Chapter Eleven
Skiden:
“Aww, look at this cute couple,” Kalrian says as he sweeps in the back door. “By the look of that eye, Lucy showed you your place.”
His idiot friend laughs like a loon. But I don’t miss the awareness in Mejak’s gaze. He knows something happened back home, something that had me swallow my trepidation and jump back to Earth, where one person makes me happy.
I have Lucy clasped to the front of me, my arms around her waist and my appendages dancing around her legs. She giggles at Kal’s words as Mejak ushers Samantha in, and then she closes and locks the sliding door, drawing the curtains closed.
“Look at the cute threesome,” I respond, watching Samantha blush.
“How did you two end up together? Not like we had a chance to get home and tell you the coast was clear,” Mejak says, obviously thinking I’ll admit that he and Kal got me and Lucy to admit our love for each other.
“Was easy enough when you two took up with my ex,” I tease, watching Sam’s face turn redder.
Lucy pokes me in the side. “You’re being bad.”
“You are,” Samantha agrees. “Anyway, I brought the paper.” A look passes between her and Lucy.
So this paper is what she wishes to discuss then.
We make our way to the living room. Lucy comes last, bringing a box of more newspaper clippings.
“Let me catch Skiden up. I didn’t tell him last night since you all were coming today.” She takes a deep breath and turns to me. “These letters written in the paper for the world to see are addressed to me. My father is searching for me and he’s riled up the whole countryside with fear over me and… my name. Essentially, it’s made it impossible for me to get a job, or at this point, to even change my name. Because now people will be watching for me, and my new name will be leaked out as soon as the paperwork clears. I’ll be traced wherever I go.”
“If we’d have known better, we would have changed it the very day we left the orphanage,” Sam says. “By the time they’d have found out, the paperwork would have been destroyed and it would have been too late.”
“But what’s wrong with Lucy?” I ask.
“It’s not just Lucy.”
Lucy opens the first letter and begins to read. It’s addressed to Lucifer’s Daughter. And the second one is. And the next. The one after that. Each clipping is designed to taunt and stir hatred with others… but meant to instill fear in her.
When her throat finally goes raw, Samantha pulls out the newspaper and spreads it on the coffee table, then takes over with reading.
Lucifer’s Daughter,
I’ve given you sufficient warning and now you’re starting to piss me off. You’ve ignored my clues as if I’ll go away. I won’t but you, a danger to all in society, will.
It’s time for me to flush you out. Let’s see which hospitals will treat you. Which reporters will flock to your room when they hear of your name. Which churches will denounce you… and your friend.
Lucy sucks in a breath, her gaze flying up to her cousin. “You think he knows it’s Isabel?”
Samantha nods. “I do. It’s not a coincidence that he calls her your friend, that he associates the church where she—and you—work.”
“But she’s safe. She’s in Pimeon and she’s not coming back,” Lucy says.
“I know she’s safe, sweetie. It’s you I’m worried about. If he knows where she works, he knows where to find you. Maybe he just thinks he’s stalking her but soon he’ll see your face and he’ll know how you’ve been hiding.”
“What’s going on?” I growl. “I need more explanation.”
Samantha turns to me. “Lucy’s father is friends with Isabel’s. They’re in a partnership, Isabel’s father, Steve, gains clients and invests their money. Lucy’s father gets him those clients and I’m not sure that Lucy’s father knows she’s impersonating Isabel. He may be trying to flush her out by mentioning her friend, see if he can get a rise out of her. Maybe he guesses that it’s a possibility and thinks he’ll scare her. It could be that they both remember that visit Isabel made five years ago and that she moved near the commune. That she and Lucy somehow met. I’m sure if my uncle suspected me, he’d have confronted me or had me followed and there’s been no chance of that. I never had to see him much until this political movement they started.” She sighs unhappily. “My parents started the funding.”
“Mikhail has done a sweep of her person, property and belongings,” Mejak says. “There are no tracers anywhere, so we’re sure he doesn’t suspect Samantha of helping Lucy, or even introducing the two. However, since his friend, Steve, is Bel’s father, he may think that Samantha and Isabel remained friends after that day when she gave her a ride from his party. Right now, Duke is on a political cruise with Samantha’s parents. The article came out and unless he gave it to the paper in advance, it might be Steve who took it down to the publisher for him.”
“But that also means that Steve knows Duke is harassing a woman—his own child,” Samantha says. “Which makes Isabel’s father truly unsalvageable. He hasn’t once sought her out to apologize. Instead, he treats her just as poorly.”
“Steve works for Duke?”
“And Duke is the party who they’ve picked to run against Lilaina. He has family money—well, it comes from his sister’s family, her husband. Samantha’s father.”
“And you don’t have other mothers?” I ask Sam, aware that most Earth families have one father to multiple wives.
“My mom is actually his third wife. The first two passed. No children. My mom is very manipulative. She’s probably convinced my father that they’ll make a huge investment in controlling the government from the inside. Because if they place her brother in office, they can basically do anything they want.”
“Don’t they already?” I ask.
Samantha nods. “Yes, but when you get a sense of that power, it’s never enough. You want more.”
“What can we do?”
“Mikhail visited us. Normally he doesn’t get involved with politics, but in lieu of the situation with Lilaina being knocked from ruling, he thinks this is our time to ruin the campaign. If we can get Duke out of the running, it will make his issue with Lucy dissipate. That’s the hope, at least.”
“How will we do that?” Lucy asks, her hands fluttering.
I soothe her with a tentacle wrapped around her waist and she rewards me with a grateful look.
“Well, that’s easy,” Mejak says, looking at me. “Mikhail will convince Isabel and River to confront his new campaign manager, Steve. Isabel’s father.”
“Confront him how?”
“We can’t go after Duke without retaliation on Lucy, so we tarnish his partner’s reputation by letting the world know that Steve didn’t protect his fourteen-year-old daughter. When Isabel shows up with the proof of that daughter, they can’t hide. And when people get a whiff that she was only fourteen, they’ll know that Steve lied when he said she was out of control and shamed herself. You see, for a long time he hid her pregnancy and the birth of the child. But the proof will be right there. Isabel and River have never been together on Earth but they’ll be right there as Isabel introduces her to her grandfather.”
“What keeps Steve from simply withdrawing from the campaign?” I ask.
“Nothing. But even if he does, the damage is done. No one will look at Duke the same and others may start to wonder what skeletons hide in his closet. It buys us some time to see what we can do to protect Lucy”—his voice turns to a growl— “and Samantha.”
“I snooped in my mother’s office today,” Sam says. “They’ve planned a meeting for two months from now. They’ll have a meeting in an exclusive club for some of the wealthiest of backers. They’re hatching the plan to overthrow Lilaina there because it’s a location where only men are welcome.”
“Mikhail knows what’s going on?”
Mejak nods. “We’re keeping him updated. But when her parents return, we need to head back. And Kal and I—we need Samantha watched over. She refuses to join the Match Program.” He glares at her briefly and I can tell it’s something they’ve discussed thoroughly.
“It’s pointless for two reasons,” Samantha says. “If I were picked, I could bring a relative with me, the way River did with Isabel. But there’s no way to link me and Lucy. Her adoption paperwork was destroyed thirty days after she turned eighteen. All a bystander would have to do is request proof and I don’t put it past someone to do that.”
“They didn’t do it to Isabel.” I remember, I was there when we brought her through the portal.
“Each match becomes a learning experience. People like my parents seek out the government and demand changes according to what happened with the previous match. When River’s shunned prophet heard from bystanders that she was allowed to bring someone with her, he pointed out that she was adopted and an orphan, so from now on, any relationships have to be proven with identification.”
“What’s your second issue with being matched?” I ask.
“Earth will never allow double mates and I can’t pick one over the other.” Samantha reaches out and clasps a hand from each male in hers.
“It doesn’t matter to us,” Kalrian growls. “We’ll share no matter who gets named.”
“Samantha,” I say gently. “I’m sure Lucy wants you just as protected as you want her. And like it or not, her father… or Bel’s, are going to talk about their sins one day and realize that the piece connecting their two problems is you. If Mikhail has one more match he can swing, please take the opportunity to go to Pimeon.”
“I-I can’t. I can’t get matched to just one—”
“It doesn’t matter on our planet. It’s just words for Earth. On our planet, we’ll perform a ceremony with the three of us. We’ll each offer you a mating vow, in front of witnesses, with a kiss pressed to the inside of your palm.” Mejak drops his tentacles to a crouch so that he’s kneeling in front of Sam, clasping her hand in his, and tracing a heart in the middle of her hand. If you don’t accept, you close your fist.” He gently closes her fingers. “Or you wipe it off. For one of us, or for both of us. Even if it’s for the one you didn’t accept the Earth vows with. We know those Match program words are just to get you safely to our planet.”
“And if I accept?” Sam asks.
“Then you kiss us both,” Kalrian answers, turns Samantha’s face and gently presses a kiss to her lips.
Then Mejak leans forward and presses one to her.
I’m watching Lucy and she’s taking it all in with a soft expression on her face. She turns to me when she senses me watching her.
“And that’s how Bronan got Isabel,” I say to her. “Poor female never wiped the wet, sloppy kiss to her hand. She thought he was being sweet.”
Her lips twitch. “He must have been holding his breath hoping against hope.”
“Now tell me what it is about your name that worries the world,” I say. “Lucifer’s Daughter.”
Her smile falters.
“That’s it. My whole name is Lucifer’s Daughter.”
“And Lucifer is a bad person?”
Her jaw drops. “Um, yes. The worst. The devil. The father of all evil. And we’re near the commune, where they’re highly religious. They’ll come after me with burning pitchforks. Remember River wanted to tattoo over her face to cover’s the devil’s mark? Well, I’m marked too. You just can’t see it.”
But I shrug like it’s not a big deal. “Lucifer is a lovely name. Rather elegant, I’d think, though a bit masculine, eh?”
She looks confused. “Masculine? Um, yeah?”
“Well, at least your father was man enough to name you after himself.”
“Oh, but—”
I smirk at her dawning understanding of what I mean. The male thought to slight her by naming her, but called himself out too. By announcing her identity, he also announces his. “Lucifer’s Daughter? Doesn’t DNA testing work here? It will link you to who he is after he announces your name links him to being… the father of all evil, right?”
Lucy bursts into laughter. “Oh, my God. I was two years old when they changed my name from whatever it was before. They were supposedly intelligent adults. They didn’t think that someday he’d be linked to being the Lucifer in Lucifer’s Daughter?”
Even after she’s long done laughing, I gaze at her beauty tenderly. I love how she looks when she smiles. She deserves laughter. “I vow to always make you laugh, Lucy-my-love.”
Samantha clutches her heart.