She remained unconscious, but her skin had regained the color she’d lost in death and her chest continued to rise and fall with her inhalations. Despite all that, I couldn’t bring myself to believe she was alive. I’d watched her kill herself, seen her lifeless form, and felt the overwhelming loss of her threatening to devour me.
Adjusting her in my arms, I lifted my finger to trace it over her lips. Her mouth parted on a sigh and her hands curled into my chest, but she didn’t wake.
“It will take time for her to fully heal,” Raphael said. I lifted my gaze to him once more as Caim edged closer to us. Raphael glanced at Caim before focusing on me again. “There is much to be discussed.”
“There is,” I agreed.
“I think it best if we do it away from here. The gateway is closed, but there are many creatures still lurking within the woods.”
I didn’t want the angels with us, but I did want answers. “We will travel somewhere else.”
“Will Michael not be joining you so you can return to Heaven?” Caim asked.
A muscle twitched in Raphael’s cheek before his head turned toward Caim. “No.”
“Have you been thrown out of Heaven too then, brother?” Caim taunted with a smirk.
“I made the choice to leave, to come here, to do what I felt must be done. I was not thrown out, but you know I cannot return,” Raphael replied and turned dismissively away from Caim.
“The birds are about to start pecking each other’s eyes out,” Magnus drawled from behind me.
“No, they’re not,” I replied. “We have no time for their petty bullshit. It is time for us to leave here.”
As soon as I finished speaking, a drakónroared from above and something not of Earth screeched loudly in the woods. Humans and demons fell back when I turned to face them. They all gawked at River before the demons went down to one knee. I knew this gesture was not for me, but forher. She’d destroyed the seals and sacrificed herself for all of them. Yes, she still lived, but only because of a miracle.
River hadn’t realized an angel would save her when she died, and the demons all knew it. Not only did they admire her vast power, but now they also admired her courage. They would have followed her no matter what because she was my Chosen and, as such, their queen. Now they would follow her because she had earned their respect.
When the humans remained standing, Erin glanced at the demons before looking to River again. Tears still wet her eyelashes when she went down to one knee, followed by Vargas, and gradually the rest of the humans.
Not only would we be the king and queen of Hell, but we would also rule here. I held River closer as I strode through the kneeling crowd toward the handful of remaining vehicles. There were things I had to do before we left, but I wanted to get her away from here as soon as possible.
CHAPTER 35
Kobal
The sun had set when I called a halt to the vehicles. Overhead, Raphael flew low through the trees. He stayed out of view of anything that would make him dinner or report him to Lucifer. From the woods, beasts screamed, and not just Hell creatures, but the animals and people who resided on this planet too.
Hell had found its way to Earth, and it was wreaking havoc.
River had woken half an hour ago. She hadn’t moved, hadn’t spoken, but simply lay in my arms, flinching every time a new sound arose. Hawk’s knuckles were white on the wheel as he drove, his shoulders hunched. The bed of the truck dipped from the weight in the back of it. Every square inch of it was packed with humans and demons.
Whoever hadn’t been able to fit into the truck, walked behind it. Before leaving the gateway, I ordered the surviving demons and humans, who had journeyed to the gateway to join with us, to return to whatever section of the wall they’d been stationed at before. They would be needed there to guard, and to prepare those still at the wall for what was coming.
There hadn’t been enough vehicles for everyone, and some of the groups were entirely on foot. The groups on foot had been given more demons and humans to travel with so they would at least have more numbers on their side until they could find something to use as transportation.
I’d also split the palitons that escaped Hell with us between the groups returning to the wall. Any demon who would prefer to return to Hell would be allowed to in the future, when things stabilized on Earth and in Hell.
I had a feeling few, if any, would seek me out to return to Hell when all of this was settled. Not only was Hell an entirely different, far more treacherous place than before, but I suspected many demons had come to prefer Earth to Hell.
However, Earth was also a far different place than the one we’d left five days ago. From what Shax told me, that was all the time that had passed since we entered Hell. Though it had felt like we’d been in Hell for longer than that, I suspected Earth and Hell ran on the same timeline. It only seemed like more time elapsed because it was impossible to mark its passing in Hell.
River rose from my lap as Hawk put the truck in park. “Are we staying here tonight?” she asked.
“No,” I replied. “We will not be stopping for any length of time until we are back at the wall. The humans will eat while we discuss some things with the angels.”
Her violet eyes were weary in the moonlight filtering through the passenger-side window. “I have to get to my brothers.”
“We will.”
