CHAPTER SIXTEEN :Lilith’s Choice
The night after the battle, the forest didn’t breathe.
Not even the crickets dared to sing.
Daniel lay unconscious in her arms.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jyTWzl96E
His body convulsed between warmth and chill, as if both Heaven and Hell were clawing at him, fighting for ownership.
But he belonged to neither.
He was hers.
Lilith carried him into the ruins — the old cathedral where she once summoned shadows.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Rc6w1E9OU
It was ironic. A place where souls were once saved would now cradle a man becoming something else entirely.
And it was in that silence the voice came.
Feminine. Familiar.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPONoLnojss
Dripping with false softness.
“You were once magnificent.”
Lilith turned slowly, her wings flaring.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHAcalrGfs1
“Gabrielle.”
Heaven’s diplomat.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtWr1dBAsY4
Her once-sister in light.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtrZKlY0TBk
Now, a messenger of divine consequences.
Gabrielle didn’t raise a weapon.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9hdFWeWVi
She raised a mirror — a relic from the Throne of Witness.
Inside it, Lilith saw what she’d become:21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HJCL5Cvol
Ashen wings. Faded grace. A woman carved by love and rebellion.
“He’s unraveling,” Gabrielle said.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnBM58fFqM
“You know this. That fusion… it’s killing him. His soul was never meant to house your essence.”
Lilith’s voice cracked.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLiMrGEPkFf
“So what? You want me to leave him? Let you take him?”
“No.” Gabrielle offered her a vial — a clear, radiant glow inside.
“Give up what’s left of your angelic core. Give it to him. He’ll stabilize. He’ll live.”
Lilith’s breath caught.
“If I do that… I die.”
“Yes.” Gabrielle met her eyes, no malice — just pity.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprQ1W3k6TH
“But he’ll live as a man. Safe. Human. Free.”
Lilith sat beside Daniel again.
His face twitched.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡteffafBNqQ
His fingers clutched at the air like he was drowning in dreams.
She held the vial in her palm — her last light.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JFjy6muLQ
The last proof that she was once divine.
She remembered the first time he smiled at her.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDq1lDvGsoh
The way his hands trembled when they touched her face.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRj8QOhYYwB
The way he said her name like it was a prayer and a curse at once.
“I love you, Daniel.”
She lifted the vial...
…then closed her fist.
Lilith stood.
“Tell Heaven this…” she looked Gabrielle in the eye.
“I’m not saving him by losing me. I’m saving him… by helping him survive as what he’s meant to become.”
“You would risk his life for this… bond?”
“No. I’d risk everything. Because love doesn’t mean disappearing. It means fighting alongside them.”
Gabrielle vanished, her silence louder than thunder.
Daniel stirred.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgcBxqKlK0
His voice a whisper.
“…Lilith?”
She lay beside him, brushing his hair back.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
And neither was the storm inside him.
Because love had made a new kind of monster.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRqwNXlItbR
Not divine.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBnvaaE207A
Not damned.
But devoted.
ns216.73.216.238da2
