I pulled at my hallucination melody and speared into Lilith’s mind, only to hit a solid steel wall.
Lilith raised a brow. “Darling, you won’t get into my head, but try as hard as you like. Maybe you’ll see your mother then.”
“Why would I see my mother?” I released my hallucination powers and tapped into the haunting melody that seduced my rage. I wouldn’t be able to hold my Hellfire for long, and I had no idea how I’d hit her with it when I couldn’t touch her and could barely move to see her.
Lilith pulled out a dagger with a line of rubies in the hilt. “Because you’ll kill her. But she seemed ready to go when I dream-walked to her last, so carry on. Maybe you’ll both end up in the same place.”
My power stuttered.
“No. I’ve been feeling fine. My father has been giving her his energy.”
“Even better. You’ll kill them both.” She bent over inches from my face while blood sloshed beneath me, her hands dipping into the buckets. She smiled like a cat watching a mouse caught in its paw.
“You’re lying.”
Ronen’s feather dangled within reach, reminding me what I was here for. I couldn’t fall for Lilith’s tricks.
Lilith stood, her hands and dagger dripping with dark, gelatinous gunk. “Why would I lie? Because I’m scared of your powers?” She scoffed and reached toward my face. I tried to turn away, but my head had no give against the magnetized slab. “Darling, I benefit whether you use them or not.”
A sour, metallic tang infused my nose as she painted my face with her finger, murmuring words I couldn’t understand under her breath. She straightened and painted her own. “I almost wish you would. I’d make taking over Hell a whole lot easier.”
I thought that when I used up my energy, it left my mom with no choice but to draw from my father instead. He was the King of Hell—he had all the strength to give. More than I did. He told me Sam said this was the best solution. But I never, not once, imagined I was taking energy from both of them. If I had been, someone would’ve told me. My father would’ve stopped my training. Sam would’ve. Even…Ronen. Was that why he ordered Alexei to train without powers?
No. He wouldn’t. He valued truth. He must’ve had a different reason.
I shouldn’t even be considering Lilith’s words. But if that was her goal, then the death of my parents would indeed benefit her.
Except, why warn me? She didn’t do that out of the kindness of her heart. She had to be nervous of my powers. Still, if there was a chance that using them was killing my parents…I couldn’t.Which left me with only one option.
“Lilith murdered your mom, Aspen! She murdered Miri?—”
A cloud of red smoke slammed into my mouth, swarming my lips—blistering and burning. I choked on a scream.
Aspen jolted forward. “Wait.” But his face resembled someone attempting to figure out a puzzle.
A sharp pain slid down the length of my arm, and I tried to cry out, but Lilith’s power suffocated the sound.
“Aspen, leave. Now.”
“But—”
“Leave—” Lilith’s voice broke off at a loud bang.
The pain in my arm vanished, along with the acid burn corroding my lips and throat. I heaved a breath into the wispy darkness.
But was it from relief or fear?
Chapter
Fifty-One
LUCILLE
Ronen’s shadows eclipsed everything. They solidified into hands, yanking at my wrists and ankles. When they tried to dig beneath my skin, I hissed, and he immediately stopped. It was no use. I’d gotten us into a mess and had no strategy to escape it. Maybe Alexei was right. Moira’s match had gone to my head. I’d miscalculated my skill. I was desperate and overeager, and now we’d all pay for it.
“Aspen, I wasn’t told we were having company,” Lilith commented, her tone conversational. She didn’t even acknowledge the power swarming around us. Did she truly not feel the fury clawing through darkness, or was she just that confident?
“I must’ve forgotten,” he replied, sounding off. “I’m sorry.”
