Chapter 10 Sydney
Iwas a bit mixed up if Lucifer or Satan was supposed to be the Prince of Lies because they were two separate people and a lot of what I knew was fiction. Lucifer was associated with Pride and Satan with Wrath and Satan hadn’t lied to me so far.
The rest of this castle didn’t seem like the person who lived here had more money than sense. It was nice, but it wasn’t over the top. I could live here.
“So, the rest of the princes don’t want to give you access to Lucifer’s coffers until you prove you’re his kid,” Satan said.
“Uh, how do we know I am?”
Nero grabbed my shoulders and gently turned me towards a giant portrait. Oh. I always figured I looked like my father because I didn’t look like my mother at all. I didn’t realize I looked that much like my father.
“Shit.”
“Yeah,” Celix said. “There shouldn’t be any doubt.”
“Especially if you’ve actually met Lucifer,” Abaddon said. “Their temperament is the same. Lucifer would have made that exact same entrance if he was in her shoes.”
“Lucifer has money stashed all over this house, so it won’t be hard to find. You should be able to get yourself a wardrobe and his estate has been paying his servants. They should be happy to take care of his kid.”
I raised my hand.
“Not a kid.”
“Sorry, but to demons you are and to us, you’re practically an infant.”
“That’s going to take some getting used to.”
“Wrathhog says she’ll be here for brunch to meet you. Have coffee. She gets a little violent without it.”
“We have that in common.”
Kujo snorted and glared at me, so I just flipped him off. I honestly didn’t know why I was keeping him around and inviting him to move in. I’d only met a few demons so far and he was an ass. I didn’t know why, it just felt like it was important to keep him around.
“What’s this?” Satan asked with a smile.
“Nothing,” Kujo grumped.
“Some of us don’t subscribe to this hierarchy mess because it’s the same horseshit we had before we fell.
Lucifer, Satan, and I don’t and when this place started getting filled with demons, we wanted it to be different.
We were undermined by the other princes and it spread faster than we could undo it.
People just like feeling superior to someone. ”
I actually enjoyed hearing the fact that my father didn’t want people like Nero shat on.
And I liked hearing there were two other people in charge who were against it, too, and they were the ones who were helping me.
Mom wasn’t one of those people who said I should automatically trust and respect my elders.
She said I should reserve that for people who deserved it.
I didn’t know if Abaddon and Satan deserved it yet, but things were looking up in their favor.
“Do you think she’s in danger from the other princes?” Celix asked.
“I’d say no, because we find hurting younglings an abomination, but Sydney isn’t a youngling, so it’s complicated.
Abaddon and I have had people looking for Lucifer.
We’ve been looking for forty-six years. We give off a kind of magical signature that should make him easy to find.
Someone very powerful is keeping him hidden. ”
“How do you know he’s still alive?” I asked.
Because seriously, they all said he wouldn’t abandon his child and he wouldn’t leave Hell. If he was enemy number one with the angels, they could have just killed him.
“It’s a fuck of a loophole and a giant fuck you from our father.
All of Lucifer’s brothers who fell with him can be killed.
All of our children can be murdered. Lucifer has to suffer through watching all of it because Lucifer can’t be killed by anyone without destroying Hell.
The angels know this and everyone in Hell knows this.
It wouldn’t be this slow disintegration where souls are escaping.
It would be an explosion that destroyed this realm and caused nuclear winter on Earth. No, someone has him.”
“So, it’s more than just me parking my butt on the throne and hoping it’s enough. We have to find Lucifer and also change this shitty hierarchy thing you’ve got going on because it’s stupid.”
“Er, yes. And you’re going to be sabotaged by the other princes because they think the longer he’s gone, the more time they have to figure out how to sever the link.
But Abaddon and I aren’t complete morons.
The link is our father’s punishment. The only person who can take it off is him. None of us have that power.”
Great.