Page 56 of She Who Holds My Wrath

Velentha sinks to her knees, staring at the blackened sigils on the floor. “The leylines entirely gone.”

“She’s not dead,” I snap, too quickly. I can’t even let that thought take shape. “You said if the passage failed, she’d be flung into the gap. That means she’s somewhere.”

Velentha lifts her gaze to mine, her expression hollow. “Aran, the gap isn’t a place. It’s absence. It’s nothing.”

I shake my head violently. “No. You’re wrong.”

Lucifer exhales a long, slow breath, dragging his fingers through his hair. “Well. That went tits up fast.”

“Lucifer!” Velentha hisses.

“What? We all thought it. I just had the courtesy to say it out loud.” His tone hardens under the flippancy. “If that line’s fully shut down, it means someone on the other side knew she was coming, and they’ve fucked her chance of returning.”

The thought hits like a blade to the gut. Kaelith. He must’ve known.

“She’s alive.” I crouch beside Velentha. “I know she’s alive. I’d feel it if she weren’t.”

Her lips part, but she doesn’t argue. Either because she knows better, or because she wants to believe it, too.

Lucifer moves towards the small window, peering out at the darkness of Zeriavoss beyond. “You really think he’d betray her?”

I’ll give Lucifer this—he’s very good at hiding what he feels. But not flawless. Up close, the cracks are obvious. The tight pulse jumping in his jaw where he’s grinding his teeth. The way his hand keeps flexing at his side, fingers curling and uncurling as if he’s resisting the urge to grab something or break something. His knuckles are bleached nearly white from the pressure, tendons standing out sharply beneath pale skin. To anyone else, he probably looks bored. Mildly irritated, at worst. I know better.

The air around him feels… volatile. Like standing too close to a storm that’s on the verge of breaking. Because it isn’t just Daisy trapped out there. It’s Maelkar too. His… whatever they are. Partner? Problem? The one person in the realms who can needle him into actual emotions without immediately being incinerated for it?

“Kaelith?” I ask. “He’s been smiling through every meeting since the start. Too smooth. Daisy was right to distrust him.”

“Then we’ve walked her into a trap.” Velentha’s voice is a whisper, her voice shaking. “Gods forgive me. I sent her there.”

I grab her wrist, pulling her to her feet. “You didn’t know.”

“She trusted me,” she says, her voice cracking. “I told her it would be safe. I felt it would be safe. But when I reached for the future, there was static. Nothing but haze. I should’ve seen through it.”

I release her slowly. “We all should have.” The silence that follows feels suffocating.

Lucifer turns back, his cool, calm, and collected façade gone. “So, what now? We sit on our flaming arses and wait for another royal funeral?”

I straighten at his words. “We find a way through.”

Velentha looks up sharply, her mouth pressed in a firm line. “The line is gone, Aran. Whatever blocked it, wasn’t a natural failure. It was sealed on purpose.”

“Then we unseal it.”

“Aran—”

“No!” The shout tears from my throat before I can stop it. “I am not losing her too.”

Velentha’s gaze lingers on me for a moment before she nods, knowing exactly what I meant. “We’ll find a way.”

Lucifer snorts. “Sure. Maybe we just dig through the floor and crawl to Aurora’s Veil.”

Velentha’s head snaps towards him. “Actually…”

He blinks. “That was a joke.”

“The leylines run under Hell too,” she says, half to herself. “Buried deeper than even the caverns of Gehenna. If I could trace one, just one thread that hasn’t been tainted by the curse…”

“You think you could use it?” I question.