Lily's throat was sore, her forehead hot, but she felt much better.
A little shouting match, no more—if you could call twelve hours of screaming that. She respected the ceasefire with the angels. No violence, but anything short of that was free game.
And she sure didn't hold back. The frustration, the anger, her spent energy—
The pact with Gabrielle limited her in so many things that she had a lot of the latter still.
But somehow, she felt closer to her now, understanding heaven's motives a little better.
Not that she would give up on being a demoness—understanding didn't mean she agreed with them. And corrupting an angel never felt more desirable.
But this time, she didn't aim for the weakest one.
A chill ran down her spine at the thought when she left the elders' tent.
Or was it something else?
No cold breeze in the air, summer was still going strong, but somehow, she felt cold for a moment. Gabrielle bumped into her from behind, having left their battleground, too.
"What?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. "You've a vision, or fell asleep standing?"
Her voice was also weak and tired.
She held her own during their pointless arguments; Lily had to give her that.
But she shook her head.
"Neither, it's, um—isn't it cold?" she asked, her voice hoarse.
She noticed some goosebumps on her pale skin.
The archangel looked at her like she was insane, wiping sweat off her forehead.
"Ever considered dressing up, or that's too mundane for a demoness?" Gabrielle scoffed, fanning herself in her stuffy blue dress. Nobles had it rough.
She wouldn't mind running around naked, like on her homeworld. But in every other civilisation, public nudity was too troublesome. Still, she kept her fabrics minimal.
With her powers, she was immune to all the weather anyway, so why—
"Lady Liliana," Eyna showed up, her purple eyes wide, and she seemed out of breath.
She was also sweating. And her clothes were much lighter than Gabby's noble garments.
That cold she felt didn't come from the weather, for sure.
"What is it, puppy girl?" She forced the sweetest smile, though her words were rough and low.
Knowing how much it frustrated the angel that her puppet failed, she made a show out of being nice to her. And Eyna wasn't exactly useless, either.
Thanks to her organization and negotiation skills, Konrad had a lot more free time.
But with how much he appreciated the girl, Lily felt little jealousy, too.
"The scouts," Eyna panted, snapping her out of it. "Look towards Halaima. It's all strange."
"It's not easy to spot that town from this far," Gabrielle noted with disdain, and Lily stepped on her toes. She hissed before asking, "What's strange about it?"
"Please, take a look for yourself," the dark-skinned girl said, bowing and showing the way.
The Tribal Council was up on the highlands, with an excellent view of Halaima's duchy. Once they circled the treeline, spotting the town was trivial, which was strange in itself.
It was all white, like a four-spoked star stretching at least five miles in every direction.
"Oh," Gabrielle let her jaw drop before regaining her composure. "What is that?"
"It looks like the Frozen Palace," Lily mumbled. Her demonic eyes saw everything in much better detail. "But that doesn't make sense. In one possible future, Stella unleashed it, but—"
"Where is the executioner now?" The angel cut her short, glaring at Eyna.
The puppy-girl took a shaky step back, and Lily rushed to her rescue.
"Come on, the tomboy is here, under tight watch," she said, waving at the camp. "It couldn't be her. Konny keeps a better track of his prisoners than I tend to do."
"Uhm, Master has—" Eyna interrupted, but didn't finish, wringing her hands.
"He had what?" Gabrielle grabbed her shoulders, losing her patience.
Lily felt that chill again, even stronger. It almost bit her skin.
Her eyes widened.
"Where is Konrad?"
"H-he set out with Welf and ser Vargas to reclaim Halaima," Eyna stuttered. "The Blood Moon tribe and Lady Stella Nord went with them."
Lily's first reaction was anger.
She glared at the archangel, who was also getting paler now.
"It's your fault," she shouted, her hoarse voice pitching all over. "You rushed him to take Halaima. And if Stella awakened right now—"
She was about to open a portal there, but Gabrielle yanked her back.
"Where do you think you're going?" she gritted out. Not very ladylike—but Lily was about to blow, too. "We agreed not to intervene—both with the saints and the spirits."
"The fuck cares about agreements?" she snapped, shaking her hands off. "I went through with it to protect Konrad. If he dies—I'll roll over both these petty deities and this world as a whole."
"There is no proof that he died," the angel claimed, but her lips trembled. "Lucifer feels him."
Lily's anger and panic gave way to jealousy.
If that corrupt little angel felt him, why didn't she?
Only that strange chill in the middle of a heatwave.
Well, he was with Stella. He must've been near the center of her Frozen Palace. If she hurried—
"Hey, listen to me," Gabrielle grabbed both her wrists, snapping her out of her casting. "No portals. No magic. If we go, at least let's pretend to have kept ourselves to what we agreed to."
"We?" Lily raised an eyebrow, but didn't try to yank her wrist away. Not yet.
"It's in my best interest to keep the boy alive, too," the angel said, shrugging.
She avoided her eyes, but—was she blushing?
"Wait," she leaned close to her, the chill forgotten. "You actually like him?"
"Is this the time for that?!" Eyna yelled at them, surprising them both. The puppy girl was losing her patience, too. "If Master is in danger, then we must save him."
Adorable. She was by far the weakest of them all, but her heart was in the right place.
"One portal," Lily held up a finger. "A tiny one. A mile away from town."
"No. Magic." Gabrielle pressed her lips together. "We take my carriage, and be there within the hour. But if time were to slow down a bit on the way for some reason—"
Was that a wink? No, worse yet, she was joking.
An angel, doing such things? And even proposing to go back on their words?
She was very eager to corrupt her kind, but to see Gabby corrupt herself—
"Let's go," Lily gave her a sharp nod, rushing towards the carriage.
Eyna climbed on the coachman's post.
"One hour," the demoness raised her finger again, glaring at her rival. "And if he's dead by then, consider this world destroyed."
"If your boyfriend's dead, we all go down with him anyway."
In another world, in different circumstances, she might've been friends with that angel.
Well, if she wasn't an angel in the first place. But she shot her a smirk now, yelling out for Eyna.
"I hope you're not a lazy driver like Welf, because we're in a hurry."
"Your brother is a maniac at the reins," the girl shot back, then smacked her lips with those delicate hands. "I meant the blacksmith. Welf—didn't mean to offend you."
Right. His companion from this world—born from the same parents—was in danger, too.
"I'll let that slide this once." Lily decided, worry clutching at her heart. "But only if you're faster than him."