Chapter Sixty-Seven Charlotte
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Charlotte
The limo takes what feels like forever to reach the Chateau de Versailles—where we’ve rented out the chapel and several halls for the ceremony—and I’m already running late.
Seraph and I had to figure out the whole wings situation, and there was way more blood involved than I expected there would be, but we managed to do it without ruining my hair, makeup, or dress, so that’s something.
The moments stretch until they feel like hours, every second dragging on for a lifetime, though in truth, the ride is only about forty minutes.
I don’t know what exactly I’ll say to Lucifer to convince him he’s had God’s redemption all along, or if he’ll even believe me, and if it were any other day, I would’ve just snapped myself to his side immediately.
But I’m not risking traveling through the ether with a wedding train of this length, even if it is removable, and if I wasn’t already worried about dying at the altar, Sophie would kill me if I messed up my hair.
But I’m not dying.
Not if I can help it.
As we drive down the Avenue de Paris that leads directly into Place d’Armes, I ask Dagon to head past the main entrance at Grille d’Honneur to the Queen’s Gate to avoid the cameras.
He parks at a side service entrance that leads to the royal apartments, bowing as he opens the door for me. “My queen.”
If there were ever a time I felt the weight of that title, this is it.
I give him a small smile and hurry inside, taking the servant passages up the narrow staircase and bypassing the formal Cour d’Honneur completely.
I need to find my husband and fast.
Slipping into the Queen’s Antechamber and avoiding the main entrance, I navigate through the dim, narrow passages behind the queen’s enfilade, my massive train trailing behind me.
I should have had Seraph or Greed come to help me with it considering how unwieldy it is, but there’s no time for second thoughts now.
I’m safely inside the Hall of Mirrors before I allow myself to take a breath, but I can still hear the celebration happening downstairs. My exhales cloud in the chilled air, and I’m about to call out in hopes that Azrael might hear me through the Nothing, but then I turn and find Michael.
The Holy Lance is in his hand, and he twirls it once, almost lazily, like he did in the In-Between.
I glance back to the door I came from, and for a moment, I consider trying to make a run for it, but this dress isn’t conducive to fast movement.
Though I plan on ripping the train off after the ceremony and photos, and I’m armed to the teeth underneath, I wouldn’t stand a chance against Michael, and my in-laws are not about to ruin my wedding day.
Not if I can help it.
I face him, subtly dropping my hands.
All my training has made it so I can defend myself, hold my own, but it’s going to take a lifetime for me to catch up in skill to Lucifer and his siblings. Azrael still regularly wipes the floor with me. A warrior I am not.
But I’ve learned how to handle celestial bullies, and that’s all Michael really is.
An immortal bully with a childish score to settle.
“Well, Dad works in mysterious ways, doesn’t He?” Michael presses his hands together in prayer and gestures toward the ceiling.
I take a step back.
But there’s nowhere to go. I’m already backed into a corner, and this dress is going to be the death of me. I made a mistake asking Azrael for privacy today, but I didn’t want him to see me before the ceremony. I’m going to have to talk my way out of this.
Like I would with any good PR story.
“Michael.” I give a little curtsy in greeting.
“Charlotte.” The archangel grins like the cat who just swallowed the canary.
“Thanks so much for coming, but I really need to get to the chapel.” I try to walk past him, pretend this is a casual conversation with any guest, but he blocks my path easily.
“Going somewhere, princess?”
The hairs on the back of my neck rise on end.
I switch tactics.
“Lucifer and Death are looking for me.”
“Are they?” Michael smirks. “How long do you think it’ll take them to find you?”
My spine runs cold, but I gesture to the lance. “Oh, and you’re welcome by the way.”
Distract. Reframe. Refocus.
Michael lifts a brow.
“You know, for giving you what you want. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have nearly as many seals open, and now with Lucifer and me bowing out, it’ll be easy for you to get the other Originals on your side, won’t it?” I plaster on my best Sunday-morning-greeting grin.
Not to mention killing me puts a complete stop to your apocalypse plans.
But he still doesn’t know that yet.
I tuck that ace up my sleeve for later, faking a smile, but Michael just laughs like he thinks I’m genuinely funny.
My ribs tighten.
“Cute.” He gestures over the length of my body. “The whole media bit. I see why my brother likes you. Lucy’s always had a soft spot for anything he could corrupt.” He drags the Holy Lance across one of the marble pilasters near him, and it lets out a deafening scrape.
My mouth runs dry.
He tosses it to his other hand like it’s nothing, juggling it effortlessly. “Did you know when we were cherubs, I used to look up to Lucifer?”
I force a shrug. “That doesn’t surprise me. You’re obsessed with everything he does.”
Almost as obsessed with him as me.
I couldn’t love my husband more, and falling in love with Azrael has only reaffirmed my commitment to him, to both of them.
Together, they’re my everything.
Michael smirks wickedly, like he’s legitimately enjoying this. “He’s the oldest, you know. Mother and Father’s clear favorite, and with so many of us, I used to have to fight just to be in his shadow, clamor after whatever scraps he’d give me.”
My pulse races, adrenaline shooting through me with each additional step he takes.
I really don’t want to ruin my dress. “I get it. What it feels like to be overlooked. I was a human nobody until Lucifer plucked me out of obscurity, and it’s addicting, isn’t it?
The limelight, the attention, being allowed to stand in even a sliver of his shade? ”
And terrifying.
Our fans would dump me on my ass in a minute if I were ever to leave Lucifer. Many almost did the moment the paparazzi got ahold of those photos of me and Azrael. The public eye is fickle. Nearly as fickle as immortals.
They’d turn on me in an instant.
But it’s not them I’m here for.
It’s me.
My heart speeds up, the thought lighting an unexpected buoyant sensation inside my chest.
Lust was right.
All this time I thought I was fighting for humanity. For something greater than myself.
And that’s true. But I’ve also been fighting for me. To be my fullest, most sinful self.
God and my father’s judgment be damned.
I smile, suddenly standing taller as my lungs expand.
Just like that, I know who I am.
I am the woman who fights for her own salvation.
No matter how wicked it may make me.
I glance at Michael, my lips twisting into a satisfied grin. I can’t say I’m no longer afraid of him, but I’m not going to cower in fear at the thought of what he, the Righteous, my father, or hell, even the devil can do to me.
No matter what it is, I’m confident I can recover from it.
Regardless of the scars it might leave.
Michael draws closer, only a few feet away from me now.
I could try to blast him, use my powers.
But I don’t need to.
“You really don’t know, do you?” I say, trying the same line that worked on my dad.
Abusers are all the same, honestly. “Lucifer’s already two steps ahead of you.
He was this entire time. If you kill me, your apocalypse dies too.
The seals will be closed off, and God won’t come back anytime soon to thank you. ”
Michael waves a hand. “Oh, I’ve known that since before you killed your friend.”
I wince. My grief over Jax is still raw.
Michael spreads his wings wide, their feathered tips extending out, then dropping down.
“The Righteous have had their eye on you and your ‘prophet’ for a while, and while most of them turned on me when I didn’t deliver their Rapture, there were others who remained faithful, hopeful, willing to talk to anyone with wings.
When I found out about Him, I paid Him a little visit, and lo and behold, I recognized who He was instantly.
I couldn’t have mistaken Him anywhere. Unlike you and Lucy. ”
My stomach clenches. “So, you had the Righteous kill God?”
He chuckles. “No, I wouldn’t do that to Dad.
That was their own doing. Humans are just monkeys with a faulty conscience and a knack for inventing interesting ways to kill each other, but Father said He didn’t want the apocalypse, said that wasn’t why He left.
You can imagine I felt a bit”—he tilts his head back and forth—“fucked over by that. I was still planning to open the remaining seals anyway, for the fun of it, as a fuck-you to Dad—Lucifer and I may have a bit more in common than I thought—but then I changed plans, though killing you serves my goal all the same. Lucifer won’t ever get his powers back if you’re dead. Not if I can help it.”
Changed plans?
My mind starts to connect the dots, the patterns, put conclusions together.
“So, you teamed up with Lilith before the fourth seal opened? Switched teams?”
No wonder Lilith wasn’t in the In-Between. Michael wasn’t underestimating her. She was trusting him to do her bidding.
But to what end?
Michael spins the lance, a prideful gleam in his eye. “Mother plans to create a new universe, and while she may have made the mistake of originally intending for its god to be Lucy, she changed her tune the moment I was willing to deliver her what she wanted.”
My stomach drops.
It all makes sense now.
Why Lilith destined me for Lucifer. Why she played him and Michael off one another. Helped Michael get the lance. All to convince her favorite son that this world was unsafe, that her new universe would be the safer option for me.
For me and his child.