I felt him enter Hel. It was as if the world had cracked, tilted on its axis, shifted to the left a few miles. None of the Lows around me, eating beaks and throwing knives at each other seemed to notice, but then again I was the Iblis. I was fully the Iblis. And just as Gregory had been linked to Aaru and his angels, I was connected to Hel and my demons.

“I’ll be right back,” I told my Lows. None of them paid me the slightest bit of attention as I stood and transported myself to the center of the disturbance.

Which put me smack against Gregory, my spirit-self half merged with his as I appeared. He sucked in a breath, wrapping his arms around me to keep us both from toppling over from the impact.

“And what brings you to my little slice of heaven?” I asked, remaining merged with him. I kept my tone casual, but the considerable impact of this moment wouldn’t have escaped me even without the Hel-tilting-on-its-axis feeling. An Angel of Order in Hel. Yeah, I’d tossed Bencul here, and Lux had temporarily resided in Hel, so technically Gregory wasn’t the first Angel of Order to step foot here, but he was the first to do so voluntarily. And he was the first archangel.

More significantly, he’d violated both his vow and the terms of the treaty he’d drafted. For an Angel of Chaos that was big. For an Angel of Order, it was momentous.

“A personal errand.” Judging from the harshness of his voice, this wasn’t a pleasant errand for him. He wasn’t shoving me away, or separating his spirit-self from mine, so I took comfort in the fact that whatever bad thing he had to do, it didn’t involve me.

For once.

“I need to escort you.” I was the one who eased my spirit-self back and took a step out of his arms, putting on my business hat. When I’d first stepped foot into Aaru, he’d been by my side to ensure none of the angels harassed me. I’d need to do the same here. The archangel could definitely take care of himself, but having a chain of battles that led to a trail of dead demons in his wake wouldn’t be good for either his reputation or mine. This visit needed to look like it was planned and sanctioned, and that would only happen if I were by his side the whole time.

He revealed his wings. “Of course.”

Yep. All about business. I revealed my wings as well but left the sword hidden. No sense in making this look like I was marching a prisoner around or putting ideas into some random demon’s head that there was about to be a fight.

“So…where to?” As if I didn’t know. Personal issue. Not about me. Could only be one other thing that brought this archangel to Hel.

“I’m looking for my brother.”

He knew. I hadn’t told him, but I was guessing Raphael had.

“Can you sense him? His whereabouts?” I was curious about this. Gimlet had been wandering around among the humans for fucking forever and none of the angels had noticed him or realized he was actually Samael, the Fallen archangel. Gregory had been among the humans pretty much twenty-four seven for the last ten thousand years and hadn’t sensed him. I knew he had that bond with his other siblings, but maybe the banishing had broken it with Samael.

“He has always had the ability to hide himself from us.” Gregory looked around. “I sense him here. I know he is in Hel, but I cannot locate him precisely.”

Good thing I could. Another somewhat unwelcome talent that had come with my being fully the Iblis. I stilled myself, reached out around me, and sifted through all the beings in Hel. “He’s up near Eresh.” I told the archangel. “I can transport you there.”

He nodded. “Thank you. I’d appreciate that.”

I reached out to touch his arm, more because I wanted to have a physical contact with him than any need to do so during teleportation. In a flash we were amid a series of glass and obsidian monoliths, all arranged in clusters of crooked lines, as if some drunken architect had set up the grid layout then gone to sleep it off while the spires took root. Down past a row of glittering glass sat an impossibly beautiful being in human form, his white-blond hair shining in the reflected light from the monoliths, his wings outstretched to catch the sun. He was sitting cross-legged, his eyes closed in his upturned face, a brown paper bag in his lap.

I held back a few steps as Gregory advanced. This was personal between them, but I was curious and wanted to hear. I was the Iblis. I was Gregory’s partner. Those were my excuses for eavesdropping.

Plus, if this didn’t go well, I wanted to be here, not just to intervene if necessary, but to comfort my beloved. I got the feeling Samael’s sin was the same as all the other archangels, and pride wouldn’t allow him to forgive easily. The Fallen looked up at his brother and scowled. I crossed my fingers behind my back and offered up a quick prayer to whoever the fuck might be listening to me at the moment. I wanted this to go well. I needed this to go well. The fate of all angels hinged on these two coming together.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Samael scowled.

Okay, so this wasn’t going well. Maybe I’d need to summon my sword after all.

“Something I should have done two-and-a-half-million years ago,” Gregory replied, continuing to walk forward and stopping when he was a few feet from his brother. “Apologize. Push aside my pride and anger, and humble myself before you. Beg for your forgiveness—a forgiveness I know I don’t deserve.”

Samael opened the bag of cookies and took one out, stuffing it into his mouth then carefully chewing it and swallowing before replying. “No, you don’t deserve forgiveness. I’d be happy to admit my own failings in the war, but that final battle… I showed you mercy and you struck with the intent to kill me. Then you punished half the angelic host. You doomed us all. Me, I could forgive. But every Angel of Chaos banished to Hel? Forced to forever be trapped in corporeal form? To never experience the freedom of Aaru again? The wrong you did me—that’s easily forgiven. I know you brother. I know who you are, and I love you even when you do these things to me. But I can never forgive what you did to the others.”

Gregory stood stoic as his brother spoke. “The banishment is lifted. Those few things not negated by Bencul’s forgiveness have now been wiped clean. The treaty is dissolved. There are demon lands in the human world, and more than one Angel of Chaos sits on the Ruling Council. As for Aaru…we are also banished to suffer the same fate you did. Aaru will be left to our children, and the only way our home will see life again is if we can all come together in a spirit of forgiveness and understanding. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I beg of you not to take your anger out on the other Angels of Order as I did against the Angels of Chaos. And more importantly, I beg that you forgive your siblings, who had no part in that original banishment.”

“None of them raised a hand to stop you,” Samael snapped back.

“Uri lost her mate and her child, and has suffered horribly for what she claims was a lack of strength. Gabe was and will always be rigid and unbending, but he loves you. And Rafi has been horribly lonely in Aaru since your banishment. He was young, and so close to you. Of all of us, he would never have lifted a hand against you personally in battle, nor ever banished the Angels of Chaos. He is too close to being one himself to do such a thing.”

Samael’s face softened at the mention of Rafi. “How is he? I’ve missed…him.”

I’ve missed you all, was what he’d wanted to say.

“He is bonded to a young Angel of Chaos who has been living among the humans up in Alaska as a Nephilim. He’s in love, happy. Will you visit him?”

That shadow flickered across Samael’s face. Pain.

Pain, and pride.

“Maybe.”

You throw away your sword and hang out with humans for millions of years, you walk around Hel as a Low, but you won’t visit the one brother who suffered the most at your absence? I scolded him. Fucking hypocrite. Pride indeed.

He shot me a narrowed glance, then looked down into the bag of cookies. “Yeah, I’ll visit him. I’m not in Hel very often. I prefer to live among the humans. I like to convince their women to demand that they be on top during sex and talk them into eating forbidden apples. Shit like that. I’ll be around. I might see you sometime.”

That was as close as we probably were going to get to forgiveness, at least for now. Wounds had festered for two-and-a-half-million years, and although Samael claimed his had been covered over like the layers of a pearl, Angels of Chaos lied. It would take time. It might take an eternity. And for an imp with very little patience, I found myself unusually willing to wait.

Gregory seemed to feel the same way. He cast another longing glance down at his brother, and turned to leave.

“Hey.”

Gregory froze at the word and turned back around.

“Want a cookie? They’re oatmeal raisin.”

There was an intense silence, as if the moment were so fragile that even the most careful breath would fracture it into a million pieces.

“Yes. I would like a cookie.”

Samael dug in the bag and pulled one out, extending it to his brother. Gregory reached for it and hesitated as their fingers touched. Their eyes met and I saw something warm, something tentative pass between them.

“Thank you,” Gregory said softly, and I knew he wasn’t talking about the cookie.

“You’re welcome,” the youngest archangel replied.

And in those few words, I knew all would be right with the world. Maybe not today, maybe not this week, but very soon, all would be right with the world.