studio of Esagila.

I withdraw the katana at my back and smile up at my husband. “I’m gonna hiss really loud this time. Like, a lot.”

Ashen gives a breath of a laugh and spins his sword in an arc, the glyphs on his knuckles glowing as though they sense the impending battle. “I might growl a bit.”

“With the wings?”

“Maybe.”

“I wouldn’t complain.”

Our smiles fade and I look over my shoulder as Eryx closes ranks behind us, giving a nod as he readies his sword for whatever we’ll face on the other side.

I cast one fleeting glance to the sea of demons behind me, and I smile.

Then I turn ahead and stride through the portal, into the battle for the Realm of Light.