Chapter 44 Pride Kingdom
Three days of avoiding them. Three days of taking meals in her chambers. Training with only Lucian, Mammon, and the others. Finding excuses to be anywhere Azrael and Cain were not.
It could not last forever.
The Devil summoned everyone to the throne room on the fourth morning.
He looked worse. Thinner. Paler. Like death was sitting on his shoulder, waiting.
“Sit,” he said when they were all assembled.
Seven brothers. Lilith. Sera. Lucian’s mirrors are floating nearby.
Lilith made sure to sit between Mammon and Beelzebub, as far from Azrael and Cain as possible. Both of them noticed. Of course they did.
“Lilith has been training for a month,” the Devil said, his voice weaker than before. “She is stronger. Faster. More controlled. But something is missing.”
“What?” Lilith asked.
“Context.” He leaned forward. “You have learned how to fight. How to survive. But you do not understand what you are fighting for. You have never seen the realms. Never met the people. Never understood what is at stake beyond abstract concepts like prophecy and destiny.”
He looked at his sons.
“She needs to see your kingdoms. Understand what each of you built, what each of you have. What she will be protecting if she survives.” His eyes found Lilith. “And what she will be ruling if she chooses.”
“Kingdom visits?” Azrael said slowly.
“Yes. Two weeks in each realm. Learn the politics. Meet the people. Understand the culture.” The Devil coughed, blood touching his lips. “Starting today.”
“Today?” Mammon asked. “We have not prepared.”
“You have had a month. That is preparation enough.” The Devil smiled tiredly. “Azrael. Your kingdom first. Pride rules closest to the Vestibulum. She starts there.”
Azrael’s golden eyes found Lilith across the room. She looked away.
“For how long?” he asked.
“Two weeks. Then Cain’s kingdom. Then the others in whatever order you determine.” The Devil settled back. “She will have Sera with her. And whichever brothers choose to accompany her. But she goes today. This is not optional.”
“I am not ready,” Lilith said.
“You are as ready as you will ever be. Sitting here training indefinitely will not change that. You need real experience. Real understanding.” His eyes hardened. “Pack. You leave in two hours.”
Lilith’s chambers were chaos.
Sera threw clothes into bags. “Two weeks. Azrael’s kingdom. This is fine. Totally fine.”
“It is not fine,” Lilith said, sitting on the bed. “I have been avoiding him for three days. Now I am spending two weeks in his kingdom.”
“You cannot avoid him forever.”
“I was doing pretty well.”
“You were hiding. That is different.” Sera stopped packing. “I get it. You kissed him. You have feelings for Cain. It is messy. But running does not solve anything.”
“I am not running. I am strategically retreating.”
“You are running,” Sera said gently. “And now the Devil is forcing you to face it. Maybe that is good.”
A knock came at the door.
Lilith’s stomach dropped. “If that is Azrael”
“It is me.”
Cain’s voice.
Sera opened the door.
Cain stood there, uncomfortable and uncertain. “Can I come in?”
“I am packing,” Lilith started.
“I know. This will be quick.” Cain stepped inside and glanced at Sera. “Can we have a moment?”
Sera looked at Lilith. Lilith nodded. Sera left.
Silence.
“You have been avoiding me,” Cain said.
“I have been busy.”
“You have been avoiding me. And Azrael. For three days. Ever since whatever happened between you two.”
Lilith said nothing.
“I am not going to ask what happened,” Cain continued. “But I need to know if you are avoiding me because you are scared of me. If I did something that made you afraid”
“No,” Lilith said quickly. “That is not it.”
“Then why?” Cain’s control cracked. “Why will you not look at me? Why are you acting as if I will hurt you?”
“Because I hurt you,” Lilith said, her voice breaking. “I do not know how to face that.”
“What you did?”
“I kissed him. After everything. After what you said.” She swallowed. “I kissed him and I do not regret it. That makes me feel horrible.”
Cain was quiet for a long moment.
“You are not horrible,” she said. “You are human. Complicated feelings do not make you terrible.”
“You are not angry?”
“I am furious,” Cain admitted softly. “But not at you. At the situation. At the fact that we are both stuck wanting you. At the fact that you will have to choose eventually.”
“I do not know what to do.”
“Then do nothing. Not yet.” Cain lifted her hand but stopped short of touching her. “Just do not disappear.”
“I am not choosing”
“You will,” Cain said gently. “The prophecy demands it. Until then, just be honest.”
She turned to leave.
“Cain.”
She stopped.
“I am sorry,” Lilith said.
“Stop apologizing,” Cain replied. “You did nothing wrong.”
She left.
Two hours later, the portal spat them onto polished marble.
Lilith stumbled. Azrael caught her elbow, steadied her, then released her.
“Welcome to Aurumis,” he said. “Capital of Pride.”
Lilith looked up and forgot how to breathe.
The palace rose like a fever dream of gold and white marble. Towers pierced the sky. Architecture that defied logic. Beautiful. Perfect. Terrifying.
“It is excessive,” Azrael said with a faint smile. “That is the point.”
The palace interior was no better. Gold everywhere, refined rather than gaudy. Order carved into every surface.
“Your father would hate this,” Lilith said.
“He does,” Azrael replied. “That is how I know I did it right.”
He showed her the throne room, the portraits, the history, the weight of centuries pressed into gold and stone.
“It is beautiful,” she said.
“It is lonely,” he admitted quietly.
Her chambers were breathtaking. Sera’s were next door. Azrael’s across the hall.
Dinner preparations followed. Servants. Gold fabric. Braided hair. Jewelry like sunlight.
When Lilith emerged, Azrael stopped short.
“You look like you belong here,” he said softly. “Like a queen.”
“I was born in a tower,” she replied.
“And yet,” he said, offering his arm.
They walked toward the council together.
Two weeks in Azrael’s kingdom.
It would be enlightening.
It would be disastrous.
Probably both.