Page 48 of She Who Holds My Wrath

Aran’s head snaps towards me, the room falling silent. “We need to think.”

“We can do both,” I say firmly. “If a realm bleeds and I don’t stand beside them, then I don’t deserve them standing beside me. So, how do I get there?”

Lucifer snorts. “Hear that? Our flaming drama queen wants a field trip.”

Maelkar cuts him a side-eye. “Shut up, devil boy. She’s right.”

I face them all, placing my palms flat on the table. “Explain to me exactly how realm travel works for everyone. No gaps. No riddles. I want to understand how I can freely move through realms like the rest of you.”

The tension in the air is palpable. And by the looks on every person’s face, I already know I’m going to despise the answers I’m given.

Maelkar exhales, some of the playfulness draining from his face. “Start with the obvious: there are three ways to realm hop. Celestial Gates, portal doors, and teleportation.” He ticks them off on ringed fingers.

Obvious, he says. Not a single thing he just said even made any sense. And I’m not entirely sure anything he explains will, either. But I mask my face into something I’d like to think is cool, calm, and collected.

“Celestial Gates are ancient leylines,” he continues, “that rise into actual gate-arches in every realm. Old as the first language, older than the Divine Six. Think... veins. The Gates move life, trade, diplomacy. They still function. But—” he looks at me, then Aran, “—they’re cursed against the people of Hell.”

Aran folds his arms, exhaling heavily. “After Dasmyrin, the Six etched a covenant into the light of the Gates: no child of ash and flame may pass in light. It tethered the network to reject Hellborn bodies. The gates to Hell and from Hell can still be opened, hence why the rulers can still attend and leave here. But we can’t leave through them without being, ah⁠—”

“—Unmade,” Velentha finishes, her voice laced with guilt. “Torn apart at the threshold. Even trying to drag a Hellborn through riding someone else’s clearance… ends in ruin.”

Lucifer swirls his drink. “Tried it once by walking backwards. Grew the wings back eventually.” He flashes me a feral smile. “Would not recommend.”

I swallow. “So Virena, Sariya, Elyistria, Vor’Khar, Kaelith,” I nod to Maelkar, “You… all use the Gates to arrive here?”

“Yes,” Aran says. “Because the curse is specific to Hellborn lineage and binding oaths to Hell’s dominion. They are neither.”

“Okay,” I say, already feeling a little deflated. “Then portal doors?”

“Sealed,” Velentha answers, a grimace ghosting her mouth. “Personal divine shortcuts. The Six carved doors straight between courts. The moment war was declared, most realm rulers shut down their endpoints. And the Six closed theirs immediately like the spineless fucks they are. No more divine drop-ins.”

I eye her warily. Does it feel odd to her, to call them the Six? When technically now, they’re the Five? Half of me wants to bring it up, but it would just add another thing onto my plate, and it really isn’t that big of a deal right now. Not in the grand scheme of things, anyway. One day soon, everybody will know it’s just Five celestial assholes. Not Six.

“And teleportation?” I ask. “The way Korithax used to take me between realms.”

Aran’s gaze softens immediately, something like sympathy flickering across his features. Probably feeling sorry for me because of how stupid I sound.

“That wasn’t ordinary travel,” he says gently. “It was a rare ability. As far as I know, he is the only one who possesses it.”

My breath catches painfully in my throat. Of course he would be the only one to possess something we need so desperately.

“So… Aran, you can’t?”

He shakes his head. “Not like that. What Korithax did wasn’t portal work. It wasn’t bound to gateways or anchor points. He could move through the Veil itself—fold distance, step between realms as if space meant nothing.” His mouths tightens faintly. “It’s closer to… vanishing from one reality, and appearing in another. And as you know, it took a lot of power from him to do so.”

My chest aches. Each bit of information makes this visit sound impossible. “I can portal,” he continues, voice shifting back to something more practical. “But portals are fixed paths. They have to be opened, stabilised, and held. They tear a doorway between two specific places, and you travel through that doorway.”

“Like stepping through a tunnel,” Velentha adds softly.

Aran nods. “Exactly. And they have limits. Distance, power, and familiarity with the destination.”

“And teleportation doesn’t have those limits?”

“Not in the same way,” he says. “Teleportation bypasses the path entirely. No doorway. No visible transition. One moment you’re there, the next, you’re somewhere else.”

My stomach sinks as memories surface. Korithax’s arms around my waist, the rush of darkness, the way the world simply… changed.

“I can portal inside Hell,” Aran continues,” and to Earth. That’s it. Same for Velentha. Anything beyond that requires established gateways, cooperation from another realm, or far more power than most of us possess.”