Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
If fate is a sword, then choice is the hand that wields it.
The air hummed around us as the Fifth Seal symbol dimmed on the page. Fantastic.
My hand shook as I ran it through my hair. “What does it open?”
Lucifer rested his elbows on the table, his focus sharpening on me. “It doesn’t open anything. It awakens something.”
“I’m done with the guessing games, Uncle. Either speak clearly, or I’ll walk my ass down that hill, never to return.”
“The apocalypse,” he said.
My hand dropped.
Lucifer flicked the page back to the tree.
The branches twisted themselves into a circle.
Four sigils ringed the border—wing, flame, fang, claw.
“In the beginning, before angels or demons had names, before shifters or vampires or elementals took their first breath, the world balanced on five Seals.” He tapped the angel symbol. “Creation.”
“As you’ve said.”
“Humor me. This is important.” His finger traced the elemental symbol. “Order.” Then the vampire symbol. “Life and death.” And last, the shifter symbol. “Instinct and war.”
“And the fifth?” I asked.
His gaze bored into my soul. “Choice.”
A chill slid down my back. “Choice to do what?”
“To bring these seals together or unleash them.”
Aira leaned forward. “Humans mistranslated the Seals and the Riders. They never served as omens of doom. They were guardians first, Riders who kept the world in check. War protected when nations rose. Famine balanced population. Death guided souls. Conquest led.”
Sophia nodded. “Every Seal carries an echo of the Rider tied to it.”
I blinked. “You are talking about the Four Horsemen?”
“Indeed,” Dave said.
“So you’re War?”
He grunted. “It chose me, not the other way around.”
“You rarely choose these things,” Harry stated.
I glanced at him. “Where do you fit in?”
Harry straightened his tie. “I am not a Seal, but more a representative of the veil that thins with each passing day.”
“Ignoring the spiritual population when they have become a substantial force is shortsighted and stupid,” Lucifer said. “So when the opportunity to bring Harry on board to the Serpents arose, we took it.”
“Famine?” I asked, with a nod at Aira.
“Not starvation, but restraint. Balance.”
“Death?” I whispered.
Lucifer scowled. “It gives me a bad name. Creation demands that destruction and death go hand in hand with birth. You can’t have one without the other.”
“And Conquest?” I said, looking at Sophia.
“Elementals ruled alliances. Land. Territory. Peace. Conquest wasn’t a sword; it was direction led by the magic that forms the earth. We are the closest the mass population has to humanity.”
Lucifer turned his focus back to me. “The Fifth Seal wasn’t tied to any bloodline.”
I sighed, my mind whirling with the barrage of information. “Then what was it tied to?”
“You,” Lucifer said.
My throat tightened. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“It makes perfect sense,” Lucifer countered. “The Fifth Seal was never meant to be in a bloodline. It’s a soul, one soul born only when the world tilts too far toward destruction.”
I forced out a laugh. “I’m a cosmic emergency brake?”
“More like a fuse,” Dave muttered.
Lucifer tapped the page again. “Even if we tried to force this on another soul, it wouldn’t work. That soul has to be chosen from the get-go, and the universe feeds it everything it needs to gather the power of choice.”
My stomach rolled. “Like free will?”
Aira nodded. “The Fifth Seal. The anchor. The one who wakes the Riders.”
“Or stops them,” Sophia added. “If you die, the Seals break, and the Riders rise without direction. Chaos follows.”
I sucked in a breath. “So let me get this straight. You’re telling me my genetics, my trauma, and a string of cosmic accidents made me the Fifth Seal, and I woke something world-ending?”
Lucifer shook his head. “I’ve been the caretaker of the Serpents for an eternity, but the rest of them were brought into the fold when you were born.
We tried to ward against your becoming the Fifth Seal, but when the universe has plans, you can’t stand against it.
What we didn’t know was how big the threat was from Eloise and how she was gearing up to alter the course of the future. ”
“Why me, and why now?” I whispered, my voice cracking.
Aira said, “Because the world is breaking, Cora. And you were born when the balance needed a counterweight.”
Indigo stirred under my skin, whispering truths I couldn’t understand. I swallowed the ache forming in my throat. “Okay. Tell me the rest.”
Lucifer closed the book, his hand lingering on the cover. “You are not the apocalypse.” He met my gaze, steady as stone. “You are the one who decides whether it happens.”
“How would I decide?” Was there like a book or a contract I squiggled my name on? I, Cora Roberts, choose peace and tranquility for the future. Please put your swords away.
“You’ve already chosen your path,” Dave said. “Not with words, but with actions. You broke the bonds of blood and did something to make Donn pull back his power.”
“Eloise is weakened,” Aira said. “Not enough to kill her, but the cracks are showing.”
I clenched my teeth. We had brought the meeting full circle—less world ending and more who I love. “I’m done lying to Hudson.”
Aira stiffened, and Sophia’s hook jerked mid-stitch. When had she even picked up her wool?
Dave cursed. Lucifer’s expression turned grim.
“He tells me everything, and I’m standing here hiding entire meetings and pieces of myself.”
Aira reached out. “Cora—”
“No. I can’t fight for a world when I don’t have my rock, my heart, and the man I’ve chosen to share a life with by my side with the full facts. If I can’t be honest, I’m done. No more secret meetings.”
“You don’t get to leave,” Dave said.
I stared at him. “Excuse me?”
Lucifer dragged a hand down his face. “Dave—”
“No one can leave,” Dave insisted.
“Actually, everyone can leave except you,” my aunt said.
“Why not?”
“You can’t leave, because you are the Serpent, Cora.”
“I’m a frustrated doctor with supernatural drama.” The words were brittle. I knew better, but I couldn’t help but wish to rewind to a simpler time.
Lucifer pressed his lips together and tilted his head to the side like he was trying to find the right words. “In the Garden of Eden, Eve was faced with a choice, much like you.”
“Delivered by the devil, if I recall.”
“Not exactly. The serpent that appeared and offered Eve the apple, was gifting her choice and free will. And that, rather than remaining blind, was what she chose. You are, in effect, that serpent once more, but you have to make that choice for them this time.”
“If I can’t leave, then I’m telling my mate everything. That is what I choose.”
Aira laid her cool hand over mine. “You can tell Hudson everything. You can walk out of this realm. You can scream until the air splits. Whatever you need.”
“But we,” Lucifer said, voice low and final, “can never leave you. We are your protectors or your weapons, depending on your choice.”
“Protect me from what?” I asked.
Lucifer folded his arms. “Everything. The Fifth Seal was born when the world began to crack. You are the heir Heaven and Hell have been waiting for.”