Lucille
Chapter
Thirty-Four
Awave of heat speared into my body, flushing my face and forcing my uniform into cool-down mode.
I didn’t know if Ronen was daring me to challenge his claim, Aspen, or both of us.
I wasn’t prepared to say anything back. Not in front of Aspen.
I still needed to have a talk with him that Ronen had so kindly interrupted.
And to so blatantly call me his in front of him—was he trying to taunt Aspen?
Hurt him? Did he hear the start of our conversation?
Probably.
“What fuels you when your spark is gone?” Ronen asked, shooting Aspen a meaningful look.
What did that mean?
I peered at Aspen, scared of what I’d see in his face, and frowned.
He didn’t look upset. Nor depressed or resigned. He almost appeared… to be smiling at Ronen? It was small and smug, but it had life to it that knocked the breath from my lungs.
“Who says it is?” he shot back.
Ronen grunted, but I swore I saw a flash of respect.
And it rendered me just as speechless as Aspen’s smile.
What was going on?
“Let’s go, Hellion.”
“Go?” I muttered, panning between the two as if that’d help me understand.
“To the dungeons?”
“Yes. There.”
I didn’t move.
Tingles vibrated up my hand as Ronen grabbed it, tugging lightly.
Aspen gave me a small nod, then went back into the room with Hadrian.
Ronen’s hand shifted to my back, guiding me forward while my mind tried to catch up.
Rune happily walked beside us, her shadow tail swishing back and forth like Ronen’s thumb on my spine.
We walked down the red-carpeted hall in silence for all of two minutes before I asked, “What just happened?”
“An understanding of sorts.”
“That’s not a good enough explanation.”
“There’s nothing to explain, Hellion.”
“You claimed me in front of him. Why?”
Moonlight spilled through the tall, gothic windows, highlighting his maddeningly pleased side glance.
“You claimed me first.”
My mouth popped open.
“I did not.”
Ronen’s smile widened, and I tripped over my own feet like a moron.
He caught me, maneuvering me against the hall window with a dangerous sparkle in those golden eyes.
“Are you sure?” he inquired softly, his hand sliding into my waves and tilting my head back. He ran the pad of his tingling thumb across my open mouth.
He stole my breath with his touch. He muddied my thoughts with that disastrous smile.
“I never kissed you,” I somehow managed to say.
He leaned forward slowly, and I didn’t move. I only stared at his perfectly soft lips coming toward me. My heart thrummed like a hummingbird. My Infernus sang low in eager anticipation.
Then he kissed my forehead.
“You didn’t have to,” he murmured against my skin.
I melted from the inside out and inhaled his spicy balsam and clove scent like I planned to drown in it. My fingers twitched with a thought that’d seal my fate.
Before I dared move, he drew back and held out a black rose.
Where did he get a—
The rose shifted, turning into wispy shadows before solidifying into a black daisy, then a peony, continuing through different flower shapes.
“I don’t know your favorite flower,” he admitted.
I ran a finger along the black poppy stem, marveling at the silky texture vibrating against my skin.
Ronen shuddered, and a little wisp snaked out from the flower, wrapping around my finger as if urging me to continue.
“Go back to the tulip.”
His shadows dispersed and reformed.
“There’s your answer.” I smiled, playing with the flower’s petals.
Ronen’s joy erupted through our bond, filling me with contagious lightness.
I pressed more firmly against the cool glass, needing the support.
“A gift for your answer,” he said, a smile in his voice.
The sunshine dancing inside my chest intensified to the point I couldn’t speak. I was drunk on the feeling, drunk on him.
“We need to get going, Hellion. Can you walk?” He chuckled.
Could I?
Maybe.
Did I want to?
No.
I wanted to stay in this moment, savoring the way his gaze roved over every inch of my face, feeling his awe, his joy, even his slight anxiety.
I wanted to preserve this moment, his shadow tulip like my mother’s…
A vice squeezed my chest, and Ronen’s joy dulled.
“Hey. What’s wrong?”
“I was just remembering my mother’s greenhouse in the castle. Before…”
Before my father ripped it to shreds.
Before he blamed me for my mother’s death.
Before he shattered my illusion of having a father who actually cared about me.
Who could potentially want to kill me.
“It doesn’t matter.” I sighed.
“Don’t lie to me, Hellion,” he warned.
My attention flicked to the Greek tattoo wrapped around his wrist, peeking from his uniform.
He valued truth. He could also feel everything I did. I should’ve known better, but it wasn’t like I was trying to lie, only avoid the painful conversation.
“Lucifer destroyed it.”
Ronen’s jaw feathered.
I grazed my finger against the throbbing muscle and lifted the necklace he’d retrieved for me with my other hand.
“It’s okay. I still have her here.”
His ire seemed reluctant to let go, continuing to bleed into his eyes.
“Really, Ronen. I’m okay. And we should probably get to the dungeons before Ichi leaves.”
He pursed his lips, then agreed, releasing me after a long, tender forehead kiss.
It shocked me out of my melancholy mood.
“What are you doing to me?” I whispered.
Ronen laced our fingers together and pulled me forward.
“I could ask you the same thing, Hellion.”
He held my hand the entire way to the dungeons. It was such a simple thing. Something a normal couple would do. But the General of Hell?
He kept surprising me, making me question everything I thought I knew about him.
And I think I… loved it.
Before I could spiral over that unclear statement, we arrived at the dungeon’s entrance, and Ronen released my hand.
Ichi approached us and bowed.
“I’m allowed to see my sister?”
“Yes,” I said, feeling an urge to hug her.
Ronen drew blood and wiped it on the door. Runes lit at the contact, glowing bright white and fading once he inserted the key.
Ichi pulled out a small knife, about to cut her finger, and Ronen placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Keep your power.” He glanced at me. “Both of you.”
Taking a deep breath, he opened the door.
I stepped forward, ready to follow him, but he didn’t move from the threshold, and his anxiety thrummed through me.
“Ronen?” I touched his arm.
He straightened and cracked a couple knuckles.
“Prepare yourself. You will no longer recognize Ni.”
Rune sat by the entryway while we descended into the gloomy, damp depths with that ominous statement. A sickly sweet, metallic smell cloyed the stairwell. My nose wrinkled, and by the time I hit the bottom stair, I had to hold my breath to keep the putrid scent out.
“Have you figured out what they leave behind, baby?” a muffled female voice called from a cell farther down the row.
Baby?
Ronen led us toward the female’s cell.
“Or is my sexy general here to bribe me for more information?”
My sexy general?
How did she even know it was him?
She couldn’t see us.
“We’ve figured out plenty, despite your wealth of information,” Ronen replied as we neared her cell.
“Oh, I’m hurt.” She didn’t sound hurt. “But I highly doubt you figured out everything they leave behind. Is someone else with…” She trailed off when the three of us paused in front of her cell.
Anya lounged on her cot—if that was what you called the small bed with a fluffy black comforter and pillows—wearing a thick green turtleneck and a pair of hip-hugging pants.
Gold clasps pinned her black mane atop her head in an artful design.
Citrus permeated from her cell, cutting through the terrible stench and giving my nose sweet relief.
She even had a small end table holding books, candles, paper, pens, and fancy vials.
What more could a prisoner ask for?
Seemed her sexy general indulged her.
She looked nothing like what the doors had depicted.
“Lucille, Ichi, this is Anya. A spoiled human seer who would rather stay in this stench than be judged for her sins.”
Seer?
Anya studied me like a rare insect beneath a pair of tweezers, entirely too curious and slightly horrified.
Or that was what I thought at first.
“Nice necklace.”
It wasn’t a compliment.
I touched the amulet that must’ve snuck out during training and tucked it back into my uniform.
“Thanks.”
I didn’t mean it.
Anya swung her legs off the bed and walked up to the cell bars. She pushed her arm through the gap and ran a finger down Ronen’s chest.
“Tell me, baby, when did it get so warm down here?”
Did she like it? Because my Infernus could make it warmer for her.
Ronen grazed his hand up my spine and rested it at the small of my back.
“Hell is melting.”
She held his gaze, not sparing an ounce of attention for Ichi or me. Until she intelligently dropped her hand from his chest and flicked her gaze to me.
“Then Hell is dying.”
More specifically, being poisoned by a demonic infection.
She moved back to her bed, grabbed an oil vial, and began rubbing it on her neck and face. The smell of citrus grew.
“Well, if you didn’t come to add to my gifts, baby, be on your way.”
Baby again, huh?
Ronen leaned down close to my ear.
“What is it I’m sensing from you, Hellion?” he inquired, his tone slightly too high and mischievous.
Damn him.
“Nothing.”
He didn’t laugh. He didn’t smile.
But I swore his presence exuded his humor all the same.
“And that’s exactly what I think of her and anyone else without that cute little scowl.” He tapped my lips and continued forward.
I half-glared at his back. It deepened when his shoulders shook.
Ass.
But a very sexy one with a tiny black heart.
I smiled at the thought, then sobered when Ichi quietly walked past me to follow Ronen.
I hurried to her side, scanning her.
Face value, Ichi appeared composed. She had her silky black hair knotted at her neck, not a strand out of place. She walked strong and sure, determined, as reflected in her one good eye.
But she wasn’t breathing. Not that the dead needed to breathe.
“You sure you want to do this?” I whispered.
She gave me a soft nod.
Ronen turned, blocking our view of the next few cells.
“Ready?”
“Yes.”
I wasn’t sure anything could’ve prepared either of us for what we saw when Ronen moved.
Most striking was Ni’s nakedness and her ebony skin.
The uniform they’d caught her in lay in shreds in the corner of her cell. Her once honey-colored eyes had been leached of all color. Two sets of yellowed bone jutted from her forehead, keeping the remaining pieces of her hair from falling into her wrinkled face.
She had long ebony claws, pointed teeth peeking from her lips, and a sunken chest.
Ichi’s body tightened like a bowstring.
“Ni?”
“Like how we’ve changed your sister?” she hissed, her regrown tongue flicking out.
Ronen and I stiffened.
Ni laughed, the unnatural sound scraping across my nerves.
“Didn’t expect this, General? Or didn’t expect to hear from me after you killed Lilith? I told you I was going to keep you guessing.”
“Where’s Ni?” I demanded, since Ichi stood there stunned.
“The soul that inhabited this body?” She tapped a pointed claw against her lip, the motion jerky and unnatural.
“I’m afraid if there’s any of her left, she’s lost in the shattered remains of her mind, darling,” she drawled, then laughed.
“A fortunate consequence of our first experiment. But I must admit, our second one packs an icy punch. A better following too.”
Following?
We knew they wanted souls, and Ridigar chose to become a demon, but did they convince others too?
By Ronen’s spiking anxiety, I had a feeling they had.
The demon—not Ni—grinned.
“It’s interesting how the promise of power and freedom from punishment and torture can turn a tormented soul. Don’t you think?”
She approached her cell bars, her claws clicking against the metal as she wrapped her hands around them.
“And the temptation would’ve never been possible without the help of our pretty, pretty princess.”
Her arm shot out at an unnatural speed, claw nicking my jaw as Ronen yanked me back and his sword slid free with a sharp shing.
He sliced off her arm without a thought.
The voice controlling Ni snickered, unfazed by the pain.
“I hope you enjoy the front-row seat to Hell’s destruction.”
“We won’t have to. Ridigar’s little failed assassination attempt led me closer than you think. Slipping in and out of the Eternal Forest. Clever,” Ronen bluffed.
Her cocky laughter paused for a quick second before she shook her head.
“You have no idea how we’re evading you, and you won’t until it’s far too late. I’ve seen it. Now, I have an army to return to. Farewell, darling.”
Ni started to collapse as if the voice had taken her strength.
Ichi’s blade thrust through her chest before she hit the ground.
“From Heaven to Hell. From hope to judgment. May your soul wait in the emptiness.”
Ichi ripped her blade free, and Ni’s demonic body slumped against the stone. A bright white light coalesced above the body before stretching and seeping into Ichi’s sword.
I had no words.
I understood Ni was a demon, but how Ichi had the strength to kill her shocked me.
“A Soul Sword,” Ronen breathed.
Ichi nodded.
“While yours is an inescapable prison, mine is a temporary tomb. It will hold souls of my choosing, existing without time, thought, or emotion until I release them.”
“Are you okay?” I searched her face, still not comprehending how she could be talking about her sword.
And Ronen—he seemed less shocked.
Sadly, I didn’t think death fazed him.
“Okay? No. Accepting? Yes. I did my duty to my sister by stealing her soul back before she could be disgraced anymore.”
“I don’t—”
Ichi touched my arm as if to comfort me.
Her honey-colored eye held sadness, but also something firm.
“Honor and sacrifice is our way. She would’ve wanted this. I tried to give you two time to gather information. I apologize for her marking you again, Princess.”
She bowed.
“Please don’t.”
Heavenly Hell.
She’d just shoved a sword in her demon sister’s chest and sucked her leftover soul into her tomb sword.
If that had been Oliver, I would’ve done anything in my power to rescue him.
“Your secret will never be spoken to another,” she assured.
This female.
I shook my head and hugged her.
Her body tensed beneath my abrupt touch.
“I’m sorry, Ichi.”
Her muscles eased the slightest bit, and I almost laugh-cried when she awkwardly patted my back.
“I will see her again. We’re twins.”
She made no sense to me, but I didn’t care.
She was a friend I never knew I needed.
I pulled back, and Ronen instantly touched my face, his shadows absorbing what little blood remained there.
“You bluffed her,” I said.
“Yes. And now I know where to allocate most of our patrols.”