Chapter 47
Forty-Seven
We walked out of the portal in Envy, and the glimmering knockoff-green walls nearly blinded me. It wasn’t beautiful; it was fake, stolen, disgusting if you asked me. I blew a breath out of my nose and walked ahead of Dani and Eros, straight toward the castle.
Some guards hurried out in front of us as we approached it.
“Commander Lucifer, the queen isn’t in right now.”
But I continued to walk and refused to listen to any Envy. No Envy told me who was or wasn’t ready for me. I was Lucifer. Commander of Pride. King of Hell. The queen would be ready whenever I said she was.
I brushed past him, and Dani followed, looking in his direction and licking her lips as if she was hungry after her confrontation with Raphaela this morning. But everything she had said was true—since Raphaela had come here, Hell had been a straight-up mess.
Commander Chari sat on the throne, almost as if she had been waiting for me. Her eyes were a sour green, lips painted an even uglier color. “Lucifer,” she said with distaste. “What brings you to Envy?”
“Who took it?” I asked through clenched teeth. “The Crucifix? Who took the fucking Crucifix?”
Chari’s eyes widened as if she had no idea what I was talking about, and I believed that she didn’t know anything about the cross that had been taken after the party. “I don’t have any—”
“Who took it?” I asked. “Who in your kingdom would take it? Who is the Two-Faced Prophet?”
Chari sat up taller and shook her head. “There is no one. I’ve had people talk about taking it, but nobody can. You know that. They’ll burn almost immediately.”
“Well, it was taken,” I said.
I wanted to stay, wanted to pressure her for more information, but I believed every word she had said. She might’ve wanted the cross for herself, but she wouldn’t hide the fact that she had it.
Though Envies were jealous, they were also prideful when they got what they wanted. They made sure everyone knew so others could be envious of them. Chari wouldn’t hide it. She would let me know.
“If you find anything, tell me,” I said, passing Dani. “Find what you can here. I need to go back to Pride.” I walked out of the throne room and down the long hallway to the exit of the castle.
Unlike usual, Everi stood at the end of the hall and didn’t say a word to me. That woman always had something to say, was always trying to get something out of me. Part of me hoped that she was gone for good after I had blown up at her the other day, but I knew it wasn’t true.
No matter how angry I got at Envies, they always came back. It was in their nature to want more than they had, to be jealous of anyone and anything people had, to do anything they had to do to get what they wanted.
Instead of waiting for Eros, I walked toward her and called her name. Yet she didn’t even look over at me. She walked down the opposite hall, hips swaying from side to side.
“Everi,” I shouted.
She continued walking.
“Stop,” I said, demanding her attention. “I have something you’ve been wanting.”
At the sound of something she had once envied, she stopped, yet didn’t look back. It seemed as if she was struggling with herself, as if she didn’t know if she should turn around and face me or continue walking down the hall and pretend as if she didn’t hear me.
“Everi.” I stopped and stared at her back. “Turn around.”
“What do you want, Lucifer?” she asked through clenched teeth, but still didn’t turn.
“Turn. Around.”
While I expected to see something different about her when she turned around, I saw nothing. I had thought for a moment—a mere moment—that she had been the one to take the Crucifix, but … she was just a demon.
She had no power.
She rubbed her palms together and shook her head at me. “I asked, what?”
At first glance, the dark circles under her eyes seemed normal, but then … then I saw that green tint to them. But it wasn’t anything like an envy green. It was darker, more dangerous, and mixed with a glowing white.
My brows furrowed. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing. Now, what do you ha—”
“Let me see your hands,” I said.
Everi swallowed hard and clasped her hands behind her back.
Before she could run off, I snatched her upper arms and pulled her hands into my view.
“What’s this?” I asked, staring down at the red burn marks on her palms. It looked as if something had seared them almost to the bone. “Why are your hands burned?”
She quickly pulled them away from me. “None of your business. You didn’t want anything to do with me, so you don’t get to—”
I grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward the portal. She was possessed by something—a prophet, an angel, something.
A demon possessed … I had never seen it before, but if she could get that Crucifix without melting from the pure intensity of its power, then the prophet was close. And by the looks of it, I could see the angel in her eyes, the brightness, the holiness.
Whatever it was, I was about to find it, take it, and destroy it.