The Lily Harper 8 Book Boxed Set

by HP Mallory

“Why… why are you laughing?” he asked.

  “I don’t know what you glorified pigeons are smoking, but no soul is without sin! That includes you!” All of them inhaled deeply as if they were totally offended by my statement. Which, they probably were. “The very act of creating this conclave to rule in our maker’s stead is a sin. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Isn’t that in the rules? And yet you sit here looking real fucking godly.”

  “Make excuses all you like. The reality remains that you must be punished,” Matteo said. His unblinking gaze never left me. “I vote for our brother William to fall from grace. It is clear to me now that he has made himself quite at home in the Underground City. Perhaps we make his stay more permanent. Fall without hope of redemption. All in favor?”

  Renu, Raguel, and Janus raised their hands.

  I suspected their votes had little to do with my shitty behavior and everything to do with Matteo being an insufferable bastard when he didn’t get his way. He turned to those who hadn’t yet voted. “What say you?”

  “Dismissal of all charges,” Gathindu stated with a nod.

  “What?” Matteo demanded.

  “What?!” I repeated.

  Gathindu nodded and there was never a moment I liked her more. “William was simply acting out in his grief. Uriel’s disappearance affected us all greatly. As Uriel’s pupil, I believe William’s pain was greater than any of ours.”

  Matteo didn’t like that. “Janus?”

  Fuck. If any of the assholes in the conclave were just as bad as Sendais, it was Janus. As the Archangel of Destruction, he rarely chose a punishment that didn’t result in death.

  “These charges are severe, William,” he said in that pretentious way of his. “If we show leniency, it leaves room for others to follow in your footsteps. It could lead to anarchy in the Kingdom. Metaphysical execution.”

  “Those in favor of execution, please vote now.” Matteo sounded far too pleased with himself. One by one, they all voted for my death and subsequent banishment to the Underground City with Gathindu as the exception.

  “Unless someone protests on your behalf, you will be sentenced to…” Matteo continued.

  “I protest!” Lils stood up with a shout.

  The archangels turned their attention to my insane bff. She climbed over the barrier that separated the audience from the players and came to stand beside me. “I agree with Gathindu,” she said with a nod. “William made a mistake but he was suffering and if I can forgive him, then so should you.”

  “And who are you?” Janus demanded.

  “I’m Lily Harper, and Bill is my guardian angel.”

  Matteo narrowed his eyes at her. “Let me remind you, Ms. Harper, that William quite failed you more than anyone else! He was the reason for your death!”

  “Yeah, I’m not so sure about that and even so, I’ve forgiven him and if I can forgive him, you should too. Last I checked, he didn’t kill you.”

  Matteo turned to the others and they spoke among themselves in whispers and frowns for a few seconds. Finally, he cleared his throat and turned to face us again.

  “We have decided that William will take part in a dual with Sendais for dismissal of his charges, the reinstatement of his position as your guardian angel, Ms. Harper, and the Chalice of Truth.”

  “The hell I will!” I yelled.

  Sendais stood up with a smile. “I accept.”

  “Fuck that! Are any of you bastards listening to me?!” The cuffs that kept my hands behind my back disintegrated.

  Matteo raised his arms toward the glass ceiling. His eyes began to glow, and the shadow of wings exploded from his back. “So be it.”

  Sendais laughed hysterically as black smoke filled the room. It engulfed me, Lily, and Matteo. When the smoke faded, we stood on a battlefield that brought back painful memories. I didn’t want to be here... But Lily smiled at me with all the confidence in the world. I couldn’t let her down again. Matteo stood on the sidelines beside Lily.

  I summoned Mantis, and he transformed into my bow. Sendais’s weapon was a morningstar with a spiked skull on the end.

  “It was foolish to have come here, William,” Sendais said with a grin. “And I will see to it that you face ultimate pain and suffering in the Underground City for all eternity.” He lunged. I barely managed to dodge the attack. The morningstar hit the ground, and sparks flew. I readied my bow, pulling the string back until my knuckles brushed my cheek. When Sendais was in position, I released the arrow. He knocked it out of the air with one swing.

  The sadistic smile on his face made my stomach clench and I felt suddenly ill. He attacked again, but I sidestepped and pulling my arrow, I released it again. This time, it stabbed him right through the heart. I heard my gasp of shock as well as Lily’s.

  Then the world around me began to flicker.

  Sendais fell to his knees and... no, that wasn’t right. A river of black blood spilled from the wound in his chest and I felt myself frowning.

  “You’re not an angel,” I said accusingly as the illusion around me shattered.

  Matteo and Sendais morphed into two hideous demons.

  “It’s Beelzebub and Belphegor!” I shouted.

  The demons of Sloth and Greed.

  So this was my true Trial.

  NINETEEN

  LILY

  Bill narrowly missed his target as Beelzebub crawled over a mound of bodies to gain a higher advantage. Disgusting slime dripped from his body as four slender legs allowed him to move quickly through the carnage of the battlefield. Large wings protruded from his back, but the skin between the bones was no more than a thin membrane that resembled that of fly wings. Belphegor, on the other hand, had a pig face and a large, tubular body with warts and moles covering it. He moved on all fours slowly, grunting and sniffing at the bodies beneath him.

  “Are we back in the Underground City?” I asked, worried such was the case.

  “No, we’re nowhere!” Bill called back.

  “What do you mean?”

  “This is all imaginary!” Bill responded.

  I blocked the downward swing of Beelzebub’s axe with my sword and felt the power behind the blow. My arms trembled, but I managed to block most of his attacks. I raced around Belphegor and swiped my blade across his chest.

  Maggots fell from the gash in a constant stream of putrescence. I gagged and jumped away with my sword aimed in front of me. The wretched creature continued to barrel towards me. A shout of alarm pulled my attention away from the fight, and I saw Beelzebub standing over Bill.

  Belphegor used the break in my attention to his advantage by bashing something long and hard into my lower back, and I crumpled.

  It was then that I saw the angry lunacy in his eyes as he came for me.

  Use your power, Lily, I heard a voice inside my head, seconds later realizing it was my own. Use the power inherent in your family and in yourself!

  I deflected Belphegor by holding my palm out toward him. He stopped advancing almost instantly and appeared to be frozen in place. As I held my palm toward him, I could feel energy as it slipped away from my center and traveled down my arm and into my hand. My bracelet was glowing and the runes almost appeared to be leaving the surface of the metal.

  As I watched, blue light began to form at the tips of my fingers and I brought my other hand forward, catching sight of the glow that encapsulated it as well. Still holding Belphegor prisoner with my left hand, I moved my right to face Bill and Beelzebub.

  And I felt the heat of my energy building in my palm. I closed my fingers into a fist and when I opened it again, a ball of light thrust itself from my palm, flying straight for the demon.

  Beelzebub jumped out of the path of the energy ball which was unfortunate, but the attack distracted him long enough for Bill to bury an arrow into his chest. Belphegor broke free from my hold. I scrambled over to my sword, but I was crushed a second later as his body fell on top of me. I caught the image of one of Bill’s arrows pointing out f
rom the side of his head.

  Bill rolled the hideous creature away from me and helped me up. Mantis returned to Bill’s wrist as my guardian angel handed me my sword.

  “Nips, are you okay?”

  I looked at him and nodded, taking a big breath. “Thanks to you.” I looked down at the very dead Belphegor and the equally dead Beezelbub. “Nice shots.”

  “Thanks, Nips. This... I couldn’t have done this without you.”

  I panted for air for a second. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  “I think so,” Bill said with a smile. “I think we just defeated the first Trial.” He looked over at the two demons. “I mean, the demons of Sloth and Greed are now dead so I’d say we did pretty damn well.”

  I shoved him playfully, and we hobbled along, in search of a way out. In the distance, I spotted something… floating.

  “What’s that?”

  “What’s what?” Bill asked as he tried to see what I was seeing. Bill’s vision wasn’t very good and he’d needed glasses for a long time so it wasn’t a surprise that he couldn’t see it.

  “It’s something floating and it’s coming closer.”

  “Like something bad?”

  I shook my head. “No, it looks like some kind of… object.”

  In another few seconds, the thing floated right over to us.

  “The Chalice of Truth!” Bill said as he smiled broadly and the thing fell into his hand. He reached over and took my hand and as soon as he touched me, I felt a swoosh of air against my face. I closed my eyes against it and when I opened them again, I found myself transported back to the waiting room. Tallis and Asterion saw us and rushed over, concern plastered all over their faces.

  Tallis immediately wrapped his arms around me and held me against his broad chest. “Are ye hurt, Besom?” he whispered.

  “No,” I answered as I looked around the room, feeling like I was in a daze. I half expected the two demons to come through the walls but then I had to remind myself they were dead.

  Well, truthfully, they never really were anything, I corrected myself. According to what Bill said, that whole thing was just imaginary? But it felt so real!

  “What happened?” he asked as he pulled away from me and looked at me.

  “Bill and I killed Beezelbub and Belphegor.”

  “The demons o’ Sloth an’ Greed,” Tallis finished, his eyes going wide. “Ye’ve passed the first Trial, besom.”

  I nodded and wanted to relish the fact when the receptionist interrupted. “Tallis Black,” she called. “You may proceed with your guide.”

  “’Tis time,” Tallis said as my stomach fell.

  “Lils,” Bill said as he started for me and wrapped me in a hug. “Do the same thing you just did,” he instructed. “Believe in yourself.”

  I nodded and turned to see Asterion as he looked down at me with a large smile. I moved closer to him and wrapped my arms around him, loving the feel of his warmth as it sunk into me. There was definitely something between us and standing so close to him, it was nearly overpowering.

  “Trust yourself, Lily,” he whispered. “Everything you need is within yourself.”

  Tallis cleared his throat and I pulled away from Asterion. I gave him a small smile of gratitude for his words then walked Tallis to the door as I’d done with Bill…

  As soon as I touched it, my surroundings changed. Everything turned dark for a split second. I blinked and I was… somewhere else.

  The sound of a crackling fire broke through the darkness within my mind. At first, all I saw was smoke, but then the flames came closer. I coughed, only to inhale smoke into my lungs.

  “Tallis?” I called.

  Ash and debris fell from the ceiling. I looked up to find most of the roof missing. Only a single beam kept the remaining wood above from falling down. But it was simply a matter of time before the charred remains of the ceiling and roof disintegrated completely.

  Petrified screams rang through the air, keeping melody with the sound of the burning building surrounding me.

  No, the burning castle surrounding me.

  I couldn’t stay here.

  I dropped onto my stomach and crawled along the ground, careful not to dislodge the hunks of broken wall that were teetering slightly. I saw light spilling from beneath a door and hurried to it. I held my hand up to the wood, to test it for heat. I felt nothing coming from the other side so I inhaled deeply one last time before standing.

  With a tremendous heave, I forced the door open and hit the dirt hard. An explosion of flames showered me in shards of wood. I covered my head with my arms and crawled further away from the burning building. My elbows touched soft grass, and I rolled onto my back. The black smoke was filling the sky as the castle burned against the verdant green of the mountains and the azure blue of the lake in the distance.

  But then the scene changed again and I found myself in front of The Barren Heart Tavern. And it was consumed in flames, just as the castle had been only moments earlier. I shook my head as I tried to make sense of the scene unfolding before me.

  Horns blared in the distance, and people screamed. A stampede of horses came rushing towards the small village.

  Village?

  I glanced around myself and found I wasn’t in the Dark Wood at all, but I was surrounded by small clay houses with thatched rooves. And I was surrounded with angry people. I forced myself to my feet and ran alongside the others. Skirts fluttered around my ankles, tripping me as the horses came to a stop directly in front of me.

  When I looked up, I saw a man sitting atop the horse. Before I could take another breath, the man, a Roman soldier, leaned down and curled his fist into my hair as he yanked me off the ground. Pain coursed through my skull as I struggled against his grip. He threw me over the side of his horse and I was suddenly up close and personal with the beast’s legs. Anguish beat through my head from where he’d picked me up by my hair and ripped most of it out.

  “Who is this woman?” he demanded.

  The people of the village stopped running and clustered together. “Twas a witch that burned down the inn,” a man shouted. “That be her, General.”

  “I’m not a witch!” I yelled. “Let go of me!”

  The General looked at me with disgust.

  I was thrown back onto the ground and could only lay there as my lungs burned, the wind knocked out of me. Then I felt myself hoisted up, restrained by two other soldiers. They dragged me forward and forced me into the back of an open wagon.

  Hay clung to my hair and clothing as I was carted away for a crime I hadn’t committed. I watched as forests and meadows passed by in a blur and my mind ached as fear beat a wild path through me.

  The soldiers said nothing, and the sound of the wheels turning eventually lulled my exhausted and wounded body to sleep.

  I only awakened when I felt cold hands clawing at my arms. My eyes popped open and the first thing I saw was a man in leather armor dragging me towards a tent at the heart of what appeared to be a military camp.

  The man standing in the center of the tent had his back to me, but the silhouette of his broad shoulders seemed somehow familiar. As did his Roman uniform.

  “Aulus Plauntius,” I said.

  He turned to face me and his eyes widened with surprise. “Sorcha...” he breathed as if saying the name for the first time in a long time. “I thought you were dead.”

  “My name isn’t Sorcha.”

  He glared at me and shook his head. There was anger in his gaze. “Is this some form of trickery?”

  I lifted my chin and refused to answer. The rage I’d seen too many times in my dreams returned to his gaze.

  And that was when I realized what this was.

  Why Tallis’s trial took us to this moment, I didn’t know.

  But when Roman soldiers carried in a beaten and bloodied man I hardly recognized as my lover, I knew I’d soon find out. The anger in Aulus’s eyes couldn’t match the violent energy within Tallis. />
  His aura swirled in shades of red and black.

  Suddenly I was worried whether Tallis would be able to overcome his trial of Wrath and Pride.

  ###

  TALLIS

  Deep inside, I knew this bloody trial would bring me face to face with the man who had taken everything from me. I had woken up in a cage like a mad dog, forced to sleep in the piles of me own refuse and soil. The Roman pigs that stood over me and Lily chortled. Their short, sweaty hair was matted down against their skulls, and they smelled of piss and drink. Just being near them was enough to make me ill.

  A hand pressed to the center of me back and forced me chest to the floor.

  “On your hands and knees, worm,” Aulus sneered. Then he turned to face his men. “Fifty lashings. Do not let him rest. If he bucks, add another hundred.”

  I saw Lily flinch and prayed she had enough faith in me.

  But even as those thoughts crossed me mind, pride battered them into submission. I could not force meself to obey, to look me enemy in the eyes and endure the beatings.

  He slaughtered villages and forced himself upon the innocent.

  This was the bastard who murdered Sorcha.

  This was the man who took me wife from me.

  “Never,” I hissed through clenched teeth.

  Aulus lifted his arm.

  Lily was shoved down beside me. Her blouse was torn along the back. “Fifty lashings for the female,” Aulus started but then that maniacal look entered his eyes. “On second thought, I do not like the way the bastard is looking at me.” He faced his men. “Beat her until the defiance leaves his eyes.”

  I felt the first sting of the whip as if it had hit me. But it had not. It had hit me Lily. I could not tear my gaze from her where she lay beside me, back bared, as the sons of bitches beat her with the whip.

  “Be strong, Besom,” I whispered.

  Then it was me turn. They held the whip sure and true and me beatings came down in a shower of agony but I could not say me mind was on them.

  Through the haze of me pain, I heard a sniffle. I turned me head to look upon the lovely creature beside me, and one of the lashes landed against me left cheek. Blood dripped onto the ground beneath us, but I did not look away.