Chapter 10

Never in her life could she have imagined that she would be getting married on her parents grave and yet, here she was, draped in black and gold, ready to be the devil's bride.

Lilith held her head high, refusing to crumble before the person whose lifeblood was others misery.

Only their face was familiar. The same golden skin and beautiful mouth, except these eyes were merciless and lethal. The mouth did not curve into a soft smile, instead, it had a grin that could cut through people's soul.

It was the face of the spymaster, but the soul of the afterlife.

It was Lucifer themselves.

And Lillith looked him right in those cruel eyes and refused to so much as waver.

Her fiercy eyes took one look at the person in front of her and knew that it wasn't the man who had sat by her and talked about stars. It wasn't the man who sometimes cooked almost as good as a witch or the man who gave her dark, enchanting presents. It wasn't the man whose hands were just as gentle as his voice.

It wasn't the man who had stood with her in the brights streets of Velaris and smiled at her.

It wasn't the kind and gentle, yet unforgiving shadowsinger.

"I was afraid-" Lucifer began.

"Good." Lillith cut him off.

The devil threw his head back and laughed. His laugh was like a shrad of glass, it seemed like even the trees winced.

"You wicked little thing." They grinned "Stubborn, aren't you?"

She stared at them blankly and they continued, "Now, imagine this- I'm in my home, patiently waiting for my lovely bride to return but she's too busy. Would you not be jealous?"

The devil stepped closer and took a stand of her hair between their fingers. "I thought it was time you came home. Who do you have left anyway?" They looked at the graves of her parents.

Lillith slammed the full force of her magic into them. Lucifer staggered back.

"I do not appreciate being touched without permission, especially, by people I clearly detest." She glared at them.

For a moment, their eyes went wild with rage but Lillith was too distracted to be afraid.

Her eyes fell upon a man, one of the many who had poisoned her sister and forced her to come here, and in a second, he was gone. Even without seeing him, she knew the infamous Lord of Bloodshed was behind it.

Her heart picked up pace- half from anticipation, half from fear.

Lucifer's voice broke her chain of thoughts, "We will see how far your stubbornness goes, once we are in my house." In an instance, they were close to her again. Barely a few inches separated them. "When you are in my realm." They growled.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two more men disappear, except this time, she succeeded in making eye contact with the High Lord of Night Court himself.

"Tell me something, pet?" Lucifer lazily smiled. "Who do I look like to you?"

Their words chilled her to the bone. She stood there with her mouth sealed and her eyes boring into his gold ones, refusing to admit the truth.

They raised their eyebrows, "Ah, not someone you want to admit? That's quite alright. I have plenty of time to force it out of you and then, perhaps, we will hunt him together, won't we?"

She clenched her jaw. "Five hundred years of me being struck in your realm and you still don't know me." She smiled, amused that Lucifer thought anyone could force her to give out the name of the spymaster.

"Let's begin with the ceremony shall we?" The devil smiled down at her and waved a hand in the air. A parchment and a golden quill appeared in front of her.

Her eyes scanned the paper. A contract. One that would bind her to the Lord of Afterlife forever and, in exchange, give her a title she never wanted- Lady of the Nevermore.

She focused on her breaths, slowly calming down.

It's going to be fine. She repeated the world she had said to Alcina just a few hours ago.

Everything will turn out fine.

Lucifer frowned. "I see." Their eyes scanned the group of Ideosy. "You have help."

"What?" Lillith feigned confusion. "I have nobody except my sister whom you poisoned. " She didn't have to force herself to add venom in her voice.

"Ah, then how do you explain-" They snapped their fingers. "-this."

Cassain cried out in pain from the top of a tree. He almost fell to the ground but caught a branch.

The members of Idesoy stepped back and got ready to attack.

"I don't even know who that is." Lillith said in a bored voice.

"Don't you?" The devil said in an amused voice. "Then what about him?"

In the blink of an eye, Rhysand stumbled out from behind a bush, coughing out blood. His violet eyes met Lillith's and in one quick blow, she unleashed all of her shadows on The Ideosy.

Cassian flew down from the where he was barely hanging off the branch to the ground and landed in the middle of the men who were now bring torn apart by shadows. Any who managed to escaped were subjected to the wrath of the Commander of the armies of the Night Court.

Rhysand tried to make his way towards the shadow witch. She winced when her skin burned from the grip of the devil. The feral rage in their eyes made her want to run but they twisted her hand with such force she yelped in pain.

"I should have known it would be difficult to handle you, pet."

Before Rhysand could reach them, Lucifer send one fierce blow of their power and even the most powerful Faelord was knocked off his feet.

Lillith tried to break free and Rhysand, crimson staining his lips, threw his sword towards her.

Lillith reached out to catch it but Lucifer jerked her arm and it fell a few inches away from her.

"Let go!" She yelled as their grip on her arm burned off her skin.

"If only-" They hissed in her face. "- if only you had listened to me, your friends would not be losing their lives."

Lillith turned around in one quick motion and elbowed them in the face. The devil staggered back, giving her just enough time to scramble for the sword.

Before she could stand up, Lucifer turned back around and their boot collided with her face. She hurled her entire weight on their body, pushing them back, as she saw Rhysand and Cassian struggle with all the witches.

If she wanted to save her friends, she needed to work fast. Blood dripped down on the side of her face as a fresh cut from the boot ran down from above her eye to her cheek.

She raised the sword, the metal gleaming, to cause just enough injury so they could escape. She knew she could not kill the Lord of Afterlife, but she could buy her friends and herself enough time to escape.

But what she saw stopped her hand.

The Shadowsinger, with a rage she had never fathomed marring his features, had Truth-Teller inside Lucifer's chest.

It was a terrible and strange sight. Lillith didn't know who Lucifer appeared as to Azriel, but to her, it looked like he was stabbing himself.

Hot, boiling blood poured out from the gaping wound as Azriel pulled the sword out and the devil sputtered out dark blood. The feral rage subsided when the spymaster looked at her and touched her arm like he wad making sure she was there and his mind was not playing tricks.

"Cass!" He yelled over the cries and whimpers of the Ideosy. "Rhys! I have her!" The two men snapped their head in his direction before nodding.

A few bruises were starting to bloom at their faces too.

Coming out of her daze, Lillith, alongside Rhysand, sent all of her remaining powers and her shadows strangled the Ideosy, making it easier for them to escape.

Azriel picked her up and shot up towards the sky with Cassian and Rhysand right behind them.

"We can not go straight to Velaris." Lillith yelled over the wind and the flapping of the wings.

"We are not going to Velaris." Rhysand answered.

"Good. Is Alcina-" She hesitated in completing the question but Cassian saved her the pain.

"She's alive. She's....not in a lot of pain." That was good enough for the circumstances so she took a breath of relief.

As her grip on Azriel grew looser, he held her closer, trying to remind himself that she was alive and well.

After a few minutes of flying she finally mustered the nerve to talk. "I have a scar too now." She smiled faintly.

Azriel looked down at her where she was resting her head against his chest. He blinked a few times and said, "It's beautiful. Like a shooting star." He looked ahead again.

"Shooting star?" Lillith raised her eyebrows. "You should make a wish then."

"I don't have any wishes." He replied.

"How's that?"

"I have all I could ever ask for."