Page 70 of Underworld
“You’re healing.”
“I’m the Queen of Hell, my daughter. That comes with a few perks.” Her droll response came with a slight smile. “Luc and I had a run-in earlier, if you hadn’t gathered already. He’s not pleased with the realms merging—nor with me refusing to let him take my throne.”
“I’m going to rip that red-eyed fucker’s head off and shove it up his ass,” Luke said.
“Get in line, pal,” Nate retorted, his arms loosely folded over his chest.
“Now, boys…” Sonya waved a dismissive hand. “We’ll deal with Luc when it’s time. And it’s not like he walked away unscathed. Besides, keeping him out of trouble was worth it. He would have stopped Purgatory’s descent had he known it was coming. Lily needs her new flight instructors, after all.”
“My what?” Blinking, I stared at her.
Dante crossed his arms over his chest, giving my mom—aka theQueen of Hell—a look that suggested he wasn’t thrilled with this idea. “And who would be these flight instructors?
Sonya gave Dante a faint smile as she approached me. Her fingers hovered over my wings. “Those aren’t just pretty decorations on her back, Hunter.”
“I get the feeling you aren’t surprised to see these pretty decorations,” I said, opening, then closing my wings.
“No.” She sighed and brushed her hair back, gaze going distant. “I’ve known for years that the day was coming when you’d die—and then you’d return to us, reborn into your new form, your angelic self awakened. Renee predicted it.”
My knees threatened to give out.
“You knew?” Dante snarled. The Dean gave him a stern look that kept him in place, but he wasn’t going to back down. “You could have given us a fucking warning.”
“Dante,” Kaito warned, although for once, I sensed my mentor hadn’t been in on this particular secret.
If he had, he would have tried to stop it.
“I couldn’t have told any of you without risking changing the future Renee promised,” she said, flaring bat-like wings. “Would knowing have made it any easier?” she added as she returned to her chair.
“We could have done something,” Hendrik pointed out, dark eyes glinting with violence. “There had to have been another way.”
“There wasn’t,” Sonya countered. Her mates framed her on either side, but they didn’t step in to her defense. While they might envy me, I envied the clear ease with which my mother ran her mate-circle. “This was the only way.”
The room went silent and we all knew she was right.
She straightened with regal elegance, folding her hands in her lap before meeting my eyes. “I will mend what grievances I have with you as best I can. That is why I am here, to help you and guide you.” She flared her wings behind her and her golden crown glittered with power. “Purgatory and Hell have merged, leaving the inhabitants trapped in a world of in-between. Only you can enter it, Lily, and you must for all our sakes.”
I clenched my hands into fists. “You want me to return to Purgatory?”
She nodded. “Lost souls have been imprisoned there, as I suspect you know. Renee has been doing her best to protect them as the realms merge, thanks to Calamity, but there’s only so much she can do now that the realm has shattered onto Hell’s shore.”
She sounded so calm talking about lost souls, failure, Calamity. How could she take all of this in stride?
“None of that sounds good,” I said warily.
“It’s your destiny. You and you alone can release those souls from Purgatory. They don’t belong there.” She hesitated and glanced toward Dante and Hendrik before adding, “And two of your new Virtues also wait for you to free them.”
I shook my head as realization hit me.
Not because I didn’t believe her, but because some part of me had already sensed it.
“What the fuck?” Hendrik slammed his fist against the door. For a minute, I thought he’d leave, but then he whirled on my mother. “MoreVirtues?”
I shivered as Dante swung his gaze to me. “Was Cole not enough of a lesson for you? Now you’ve called more to your side? How many Virtues do you need?”
“Hey, don’t start on me.” Folding my arms over my chest, I looked down at the floor. My face felt like it was on fire. “I can’t control it.” I ran all of my powers on instinct, including my powers as a Champion of Calamity.
I understood now why I’d left a piece of myself in Purgatory.
