Demon Forged

her, Alejandro thought, she’d made a first decision that showed what good hands Michael had left them in.
    And he knew she wouldn’t have let herself go in front of them. Never would she have before Michael had passed on leadership; now, she would consume a mountain of spiders in Hell before she did.
    Here, though, she would.
    She walked to him, and when he rose to his feet, she gestured him back down. She came over him, straddling his legs with her leather-clad knees pushing into the cushions, lay against him—her chest to his, her wet and cold cheek in his throat.
    He did not mind the icy slide of water down his neck.
    He held her. She did not scream this time, but wept—tears that rolled into a storm of sobs before quieting again. His throat ached when she lifted her head to look down at him.
    She did not hide the vulnerability in her face. Her fingers stroked his neck; her smile wavered. “I hope I do not add to your list of regrets, Olek. I needed you before; now, there will be times I lean on you heavily, for advice or support—and my weight is no longer all my own.”
    “I will take it all, Irena.” His hand found hers, caught and held. And he said what he’d always thought had been too obvious to say, “I love you, Irena. Do you know this?”
    Her eyes filled. “Yes.”
    “Do you know you are not just my heart, but my life? One moment fighting with you is worth ten thousand years without you. I would die for you. I would kill for you. I would endure an eternity of torture so that you could laugh, and live.” His fingers tightened. “You have me. You have all of me. And I will take all of you. Do you know this? If I died today, would you know this?”
    She nodded, her tears spilling. “Yes.”
    “Then I have no regrets. Not even one. I would only have been sorry that I did not tell you before.”
    Her hands caressed his face, his cheeks. Her eyes glowed a fierce green. “Days will come when I will hate you, Olek. But there will never come a second that I do not love you.”
    It was her vow, he realized—her pledge. “You have said it better than me.”
    She laughed, and her mouth found his. She kissed him, again and again, her hands searching—he would always be there for her to find. Alejandro held her to him. And thought that never before had there lived a man as blessed.
    Or as well kissed.

EPILOGUE
    Jake was the one who found Michael, but it was Khavi who took them to the frozen field.
    Lucifer’s throne rose in the center of the field, an enormous black tower. With her knife and spear ready, Irena stood in a blanket of absolute silence, where the screams sliced deeper than in Chaos—she could hear nothing but the screams in her head. The cold was so fierce it burned. The faces of the damned formed the uneven ground beneath her feet. She only looked for one.
    Olek touched her shoulder and signed that they had found him.
    Irena followed him, her gut in a twisted knot. How had Jake found one face among so many? In the week that had passed since Michael’s death, Jake must have spent every spare moment under the shadow of Lucifer’s throne, in the silence and the screams, searching.
    Reckless, stupid. And she would thank him when they reached home again.
    She came closer, and realized one voice rose above the others. A familiar voice—a harmonious one. The pain and terror it carried almost brought Irena to her knees.
    Alejandro sank down beside him. Michael stared up, his eyes frozen open—fixed and alive, seeing —his mouth stretched in his scream of agony and horror.
    Irena felt the soft draw of Olek’s Gift. He placed his hands on Michael’s face, warmed him.
    Khavi knelt beside him, her tears falling from her cheeks as drops of ice. Michael, she signed. We have not much time. You must listen.
    Her heart aching, pounding, Irena scanned the horizon. Darkness moved at the edges.
    You are linked to her, Michael. She screams, Khavi signed quickly. She screams and screams. Caelum cannot hear her voice—it can only hear yours. Soon she will scream the realm apart. You have to hold them in, or she will die. Caelum will die.
    Raw pain filled his amber eyes. Slowly, slowly, his frozen mouth closed.
    His scream was silenced. Others rushed in to fill it.
    A shadow spread across the top of the throne. Irena adjusted her grip on her spear.
    Khavi looked up. Lucifer. We will not fight him. Not today.
    Irena nodded. She knelt, put her hand against Michael’s face. Cold, but warmed by