Chapter Thirty-Four Charlotte #2
I nod, his enthusiasm making me uneasy. “That doesn’t help us with Michael and Lilith though.”
“And we all know what the next seal brings,” Envy says.
The room goes silent.
Envy continues to pick at a spot on his nail before he glances up, realizing a half second too late that all our attention is on him. He basks in it, the corner of his mouth lifting, but when none of us respond, he sighs. “It’s the fourth. The one Mom’s been waiting for.”
All eyes shift to Azrael.
Of course. The final Horseman. The Pale Rider.
Death.
Why didn’t I consider Azrael’s role in all this sooner?
“What happens when the fourth seal opens?” I twist my chair toward him.
Azrael shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Mimi casts him an agitated look.
I’m starting to think she and Death might not be on the best terms.
Azrael glares at her, but I understand him well enough now to recognize it’s because he hates being the center of attention like this. Unlike Lucifer. “When God used Lilith’s power to create the other Horsemen in my image, there were contingencies in place.”
“Contingencies?” I lift a brow.
Azrael nods.
“Those being?”
Sometimes getting Death to mutter more than a few cryptic words is like pulling teeth.
Except when we’re alone.
My face flushes.
He lets out a slow breath through his nose and swipes his thumb over the edge of his mouth, his lips tilting upward like he knows what I’m thinking. “The main agreement being, if I remained free, unlike my brothers, I wouldn’t know what opening the seals would bring.”
A momentary silence falls over the boardroom.
“How’s that possible?” Mimi huffs, her gaze narrowing on Azrael as if she doesn’t actually believe he’s on our side. But Lucifer and I trust him completely.
Don’t we?
I glance at Lucifer, but his expression doesn’t give anything away.
“That’s irrelevant.” He waves a hand like it’s his job to keep us all on track.
Once a CEO, always a CEO.
But he and Azrael exchange a look.
There’s more to that story than either of them is saying, but I know better than to press Lucifer in front of his siblings. Even if he did promise me transparency.
“Back to Sloth,” Lucifer says, his grip on my hand tightening.
“I don’t see what’s so concerning about my deal with him,” I say. “I know celestial contracts are governed by divine law, and enforced by Gabriel, but it’s not like I have to follow through immediately, right?”
Azrael crosses his arms. “Celestial covenants are like deals with the devil.”
I shoot Lucifer a confused look.
He shrugs. “I had to get my inspiration from somewhere, darling.”
I roll my eyes, but the arched brow he gives me has me muttering “Sorry, sir” and sinking in my chair.
“They’re not just enforceable. They can result in exile,” Gluttony says.
“Or judgment.” Envy.
“And punishment.” Lucifer’s mouth presses into a flat line.
“Or yours and our brother’s personal favorite.” Greed looks to Azrael.
“Death,” I finish as I look over my shoulder at him.
How did I never realize he was so tangled up in Lucifer’s family?
He’s more like them than I’ll ever be.
Maybe Lucifer would have been better off with . . .
Don’t even finish that thought, Lucifer interjects, the hellfire in his eyes blazing.
When he first lost his powers, the bond between us weakened, and I got used to letting my guard down regularly, but lately, I’ve noticed it’s been strengthening again, even though he hasn’t reclaimed his powers.
But how?
The question’s been plaguing me.
“Be that as it may,” Lucifer says, “that’s only if you don’t complete the covenant in whatever time frame Gabriel deems reasonable.”
“But Gabriel’s on the angelic side of your family. He’s not going to lend me any favors, is he?”
“No,” Greed confirms. Like she’s reminding me that I’m still in debt to her.
And now Sloth too.
“Okay, so let me get this straight,” I say, giving my head a quick shake.
“We know that when the next seal opens, Azrael’s going to be compelled to do something, but we’re not sure what, and we also know the next seal will mean all four Horsemen are free, which means Lilith will have finally regained her power, giving her free rein to—”
“Fuck all of us.” Lust suddenly appears on the other side of the room, fashionably late to the party as always. He gives me a cheeky wave. “Hey, lovey.”
I scowl. “Don’t you ‘hey, lovey’ me. Not after you screwed me.”
“With the seal or at your engagement party?”
A deep, irritated grumble barrels from Azrael as I shoot Lust a furious look.
The play party is a sore point, and though Lust is the only Original I actually consider my friend, he’s definitely on my shit list.
“Fuck off, Azmodeus,” I snap, before I turn back to the others.
“Ooh, I love it when you’re bitchy.” Azmodeus licks his lips, but Lucifer’s nostrils flare, and he leans forward like he’s about to—
Azmodeus shrugs. “Jeez. All right already. I know when I’m not wanted.”
And then he’s gone.
What the hell is with him lately?
“Namely it’s our Father that Mother wants to fuck.” Greed wrinkles her nose. “In the proverbial sense at least.”
Lucifer shrugs. “Not the worst outcome.”
“Except that it leads to the end of all humanity and no afterlife.”
“And we all know Charlotte couldn’t handle starting over in another universe,” Wrath says.
I give him a disbelieving look.
And to think, I was under the impression I was finally making some progress with him.
Wrath lifts a shoulder. “What? You couldn’t.”
I roll my eyes.
“Which means our plan isn’t going to work, unless Lucifer managed to swing more than—”
“Three.”
All eyes in the room turn to him.
I lift a brow. “What do you mean three?”
He ticks off three fingers. “Three is the number of additional archangels that have turned to our side.”
I gape at him. “Only three?”
He scowls at me, but with him sitting in his executive chair like that, it reminds me a little of how things used to be, and I can’t help but smile.
It’s all I can do not to lean into him and tempt him.
“You do understand the collective amount of power three archangels hold in addition to having all my legions at the ready?” he says, using that same tone from when I used to be his intern and we’d verbally spar.
It was always thinly veiled foreplay, of course.
Even when I was convinced our relationship was fake.
Fake is a relative term, it seems.
There’s nothing fake about how I feel for him now.
I lean toward him, and he must recognize what I’m thinking, because that perfect mouth of his twists into a knowing grin. He sprawls back in his executive chair, his hips thrust forward, and nods to his lap pointedly.
I’m waiting, little dove, he says into my mind.
My face flames with heat, but I rise from my seat and settle onto his lap shamelessly all the same, kissing him on the cheek. How come he always manages to get the upper hand with me?
Some things don’t change, apparently.
“There’ll be more,” Lucifer says, trying to ease my concern. “Seraph and I targeted these three specifically. They’re leaders, influencers, if you will. Next time, more will follow.”
“If there even is a next time.” Greed shakes her head. “Michael isn’t going to let you get away with stealing his soldiers that easily.”
I look toward her, trying not to feel self-conscious about how her brother’s hands are now trailing up to my thighs.
“What are you saying, Mimi?”
Greed’s gaze cuts between me and Azrael. “While you two were too busy whining about the fact I left Lucifer’s side, all because he had to take a little swim—”
“He’s mortal now, Mimi.” I shake my head as the devil lays a tempting kiss on my shoulder, and Greed waves an annoyed hand at me.
They’re all used to me and Lucifer by now.
“A minor detail.” She shrugs.
Despite Azrael’s early attempts to conceal that knowledge, it didn’t take long for the other Originals to figure it out. Celestials are even bigger gossips than the damn tabloids.
“But in the meantime, I was following Uriel to the In-Between.” Greed puffs out her chest, like she expects us all to be far more impressed than we are.
“The In-Between?” I think back to that strange club Azmodeus took me to. The one that caused the paparazzi to turn on me. “So, it is real? Like Limbo? Or is it part of the ether?”
They all seem similar to me.
“The In-Between is a threshold realm, a metaphysical transit zone,” Azrael answers.
“Limbo is for the unclaimed dead. A construct created when I first came to the world. It’s nothing but a holding chamber.
The In-Between isn’t for souls. It’s a realm between realms, a state between chaos and order, like the connective tissue between planes, and the ether is its arterial system. ”
I blink, trying to take all that in, and also not letting myself consider all the reasons Azrael would have such detailed knowledge of the internal systems of the human body.
“And?” Lucifer’s hand comes to my waist, squeezing as he prompts Mimi to hurry up. I can tell he’s not going to stay patient much longer.
“And Michael appears to have given him the task of guarding the Heavenly Hosts’ most precious treasures.”
“The Heavenly Hosts?”
“It’s the name of our Father’s armies, darling. My former army.” Lucifer’s gaze darkens as he drags me deeper into his lap.
He isn’t ashamed to indulge in me, even in front of his siblings.
“And mine,” Mimi says, her gaze narrowing.
It’s the same look she gives me when she thinks I’m slacking during training.
No wonder the two of them hate Michael. After Lucifer fell, Michael stole more than his place at God’s side. He took something from all of them. He claimed their purpose, their friends, their meaning.
“And what kind of treasures are we talking about? Celestial weaponry could be valuable.” I think of the whip that’s currently in Lucifer’s possession, but it’s hardly worth risking.
“Your friend and the Holy Lance.” Mimi grins.
My mouth goes dry, and Lucifer’s hand pauses where he’d just slipped it beneath my Balmain skirt under the table.
“Which means?” A flush creeps up my neck as I look toward Greed, and she smiles at me in that sisterly way she does occasionally.
We have a location.
She knows where Jax is.
And if Greed knows where Jax is, then . . .
“Won’t God see Lilith coming?”
“Father’s precognitive abilities don’t extend to Mother. They’re on a level playing field.”
“But can Lilith find God and destroy Him without her? Without Jax and her prophecies?” I ask, suddenly shifting forward and pressing my legs closed.
Lucifer grumbles, and I know I’m likely going to be punished for that later, but he leans forward, just as invested in Jax’s well-being as I am.
“Later,” I promise, kissing his cheek.
He considers my question for a second and then leans back in his chair.
“It’s possible, but not probable, or she wouldn’t have absconded with her in the first place.
Not to mention, all I need to restore my powers is a prophet to raise our dear friend Ms. Santiago, the nun, from the dead, remember? ”
I nod.
It’s all starting to fall into place.
“So, if we had Jax before the fourth seal opens, I could find God. Have Him put an end to this, and we could stop opening seals for Michael. No more Armageddon, no more humans would be hurt, and Lilith still wouldn’t have her full power, so even if she found God, she wouldn’t be able to destroy Him, and you’ll no longer be—”
“Powerless.” Lucifer smirks at me.
I can’t help but want to kiss him. Among other things.
And he sees it.
“All of you out now,” he orders, his siblings’ chairs scraping in response.
He lifts me onto the boardroom table, spreading my legs just as the door closes behind the last of his siblings, and he drops to his knees.
My head falls back as he tears my thong aside, and the fork in his tongue starts to flick over me. I sigh contentedly.
Things are looking up for us, honestly.
Until my gaze snags on where Azrael has faded into the Nothing, and I’m reminded of what all this could cost if we don’t pull this off successfully.