Chapter 39

CHAPTER 39

M y eyes widened. My pulse stuttered. “We’ll kill everyone in here. All those demons from your and Daevi’s territories, all the good ones from this estate”—I swallowed hard—“and Lucifer .”

“I will not stand by when she kills you.” His voice barely above a growl, he took my bound hands in his. “I told you once that I would tear all of Hell apart for you. I would raze this place to the ground with everyone in it if it saved your life, without thinking twice. You are my priority. You may think me ruthless, you may call me vicious, but it won’t change my devotion to keeping you safe.”

I sucked in a shuddering breath, my chest aching as I looked at him. Even dirt-streaked, his skin flecked with blood, his hair unkempt and dull from the dust of the collapsed room, he was the most striking male I’d ever seen. Harshly beautiful as he was, to the point where looking at him for long would stir an ache in my heart, he held my soul—however, not because of his physical perfection, but for the core of his character.

The beauty of his heart far outshone the one on the outside. When I’d first met him, I could never have guessed at the depth of his personality, at all the vulnerable and wonderful pieces of himself he used to hide behind the cold mask he’d had to wear for so long. I could never have foreseen that he would open my eyes and heart in ways that made me grow above and beyond myself. He was the best thing that had ever happened to me, and he loved me with a passion I still couldn’t fathom.

He’d become my home, my everything, and I would not let him go.

He was right that this was our only choice. With our regular demon powers still suppressed by the shackles, we had to use the chilling force of death inside us to defeat Ashtaroth and her ilk. Azazel’s burning devotion to raze all of Hell for my sake aside, it was the hard but necessary decision in order to save everyone else beyond this hall.

My throat tight, I nodded and whispered, “Agreed.”

At least now, I went into this decision knowing the consequences—contrary to when I’d used the power earlier, when I’d meant to save Shemyaza and the others and instead had ended up killing them. This time, saving our people here wasn’t even an option, not when my and Azazel’s dying might trigger a chain reaction of death anyway.

As rational as this reasoning was, I knew there’d be an emotional reckoning for me later. I didn’t want to think about how this decision would haunt me, and yet my eyes strayed to the kneeling demons, some of whom I recognized from my time in Azazel’s territory. I saw them all so differently now compared to when I’d first entered Hell as a human. These were my kind now. My people. And when Azazel and I had agreed to succeed Lucifer on the throne, we’d also accepted responsibility for ruling them as best we could. These demons’ lives were entrusted to us.

And now we might snuff them all out.

I would bear their deaths on my conscience to make sure Azazel and everyone outside of this room lived, yes. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t feel it to the depths of my soul.

Then my eyes found Lucifer, whom I’d avoided looking at, because his death, above all, would shatter me the most. For his life to end, now, when he’d just found Lilith again, when he’d been so close to seeing her, to starting a new life—his last—at her side, it would break something fragile in me.

He caught my gaze while Ashtaroth basked in her impending glory, and whatever he must have seen on my face made his own soften in understanding. He gave me a slow, subtle nod, and it caused the first cracks in that fragile piece within me.

Heart heavy, I turned back to Azazel. He’d been looking at Lucifer, too, and the same anguish that ripped through me darkened his expression. A ping of sorrow came across the bond, though it was overlaid by determination.

“I believe we can make it,” he whispered. “We can spare the ones we want to live.”

“How?” A sob built in my throat. “It didn’t work before.”

“We just need to focus. When you used it earlier, you did so alone. Now, we’ll do it together. You and me. We can tame and direct it, I’m sure.” He grasped my hands again and kissed my knuckles. “You worked on your concentration and precision with Lucifer, and you learned to handle your new demon powers in record time. I know you can do this, too. Just follow my lead. If we set our minds on something, if we work together, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.” He laid his forehead against mine. “Faith, Zoe. You just need to have faith.”

I choked out a humorless laugh. “So you’re still holding on to divine providence?”

Framing my face with both hands, he withdrew enough to meet my gaze. “Faith in us, love. If you don’t believe in anything else, believe in us. Because I do.”

I took a shuddering breath. “Faith,” I murmured and nodded.

He pulled me closer, and I nestled my face in his neck. His scent wrapped around me, comforting and strengthening. If I had to face death and destruction, if I had to become the force that would possibly kill someone I cared about, at least I would do so in the arms of the male I loved.

“When we release the power,” he muttered into my hair, “picture Ashtaroth, Baal, Samael, and the four demons standing to the side. Those are the generals of Ash and Baal and the two dead archdemons. It will be enough to kill only them—cut off the head of the snake and all that. The rest of their demons in here will kneel to us when we’re finished.”

“You make it sound so easy,” I croaked, anxiety rampaging through me.

“Aww, how lovely,” Ashtaroth’s saccharine voice interrupted us. She was sauntering closer again. “Look at you two having a sweet bonding moment before I chop off your heads.”

The crowd laughed, the sound making me jump and straighten. When I wanted to glance at Ashtaroth again, Azazel caught my chin and directed my gaze back to him.

“Eyes on me, my darling,” he murmured. “Gather your power.”

In the periphery of my vision, I saw Ashtaroth summon a sword. My heart stumbled into a thunderous gallop.

“Are you ready?” Ashtaroth roared at the crowd.

The assembled demons hollered in response, their cheering so loud it shook the floor.

“Focus,” Azazel whispered. “Everyone on this dais, except us and Lucifer.”

“Ashtaroth, Baal, Samael, the generals,” I rattled off the list.

And I kept repeating it, over and over, picturing their faces in my mind, imagining their life force snuffed out, and only theirs.

Shekinah’s words echoed in my mind. Belief shapes reality.

Inside me, the power of death swelled. Across the bond, more of that chilling energy writhed and churned, and the temperature around us dropped. Frost licked over the floor. My breath formed clouds in front of my face.

All those moments when Lucifer had taught me control over my powers, all those days I’d toiled and sweated to master my own strength, they all coalesced now in my mind. Every single instance of when I’d tamed another aspect of the enormous force that had been thrust upon me bled into one, and it infused me with confidence.

I could do this. I can do this.

“Together,” Azazel said and leaned his forehead against mine again.

“Together,” I repeated.

“Meet your death!” Ashtaroth yelled and swung her sword.

Azazel squeezed my hand. “Now.”

Faith , I repeated in my head. Belief shapes reality.

Holding my breath, straining to focus, I released the tight grip I’d held on the power, attempting to form it into a precise scythe. It rushed out of me, out of Azazel, with the howl of an icy winter storm. All lights went out in a hush, darkness seized the room. Next to us, a sword clanged to the floor, followed by rustling, and from farther on the dais came the thudding and clinking sounds of fabric and metal clashing with stone.

Our breaths echoed in the icy gloom, and for a moment, it felt as if we knelt in the tomb of the world, just us, the darkness, and the silence of death.

Then light filtered back in. Gasps arose near us. The sound of shuffling, shifting feet, moving bodies.

I met Azazel’s thundercloud eyes for a second, my heart beating so fast I saw white spots dancing before me, and then I looked.

Where Ashtaroth had stood, only her clothes and her sword remained. Baal, Samael, and the generals were gone, save for their weapons and garments.

And there, just a few feet from us, knelt Lucifer. Alive .

Beyond him, in front of the dais, the crowd of demons still filled the throne room, paralyzed with shock.

My breath left me on a sob. “We did it.”

All at once, the tension and anxiety in my body evaporated, the drop of adrenaline making me shake violently. Azazel grasped me, slung his bound wrists over my head, and hugged me tightly to him.

“We did it,” he echoed my words, and potent relief caused his voice to waver. “It’s okay. It’s all right now. We won. It’s over.”

On and on, he spoke soothing reassurances in my ear, while I trembled in his hold, my eyes hot with tears, my breath shaking with the fear that was finally leaving my body. I clung to him for dear life, soaking up his warmth, his strength, his love.

So close. We’d come so close to losing each other. I could still see Ashtaroth’s blade glinting in the light of the chandeliers as it rushed for our necks, still felt that trembling in my soul. I breathed in his scent now, listened to the steady, fast beat of his heart, let the ebb and flow of his emotions across the bond ground me.

He was still here. I was still here. We’d made it.

And those we wanted to spare had made it as well.

“Hearken!” Lucifer’s bellow made me jolt, his voice reverberating in the massive room like a gong.

I glanced over at him. He’d risen to his feet, hands still bound in front of his body and the wounds on his back dripping blood onto the dais, but he held himself with unassailable authority, looking out over the crowd.

“Behold your king and queen,” he shouted, “endowed with the power of death! You have just witnessed the lethal magic they possess, which not even chains can subdue. Their enemies fall not to their weapons, but to a single thought of theirs. They are the rightful rulers of Hell, now and forever! Their power puts them far above anyone else’s station, their strength unmatched among demons.” He paused for dramatic effect. “This force they carry, it has only one equal—God.”

Gasps and murmurs coursed through the crowd.

“Kneel to your king and queen!” Lucifer roared. “Show your fealty so you may be spared their wrath!”

As one, all demons who’d been standing sank to their knees and bowed their heads. Some even did an entire genuflection with their hands and foreheads touching the ground.

Lucifer, too, went down on one knee. His gaze on Azazel and me, he bowed his head.

My breath stalled.

All sounds hushed…until a shout broke the silence.

“Hail King Azazel and Queen Zoe!” a voice yelled from one of the front rows.

I peered out toward the assembled masses. The demon who’d shouted was from Azazel’s territory, one of his top warriors.

“Hail King Azazel and Queen Zoe!” the demons around him took up the acclamation, and soon, the entire throne room shook from the enthusiastic shouts.

My eyes still misty, I looked back at Azazel. Over the bond, a maelstrom of emotions flowed to me—surprise, relief, elation, and grim satisfaction. Leaning in, he kissed my forehead, a pulse of love wrapping me in a hug as much as his arms did.

Bathed in the cheers of the crowd, we held each other tight, and for the span of a few heartbeats, everything else faded away, and it was only Azazel and me, and the pulse of love that bound us together.

Then, still holding me, he pulled us to standing and unhooked his arms from my back in favor of grasping my hands and lifting them up. Gaze on the crowd, he shouted, “My people! You have fought valiantly, and your loyalty and resilience shall be rewarded.”

Cheers from the ranks of those who’d defended the palace.

“I will not punish the soldiers of the traitors,” Azazel continued, his voice projecting strong and resonant through the room, “for their duty to their archdemons forced them to follow their call to arms. But make no mistake—we will not suffer our enemies to live. Should individual demons display contempt of the crown, there will be punishment. Whisper a word of treasonous intent, and we will come down on you swiftly. Treat my queen with anything but the utmost respect, and I will personally rip you apart limb by limb.”

His power was a dark pulse in the air, a cold breeze that made the assembled demons shiver in the heat of Hell.

“Loyalty, however, will be rewarded.” He lifted his chin, authority and dominance pouring off him. “Prove your fealty, and you will be commended. This will be a new dawn for demonkind, though different from the vision Ashtaroth presented you. There will be changes to Hell, new opportunities to enrich your lives.” With a side glance at Lucifer, he added, “Use of modern technology will no longer be forbidden.”

The crowd erupted into applause and shouts of praise, while Lucifer raised a brow, one corner of his mouth tilting up in a wry smile.

“Other things will not change,” Azazel continued, his gaze steely as he surveyed the masses. “My queen and I hold to the truce with Heaven. There shall be no war on Earth or beyond, and any attempt at sabotage will be met with instant death.”

He let a sliver of that cold energy inside us slip out, to the point where the breaths of the demons in the first rows misted in the air. A chilling reminder of the dark power we’d just demonstrated earlier.

“Now,” Azazel called out, pulling the energy back, “let us clean up the mess left from the battle, take care of the wounded, and repair the damages. And tonight, we shall have a celebration in honor of this victory and the dawning of a new reign!”

The crowd broke into cheers again, and over the din of the masses, Azazel called over the warrior in the front row who’d spoken up earlier.

“Ramiel,” he said as the demon stepped up onto the dais. “Good to see you alive and well.”

“Your Graces.” Ramiel bowed deeply to both Azazel and me. “Let me take care of these for you.”

Grasping Azazel’s shackles, he sent out a pulse of his power. The manacles opened and clattered to the floor. He turned to me and did the same with my cuffs, then unlocked Lucifer’s shackles as well.

The familiar heat of my demon power rose to the surface again, warming my blood and making the air around me oscillate.

Azazel gave Ramiel a nod, laid one hand on his shoulder, and squeezed. Ramiel inclined his head, and then he launched into a report on the battle and the state of the palace, and he and Azazel quietly spoke about logistical things that I probably should pay attention to and learn about, but my head still wasn’t right after the ordeal we’d been through, and my thoughts were all over the place.

Lucifer stepped up to me, his blond hair matted with blood, his armor torn, yet his eyes were the most alive I’d ever seen on him.

“Good start to your reign. Death, destruction, and the sweet scent of fear.” He made a chef’s-kiss gesture and looked at what was left of our enemies—empty clothes and discarded weapons. “Though, personally, I’d have spilled a bit more blood.” He gave me a sly look. “There’s something about coating the floor with it that just gives it that perfect shine, you know. Oh, I almost forgot.” He summoned a sword and held it out to me hilt-first. “If you still wish to stab me.”

I stared at the blade for a moment. Then I batted it aside, launched myself at Lucifer, and hugged him.

After a second of apparent shock, he carefully hugged me back. His hand patting my shoulder a bit awkwardly, he muttered, “I knew you could do it, kid.”