I closed the door to the medical room behind me, leaning against it for a moment. My chest felt hollow, like someone had scooped out everything inside and left nothing but an aching void. The conversation with Faith had been necessary, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

  Taking a deep breath, I straightened my shoulders and wiped away the lingering moisture from my eyes. There was no point dwelling on what couldn't be. I'd made my decision—the right decision, even if it felt like tearing out a piece of myself.

  I found Aria and Isabella waiting in a small lounge area down the hall. They'd been provided with refreshments—cups of what looked like coffee sat untouched on the table between them. Aria was fidgeting with her glamoured human appearance, adjusting her hair in a compact mirror, while Isabella sat perfectly still, her posture impeccable despite the institutional furniture.

  "There you are!" Aria jumped up when she saw me, relief washing over her face. "We were starting to worry they'd locked you up or something."

  Isabella's eyes narrowed slightly as she studied my face. "You've been crying."

  It wasn't a question. I should have known better than to think I could hide anything from her perceptive gaze.

  "I'm fine," I said, forcing a smile that felt brittle even to me. "Just... tired."

  Aria glanced back toward the medical room. "So, what about your human friend? Faith, right? Is she coming back with us?"

  I shook my head, the finality of it settling heavily on my shoulders. "No. Faith will stay here."

  "That's a shame," Aria said, her expression softening with unexpected sympathy. "But I understand. Mortals usually prefer their own world." She reached out and squeezed my hand. "At least we got to meet her. She seems... fierce. For a human."

  Isabella nodded in agreement. "She fought well. There's a certain admirable quality to her determination." Coming from Isabella, this was high praise indeed.

  "Thank you," I said quietly, grateful they weren't pushing for details. "Both of you."

  Aria flopped back into her chair. "So, what now? Do we just... leave? I mean, we did save their city from being sacrificed. You'd think they'd throw us a party or something."

  I managed a small laugh at that. "Somehow I don't think the VCD is big on parties for demons, even helpful ones." I glanced around the sterile hallway. "Speaking of which, where's Kyriakos? Did he leave already?"

  "The skeleton man?" Aria wrinkled her nose. "He's somewhere in this building, having some kind of important discussion with that Galahad person and the scary woman."

  "Morgan," Isabella supplied. "I believe they're discussing the aftermath of Cain's ritual and what to do with the remaining vampires."

  I frowned. "Morgan?"

  Aria looked at me strangely. "You know, the woman who came in with Galahad? Through the ceiling?" She made an elaborate gesture with her hands. "Dark hair, violet eyes, looked like she could kill you with her pinkie finger? She was there when you woke up."

  "Right," I said, the memory coming back hazily. There had been a woman standing behind Galahad when I'd first regained consciousness, but I'd been so focused on Faith that I hadn't paid much attention. "I was a bit... distracted."

  Isabella rose gracefully to her feet. "We should prepare to leave. I doubt the VCD will want us lingering in here longer than necessary."

  "Agreed," I said, relieved at the thought of returning to the familiar chaos of Hell. Earth held too many complicated emotions now—too many reminders of what I'd lost and what I could never have again.

  As we gathered our things, I cast one last glance down the hallway toward the room where Faith remained. Part of me wanted to run back, to throw caution to the wind and promise her we'd find a way. But I knew better. Some doors, once closed, needed to stay that way—for everyone's sake.

  We left VCD headquarters without anyone trying to stop us. No guards, no paperwork, no debriefing—just a silent escort to the surface and then freedom. Either they were glad to be rid of us, or they understood that attempting to detain three demons would be unwise.

  "Well, that was anticlimactic," Aria said as we emerged onto the London street. The sky had darkened to twilight, casting long shadows across the pavement. "I was half expecting some dramatic standoff at the exit."

  "The absence of conflict is preferable," Isabella replied, her glamoured human form moving with practiced grace through the crowd of evening commuters. "We accomplished our goal. Cain is destroyed, and we're free to return home."

  Home. The word resonated differently now. Hell was home—not Earth. Not anymore.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  We made our way through the city streets toward the transport gate, following the same path we'd taken days earlier. The journey felt both longer and shorter somehow, each step carrying me further from Faith and closer to... what? My life as Lily Morningstar? The daughter of Lilith and Lucifer? The princess of Hell?

  My mood lightened slightly as we approached the familiar alleyway with its graffiti-covered walls. The tension in my shoulders eased, and I found myself smiling at Aria's excited chatter about returning to the Academy.

  "Ready?" Isabella asked, her finger tracing the activation sequence on the hidden transport gate symbol.

  I nodded, and together we stepped through the shimmering portal.

  The familiar sensation of dimensional travel washed over me, but this time something else happened. As reality stretched and warped around us, a memory surged forward with startling clarity.

  I was small, maybe five or six years old, clutching Mother's hand tightly as we approached a massive obsidian arch. Crimson runes pulsed along its surface, and I felt both terrified and excited.

  "It's alright, little one," Mother said, her voice gentle but firm. "The first time is always strange, but I'll be right here with you."

  I looked up at her, at her perfect face and midnight hair, and nodded solemnly. "I'm not afraid, Mother."

  She smiled, pride glimmering in her eyes. "Of course you're not. You're my daughter."

  The memory vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving me disoriented as we materialized in Igneus. The familiar heat of Hell's first circle washed over me, but I barely registered it, still caught in the echo of that childhood moment.

  "Lily?" Isabella's voice cut through my confusion. "Are you alright?"

  I blinked, finding both my friends staring at me with concern. We stood in the plaza surrounding Ardorkeep's main transport gate, demons and other creatures moving around us in their daily routines.

  "I'm... fine," I managed, though the words felt hollow. "Just tired, I think."

  Aria looped her arm through mine, her purple eyes softening with sympathy. "Aww, poor thing. It's been a rough day, hasn't it? First that whole business with Cain, then saying goodbye to your human friend."

  "Don't worry," she continued, her voice brightening. "We'll find you a much better mortal to play with. One who's more fun and less... shooty."

  Isabella nodded in agreement. "Indeed. There are countless realms with mortals far more suitable for your tastes. Once we've rested, we can explore other options."

  I forced a smile, but my mind was elsewhere. That memory... it had felt so real, so vivid. Not like something I'd imagined or constructed, but like something I'd actually experienced. And it wasn't the first time this had happened.

  Was I truly Lily after all? The thought lodged in my mind, expanding like a drop of blood in water. Five hundred years in a magical coma—what had happened during that time? How many other lives might there have been?

  A cold dread settled in my stomach. If I truly was Lily—if these memories were genuine fragments of my past—what would happen when they all returned, including other lives I might have lived? Would anything of Liam remain? Or would he—would I—be washed away, subsumed by the tide of memories? A mere footnote in Lily Morningstar's existence?

  Isabella's cool fingers brushed my arm. "Let's head to my quarters." Her eyes narrowed slightly, catching something in my expression. "We can bathe and rest there."

  I nodded gratefully at Isabella, thankful she'd interrupted my spiralling thoughts. "Your quarters sound perfect right now."

  We walked through the familiar streets of Ardorkeep, the red glow of magma channels casting dancing shadows across obsidian buildings. But there was another challenge awaiting me. I'd promised to tell Aria and Isabella the truth about myself. They deserved to know, especially after fighting beside me, dying for me. But now I wasn't even sure what that truth was anymore. Was I Liam? Perhaps Lily? Or maybe both?

  The walk to Isabella's quarters passed in a blur. I barely registered the twists and turns through Ardorkeep's streets, my mind still caught between worlds—between identities. Before I knew it, we were stepping through the doorway of Isabella's private building.

  "Brutus, prepare the bath," Isabella commanded as we entered. Her orc slave bowed deeply and hurried off to follow her instructions.

  "Extra hot water," Aria called after him. "And those jasmine oils from the eastern markets!"

  I followed my friends through the familiar hallways to Isabella's bathing chamber. The large marble tub was already filling with steaming water, fragrant oils creating a haze of perfumed mist above the surface. Without ceremony, we shed our clothes, dropping them carelessly to the floor.

  Aria slipped in first with a contented sigh, her purple eyes closing momentarily as the heat enveloped her. Isabella followed with more grace, her silver hair floating on the water's surface like moonlight on a dark lake. I joined them last, the warmth seeping into my muscles, easing tensions I hadn't realized I was carrying.

  For several minutes, we simply soaked in silence. The events of the past day—Cain, Faith, the battle, the impossible magic I'd somehow performed—seemed to wash away with the heat and steam. I leaned my head back against the marble edge, letting my thoughts drift.

  "You're still troubled," Isabella observed, her ice-blue eyes studying me carefully.

  I opened my mouth to deny it, but the lie wouldn't come. Instead, I just nodded.

  "Is it about that mortal?" Aria asked, sliding closer to me in the water. "Because I meant what I said—we can find you a better one."

  "It's not that," I said, though Faith's face flashed in my mind. "Well, not just that."

  Isabella reached for a crystal bottle of bath oil, pouring some into her palm before massaging it into her arms. "You don't need to explain anything to us, Lily. Not right now. You've been through quite an ordeal."

  "Isabella's right," Aria agreed, surprising me with her seriousness. "We can see you're in a bad mood. Whatever it is, it can wait until you're feeling better."

  I looked between them—these two demons who had become my closest friends, who had died fighting beside me without hesitation. They deserved the truth, whatever that truth might be.

  "No," I said firmly. "I promised to tell you the truth, and I will."

  The steam swirled between us as I gathered my thoughts. Where to begin? With Liam? With the body swap? With the memories that were increasingly suggesting I might have been Lily all along?

  "When we were tracking Cain," I started slowly, "you both wondered why I was so interested in the body he was possessing—in Liam."

  Isabella nodded, her expression neutral but attentive. Aria leaned forward, creating small ripples in the bath water.

  "Cain suggested I was hiding something from you," I continued. "That I knew more about that mortal, about Liam, than I was letting on. He was right."

  I took a deep breath, the scented steam filling my lungs. The moment of truth had arrived, and I found myself strangely calm.

  "I wasn't looking for Liam because he had some special powers or anything like Cain suggested," I said, meeting their eyes directly. "I was looking for him because I was Liam."