But he had a point. What made that night different? And how did the king know Hell would open—unless he’d been gambling with my life again?
Aspen gripped my shoulders. “Regardless, you’re not safe there, Lucille. You need to find a way out.”
Safe?The word dug under my skin, sharp and irritating. My thoughts spiraled back to my homes on Earth,to the moments that still left a bitter taste in my mouth. I remembered crying when I had to leave my friends. I remembered fighting with my mom just to get a taste of life outside the house—begging to see humans, to breathe air that didn’t feel so… oppressive. The constant arguments. The suffocating isolation. Always wanting more freedom, more connection, more anything—but the walls closing in around me.
I’d been safe for half my life—protected from anything that could hurt me. I didn’t know how to live, to fight for what I wanted, to push to be more than I was. I’d been weak, and now I was stuck trying to fix it.
“What has being safe ever gotten me?” I shot back, my voice clipped.
“The air in your lungs.” He shook my shoulders, his voice rising. “Your life!”
I scoffed. “I lived in a comfortable prison, Aspen. That wasn’t a life.”
He flung his hands into the air. “So what? You’re going to flounder about in Hell for the foreseeable future, and I’ll just have to wait and see if you’re still alive every time I fall asleep?”
“Flounder about? Is that how you see me?” The words stung more than I expected. “Is that why you imagined me in this suffocating gown?”
Only an innocent damsel would wear this.
But could I blame him? He’d had to rescue me so many times, and I still barely knew this world—even with my memories back.
“I can’t protect you in Hell if I can’t get to you,” hepleaded.
The flicker of vulnerability caught me off guard, making my chest tighten. I took his hands and peeked at his wrist, relieved to still see them bare of those vile runes. But for how long?
“What about you, Aspen?”
He hesitated. “What about me?”
“Who’s protecting you while you’re back with Lilith?”
He pursed his lips into a thin line and glanced toward the arches, confirming my assumptions. The tension in his shoulders spoke louder than words.
In our last dream-walk, he’d said he searchedourlibrary.Aspen had been raised in the Tenebrous Kingdom. So it was safe to assume the only library he’d claim as his own was the one he grew up with—which meant he’d returned to her.
“I’ve got it handled,” he insisted. “Don’t worry about me. Worry about getting out.”
I let out a frustrated sigh and pressed my hand against his cheek, coaxing his gaze back to mine. “Of course I’ll try to find a way out. But I need you to be honest with me. You’re not alone in this.”
His eyes flickered with something unreadable before he dropped his gaze. “I’ll be okay. Just find a way out.”
“I will. And then I’m going to rescue you and kill Michael.”
His head shot up, eyes flashing with blue fire. “That archangel I found mutilating you?”
Images of Michael slicing me surged into my mind. I curled my hands into fists, digging them into my palms, grounding myself to push the rising panic away.
“Yes,” I forced out. “He put my mom into a coma. The only way she wakes is ifwe kill him.”
I didn’t mention the other part, the darker truth—how my mother was eating my energy. Or how she could wake if I died. I didn’t want to admit my mistake and give him more proof of my floundering.
Something shifted in the air—an unsettling ripple of shadow near the tree line. I frowned at the wispy blur, but Aspen’s voice pulled me back.
“I’ll figure out where Michael is,” he said. “But promise me you’ll keep dream-walking to me so I know you’re okay. And if you find a way out, come to me. We can kill him together.”
His strength and resolute tone steadied me. This was the Aspen I was falling for—not the one who said I was floundering, but the one who wanted me next to him when we killed Michael.
I stepped closer, pressing my body against his, and he responded instantly, bringing his mouth down to mine. Our breaths mingled, and the world narrowed to the two of us.
