Chapter Fifty-Six Charlotte
Chapter Fifty-Six
Charlotte
It feels strange being alone like this. Just me and Lucifer.
Hollow in a way I don’t have words for.
I don’t know how I know Azrael isn’t following us, that he’s no longer watching.
I just do.
When we finally reach the Whispering Gallery, the In-Between having clearly decided it’s taken enough from us, it’s early morning.
I can tell from the commuters. The people bustling about the city.
They don’t pay us any mind. The foot traffic moves around us, people rushing past with coffee cups and unread text messages and lives they still get to live.
Like they don’t even notice that something essential’s been ripped away from me. That she died.
That he’s gone.
And the world didn’t even pause.
The No Access door closes behind us, and soon enough, it’s gone too. I glance at the adjacent wall, but it’s blocked by a group of well-meaning tourists who are testing the acoustics and taking selfies, so I don’t know if the inscription is still there.
It doesn’t matter, I guess.
Lucifer puts his arm around me, slowly leading me toward the exit before the tourists or anyone else can spot us. He doesn’t say anything, but I know he feels it.
The loss, the grief I’m feeling.
If he could’ve spared me from it, he would’ve done whatever it took to save her for me.
Without a doubt.
But Azrael . . .
I shake my head.
No.
No, this can’t be about morality for him either. I know him better than that.
So, what is it about?
I don’t have time to fully let myself process that question before we climb the staircase together, entering the main rotunda. “I’m sorry about your powers,” I hear myself saying.
That’s another thing that was lost in all this too.
Our one last hope for saving humanity.
And if the world ends before Lucifer regains his immortality, then he’ll . . .
“There’ll be no more dying today.” Lucifer pulls me close. “Naturally, I have a backup plan.”
I gaze up at him, and he pauses, taking hold of my hands.
“Do you . . . ?” He hesitates. “Do you still love him, little dove?”
Azrael, he means.
I nod.
I think that’s the worst part of all this.
That I do.
That I have so much love for him, for Jax, and now there’s nowhere for it to go.
I think that might be all that grief is.
Love with no place to go.
“Do you really have a backup plan?” I ask. The hope I feel at that thought is tenuous, fractured even, but I can’t help but notice that we’re standing in nearly the same spot where this all started.
In the same spot where I chose to be his.
As though fate led us here.
I close my eyes for a moment.
Now that I know everything, I know I’d still make the same choice.
Even if all our options feel shitty currently.
But I remember how it felt then.
The hope I had for something better.
Even if my heart aches for my friend, my home.
The other celestial I wish I could share this with.
But how can we find a way back to each other after all this?
I don’t know the answer to that, but there’s got to be a way. There’s got to be.
Because if there’s one thing loving the devil has taught me, it’s that love finds a way.
No matter how dark and twisted.
Lucifer doesn’t say anything, but he smiles a little, like he knows what I’m thinking, even if I haven’t put it into words yet, and I know that, regardless of what happens, he and I are going to make it another day. He’s been my choice since the very beginning.
The best one I ever made.
“So, what’s the next step, sir?” I lean onto my toes and kiss him, trusting him to take the lead. His choice is my choice, and that’s all that matters.
“Our way, little dove,” he says. “The way will always be ours.”
I smile then, even though it’s hard, even though it hurts, because I know without a doubt that this is one promise he’s going to keep.
He has from the start. In every change he’s made for me.
In every dark word he’s whispered.
Even if it means that the devil is now in love with humanity’s guardian angel.
Because that’s the one key similarity between him and me.
That we’ll both love each other ferociously, viciously, destructively, until the end of time.
And God help whatever gets in our way.
He leans down and kisses me, softly, gently, before he leads us both out of the building. But still, I wonder if it’s enough.
If love is enough to fill the emptiness I’m feeling.
Or if all we’ll have left at the end is the ruins.
And the ashes of a world we’ve burned together.