Chapter 9
“You’ve kept your crown,” Kaito noted, his glance trailing over my forehead, then across my lower lip. He leaned in, tasting me, the sensual caress of his tongue making me relax.
“It usually disappears on its own,” I said, not sure why I had kept it.
“It’s linked to your need for protection of your demonic side,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“I imagine that part of you is feeling a little threatened, being there are demon-prejudiced assholes outside my door.” He lifted his shirt, revealing perfect abs marred by a searing white line where Sam had nicked him.
“Kaito,” I breathed, worried as I pressed my hands on his body.
“It’ll heal,” he assured me, wrapping his fingers over mine. “Although healing an injury of this nature will just take a little longer, I assume. I can’t say I’ve sustained a wound from a Blade of Justice, though. That’s a new experience.” He kissed me again. “I don’t have many of those.”
“Wounds?” I asked.
He tilted his head. “New experiences.”
“Hmm.”
Turning back to the closed door, I frowned, sensing my mates on the other side.
And they weren’t happy.
Running my fingers up the solid expanse of wood that stood between us, I looked at Kaito.
“Can they get through that?”
“Eventually.” He turned away, giving me a view of his back. “I hope you understand why I left, Koneko-chan. Your new… the angels are new to this world. They’re going to need time to process this.”
He couldn’t even say Virtues or mates. “Are you needing time to process this?”
His silence was my answer.
Before I could recover from the unexpected hurt, he dealt me another. “You shouldn’t have come, Lily.”
“Really?” My voice came out cold and hard. “I thought you wanted to talk to me. You hauled me in just seconds ago.”
“I only did that out of necessity.” He flicked a look at me from under a thick fringe of lashes.
“I just wanted to get you out of that situation. You’re now mated to not one, but two angels and you brought them straight here to meet me, a demon who is one of your Virtues.
They aren’t going to accept that anytime soon.
You should keep your distance from me for a while until they come to terms with it. ”
“Until they come to terms with it, or until you do?” I snapped.
He settled in the chair behind his desk without another word.
Did he expect me to just leave?
Taking a step closer, I stared at him, willing him to look at me, but he kept his head bowed as he looked through the paperwork that filled the wide surface of his desk.
“Is there something you need, Lily?”
Deep inside, where I could feel him through our mate-bond, I could sense the swell of emotion he fought to hide. If it wasn’t for that, this feigned disinterest would have broken me.
I clung to the anger burning through me—anger would keep me going.
“Lily? Do you need something?”
The edge in his voice had me narrowing my eyes on him.
He lifted a brow. “If you do, say so. Otherwise, take your angels and go. I have work to do.”
“Work,” I echoed, looking back at the desk between us. The temptation to upend the damn thing and make him look at me was nearly overwhelming.
“Yes, work.” It was almost a snarl. “Save for your two demons and your two angels, the rest of your Virtues are out of the fight for now and we need to find other options or Lucifer wins. So are you going to tell me what you need so I can find those damn options?”
The words hit like a blow and I focused on the desk as I fought back tears. Something caught my eye and I tugged out one of the scrolls, pulling it out until I could unroll it fully.
The ache instead faded into the background for a few brief moments as I found myself looking at a detailed map of the Underworld, although the entirety of it wasn’t mapped out.
As I went to hold down the edge so I could see it clearly, I realized there was another large parchment under this one.
Separating the two, I found that the second one showed the Enchanted Forest.
“Where did these come from? Did you have them the whole time?”
“No.” He tugged them from my hands and I relinquished them without looking at him. “I’ve been working on them for a while now.” He spread them out on his desk, jaw tight as he scrutinized them. “I wanted to get it all down while the memories were fresh.”
“You did these from memory?” For a brief moment, the sting of his brush-off was forgotten as I moved to stand next to him. Kaito’s intelligence was a keen thing, but this was amazing.
When I went to tell him, though, the words faded away. The hard set of his jaw, the unreadable expression on his face, the way he wouldn’t look at me, I barely recognized him as the sweet, loving Virtue he’d been for so long.
“Has Calamity affected you?” I asked. He was the only one who hadn’t ended up falling under the powerful effects but maybe it had just been more subtle, taken a longer time.
“Nobody can completely escape the effects of Calamity.”
I waited for him to explain but there was nothing else.
The lingering hurt caused by how he’d left me, anger for the distance he kept pushing between us, sharpened my tone.
“Why did you leave me alone, Kaito? You told me you’d wait for me while I went to find my other Virtues. But you left me alone. Why?”
“You weren’t alone.” He finally met my gaze, but his expression remained cool and distant. “There was no threat to you there and it took you no time to find the twins. You were in and out in an instant.”
Time ran differently in Purgatory. It most certainly hadn’t been an instant for me, but it explained why Kaito might not have been so concerned if I had just walked into the tower, and a moment later appeared in the dust that remained.
“I waited until I knew you were close, then I came back here,” he said.
“I knew they could get you safely back to me, meanwhile, there’s a war to fight, for us, for you.
There’s no time to waste, Lily.” On top of that, those two out there hate our kind.
The last thing they needed upon being freed was to come face to face with a demon of my caliber. ”
He raked me with a quick, hot look, gaze lingering on my wings before turning back to his desk.
That look left me feeling exposed and raw, but I tried again. “I know what you’re doing—you’re angry and upset, probably scared, just like I am, so you’re burying yourself in work so you don’t have to face how you’re feeling. But you don’t have to do this alone, Kaito. I’m right here.”
His fingers closed into fists, the blue flames burning hotter, brighter before he pulled back on the angry flash of his power.
“Lily, I had to learn how to live without you, how to do all of this without you for a year. You suddenly reappearing doesn’t undo that fact.
It doesn’t undo the pain or the loneliness.
It doesn’t change the truth that we all had to learn how to live without you. ”
The words hit like a blow and almost sent me reeling.
Somehow, I stayed on my feet. Somehow, I kept my features blank. And somehow, when I spoke, I kept my voice steady. “Did you really learn to live without me?”
Kaito doesn’t answer. Shoulders rigid and spine straight, he kept his focus on the papers in front of him. The seconds ticked away.
Feeling helpless, I started to turn.
That was when he spoke. “Was there another reason you came to me? You had to know that two angels mated to you wouldn’t take kindly to me. You’re not stupid, Koneko-chan.”
At least he gave me that much credit.
I almost told him there had been a time when I hadn’t needed a reason to come to him. But I wasn’t sure I’d like his response to the comment. Swallowing, I explained what had happened earlier, how Cole had reached out to me.
“I need to talk to him. I know, in my gut, that he’ll have a better guess at what Lucifer is up to than anyone. But there’s no way I can actually fall asleep, not right now.” I hesitated before asking, “Can you help?”
“Are you certain Cole has anything to offer?”
Blowing out a heavy sigh, I shoved my hands through my hair.
Tangles caught my fingers and I wished desperately for the luxury of a long hot bath, soaking away sore muscles and scrubbing all the dirt and sweat from the past few days.
But we were fighting for our lives—fighting for the lives of my mates, and those in all the realms. If Lucifer won…
Pushing the thought away, I focused on Kaito again. “Lucifer has been one step ahead the entire time. We need to be unpredictable. We need to do something Lucifer thinks we’ll never be willing to do.”
“Working with Cole would definitely be an unpredictable step.” Kaito straightened and turned to face me, eyes slightly narrowed. Several uncomfortable seconds passed, then he gave a sharp nod and went behind his desk, retrieving a dark blue glass vial.
I’d seen vials like it before. He used them to hold spells, the opaque glass enspelled to prevent accidental activation of whatever magic was placed in the vial.
Kaito stared at the vial intently. After several seconds, it started to glow and my skin felt tight, responding to the increased magical energy humming through the air.
As I watched, Kaito touched the tip of one finger to the vial’s opening. Blue flames funneled down the vial’s neck, a vivid glow behind the opaque glass that faded quickly.
I could still feel the effects of the power he’d used and vaguely I realized I knew that energy. It was evil—pure evil. Kaito had been digesting evil to build his strength. Now, he could actually create it.
“You’ll need the twins.” He sealed the vial and lifted his gaze to mine.
“Any particular reason why?”
“Protection.” Still holding the vial, he bent over his desk and started to write.
Once he finished, he rolled the piece of paper up, secured it, then gave it to me.
“You’ll be vulnerable once you’re in a trance.
That leaves you open to an attack on the physical plane, as well as attacks on the astral plane to those who can sense you.
Cole remains a threat and he isn’t the only one.
You must tell the twins what you’re doing so they can be prepared.
” His jaw tightened. “If Cole tries to attack, the twins can protect you. I’m no match for him. They are.”
I barely knew the twins, but I had no doubt they were lethal, especially against demons.
Perhaps Cole would finally meet his match.
I held out my hand for the vial.
Kaito yanked it back. “Promise me, Lily. You’ll let the twins know what you’re doing, let them know the risks.” Perhaps he didn’t like them, but he trusted them to protect me better than he could.
“Fine.” I took the vial from him, hesitating, but he returned to his place behind his massive desk.
The obvious decision to put distance between us left me aching, but I wouldn’t let it show. Turning my back on him, I started for the door.
“Be easy on them, Lily.”
I looked at him over my shoulder. “What?”
“You heard me.” He rubbed the back of his neck and for a moment, he looked almost…
normal. “I don’t like them, but they were locked away for a long time.
They only had each other. They’re suffering, even if they don’t let it show.
Their minds are… fractured. You’re the only one who can help them heal. ”
Kaito often knew more than he let on. It didn’t surprise me that he could place himself in the twins shoes and give me advice to do the right thing, for me, for all of us.
“I will,” I promised before slipping outside and leaving Kaito alone.
Blowing out a hard breath, I looked up to face them, ready to take on their reactions and deal with them.
But the hall in front of me was empty.
“Great,” I muttered. “Now where have those two angels wandered off to?”