Queen Azael removed her armor, dropping it piece by piece into the hole in the ice where Samael had sunk. She would not need it anymore. Times were changing, and the world no longer needed the Lord of the Flies. She stripped off the padding she’d used to add bulk to her disguise.
She stood there boldly in her scandalous outfit: a man’s shirt and comfortable trousers. The world wasn’t ready for this yet. But one day it would be. Perhaps.
Eva, the poor dear, lay sobbing on Peregrine’s cloak. Meg stroked her cheek, but she was inconsolable. Azael had considered the consequences for a long time. She and Meg had discussed them for hours. There was no other way. What Meg saw always came to pass.
She’d sent Tisiphone to keep Eva safe in Vanity. Alec to walk beside her. Binding Charm had been Meg’s own idea. She’d hated that wench for millennia. This, though, they could not stop. Her heart ached.
She went to Eva, lay beside her, and wrapped her arms around her, ignoring the chill of the ice beneath them.
“There now,” she whispered. There were no words to undo Eva’s hurt.
Eva began to moan. Her words were incoherent. Azael brushed the hair from her face.
“I believed,” Eva sobbed. “He called me his bride.”
Azael sat bolt upright.
“Who?”
Eva sat up and hugged her knees. Her eyes were swollen. She didn’t say a word. Just rocked back and forth. Azael was in no hurry. Eva would speak when she was ready.
“The Prince. At the Wicket Gate. He told Perry, ‘Love your bride.’ I hid these words in my heart.” She hung her head, and tears began to flow again. “But now he’s gone.”
Hope surged in Azael’s heart. But she had to be sure of one thing.
“You have never…” Azael’s words failed her.
“Never what?”
“Been with him. Shared his bed?”
“No,” said Eva curtly.
Azael began to laugh softly. Eva’s eyes flashed. She clenched her fists. Gone was the helpless girl. Before her stood Eva the Dragon-Slayer.
“Oh, dear heart,” Azael said, her own heart exploding with joy. “You are not his bride. Not yet.”
“Do you think your words bring me comfort?”
“My Son is the Word. Heaven and earth would sooner pass away than a single word of His fail to come to pass.”
Understanding dawned on Eva’s face.
“You are Perry’s bride. Nothing can change that.”
***
Golden light spilled down from high above onto Eva. Alecto and Tisiphone were gone. So was Charon. Innocent stood beside her, with Megaera at her side.
Innocent’s words had changed everything. She didn’t know how it would happen, but she believed.
Love is stronger than death. Innocent’s words in the Interpreter’s House came back to her. The Prince has always loved the lilies. She slipped the pendant from around her neck and held it out to Innocent.
“This is yours.”
“No,” Innocent said. “It belongs to you now, my daughter.”
“These stairs,” Innocent said, “lead to the King. You will find your husband there.”
“I don’t understand…”
“Shaddai,” Innocent said, then quickly corrected herself. “The King. He never stopped Samael from returning. The Dragon’s own pride kept him bound here, just within sight of the Paradise he denied himself.”
Eva nodded. The well-dressed man. Anna. The countless soldiers locked in battle in Wrath. All were held in Hell by their own choice.
Eva stooped, picked up Perry’s cloak, and fastened it around her neck. It was slightly too long, reaching almost to her boots, but it felt right.
“Come with me,” Eva said, extending her hands to Innocent.
“No,” Innocent said, shaking her head. “I will return to Him. But the time is not right yet.”
“What will you do?”
“I will go and stay in the House of my brother. Those with wisdom will find more than a serving girl. They may even know my true name.”
“Azael?”
“No,” she said. Her blue eyes danced, but she said no more.
Eva turned to Megaera.
“And what will you do, Kindly One?”
Megaera laughed. “The times will change. And my sisters and I must change as well.”
Eva slid her sword into its scabbard, slung her shield across her back, and began her long climb upward. As the light grew brighter, her heart lightened, and she began to sing.
At the top of the stairs stood a gate set into the side of the hill, its doors open, with no lock to bar them.
The sight before Eva was unlike anything she’d ever seen. The City before her outshone the glory of Pandemonium and made Greed seem beggarly.
The gates of the City were of jasper and adorned with precious stones. There were sapphire, emerald, and beryl; stones of light blue; stones with red and white layers; and stones of yellow, green, and violet. It shone with a golden light that outshone the sun.
Three Ancients stood atop the gate. They asked her what she desired.
“Tell the King that His daughter, Eva Greycloak, stands at the gates. I have come to claim my husband—to redeem the promise of the Prince!”
