To Hell and Back by L.B. Gilbert

Chapter Forty-Eight

“Stop,” Rhys yelled, spinning around to face his men. “Don’t kill him.”

Valeria’s head lolled, and the cracks of light on her skin widened at an alarming rate.

Kyrin looked up at him, a wild light in his eyes. “He’s alone here. We can finally end this.”

“If you do, she dies.”

His witch had stopped moving now. Her bare arms sported a spiderweb of lights as if she had a supernova about to detonate inside her.

Valeria was coming apart at the seams.

He wrapped his third-form wings around her. The move was instinctive and fruitless, but he did it anyway. Rhys couldn’t lose her again. If she died, he would go with her this time.

Naveen clapped a staying hand on Kyrin’s wrist. “The angel’s power will migrate to her upon his death,” he explained for Rhys, whose throat was tight with panic. “She won’t survive it.”

Kyrin’s lips compressed, but he didn’t argue. Lifting his spear, he backed away from the wounded angel.

Rhys took a last look at his oldest enemy. “You had a chance to stop this madness and let the land recover. You chose to continue the destruction. Now you have to live with that choice. But know this—from now on, Earth is off-limits. And so is she.”

Michael’s nostrils flared, the spittle from his mouth dripping down his chin. “You think…this is some sort…of end. It’s just more…of the beginning.”

Shaking his head, Rhys turned his back, snapping his wings out. He would fly back in his hybrid form so he could hold Valeria.

His men readied themselves behind him.

“It may be too late. His wounds are serious,” Naveen said when the angel didn’t get to his feet as they backed away to the edge of the ramparts.

“Then we need to get back home before he dies.”

Michael’s power alone hadn’t been enough to punch through to Earth. With luck, the barrier would protect Valeria from the surge of power if the angel crossed the veil.

“Let’s go,” he told the others. “No formation. Just get back to the door as fast as you can.”

Then he launched into the air, his precious burden tucked tightly against him.