Chapter 38
Jasper had never been this excited, scared, and exhilarated in his entire life. All at once. He reached for Savannah’s hand. “What do you need, darling?”
Someone jerked him away. “She needs you to step back a second, Daddy.” The goddess shoved him aside but reassuringly squeezed his shoulder. When he made to protest, she added, “Just let me check on her and the baby first and then you can sit by her and hold her hand. She’ll need you.” But before Diana turned her attention to Savannah, she snarled at Lucifer. “You”—she pointed at him with venom in her eyes—“get the fuck out of here.”
With a shrug as if it was nothing amiss, just a casual moment in any day, at any time, Lucifer twirled around and strolled out to the balcony. “Call me if you need anything, my dear.”
Okay. What the fuck was it with those two?
After a few minutes of being kept away from Savannah while the goddess checked on her condition, she swept the bed curtains aside and invited him to sit down. “There, you see, all is going to be fine.”
Jasper would’ve felt better if Diana hadn’t cast a furtive glance toward the balcony. “Will he be back?”
Diana flashed a brilliant smile. “Not if he knows what is good for him.”
He liked this woman… goddess… whatever. She had spunk and if she could keep the big bad boogeyman in check, then she deserved his respect. Not that he had too much time to dwell on his instinctive admiration for her as an ear-shattering scream burst from Savannah that rattled everything in the room. All the vases on the mantel crashed to the floor. The crystals hanging from an ornate chandelier shattered, tiny shards pinging on the marble.
Everything that happened next was a blur. Being a first-time father, Jasper expected this labor thing to last a while. Instead, within a matter of seconds it seemed, Savannah was crushing his hand then suddenly her grip went limp the moment a gushing sound replaced her cries followed shortly thereafter by the high-pitched wailing of his son.
Jasper’s heart stopped. The air caught in his lungs. It was like the entire world had gone still just before everything came to life in uproarious color and high-definition sound. When Diana placed the squiggling infant in his arms, he felt truly alive for the first time.
“Savannah, he’s beautiful!” He held the child close then turned to place him in her arms, expecting to see her radiant smile.
Even after spending months in Lucifer’s keeping inside his not-so-secret castle nestled in the Egyptian desert, Savannah’s skin had remained a luminous golden hue from all her years working out in the sunshine with the rodeo. Now…her skin was the shade of the surrounding marble, her eyes were closed with dark lashes a stark contrast against her cheeks, and her lips were curved up in the slightest of smiles.
Of course, she must be exhausted. Even if the birth had seemed to take no time to him, it must’ve been an eternity to her. As the baby’s cries reduced to a gurgling whimper, the quiet of the room boomed in Jasper’s ears. It was too quiet. That’s when the truth struck him.
Diana pushed him aside gently then tugged him off the bed. “Take your son. Now. There’s no time to waste. You must leave this instant.” She made a sigil in the air with her index finger. It sparkled with iridescence—shimmers of pink, blue, purple, and silver. As the sigil faded, a swirling portal formed again on the wall behind the bed this time. “I swear to you, all will be fine. You must trust me. Never lose faith.” She shoved him toward the portal before he regained his senses, before he could grab Savannah to take with him. In a split moment, the marbled room disappeared in a whirlwind of colors, sucking him and his son into a vortex.
When he next opened his eyes, he was back in the cabin holding his son. Maeve and Thomas stared at him with shock and confusion. They were still there. He was there. His unnamed child, too. But none of that mattered now that Savannah was gone.
***
“Interesting chess move, my dear.” Lucifer sat on the bed where Savannah still lay, her eyes closed, her chest no longer rising and falling. His very presence annoyed Diana. If he hadn’t shown up, everything could’ve gone so much more smoothly. But the bastard had ruined it all…again. She would’ve had time to explain the situation to Jasper instead of rushing him off before Lucifer had a chance to grab the child. Poor man was grieving, but not for long if she had any say in the matter. “The child really must be worth something if you would go to all this trouble to keep him from me. Even so far as to murder his dear mommy.” He laughed without any humor.
“You still have this all wrong, as usual.” She refused to face him. She knew if she did, he’d read her thoughts and know the truth. A truth she’d protected for millennia. Could she keep the secret, even at the price of Savannah’s life, at the price of Savannah’s child being caught up in a harrowing prophecy he had no business being involved in? To protect the guardian angel, his lady love, and their beautiful son…could she part with the one bit of her heart still remaining?
“You have said that a couple of times now which makes me believe you know much more than you are letting on.” He brushed a strand of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. “Diana, we can have no secrets from each other. Not after all this time.”
“I know what you think that child is destined to become, and I am telling you, in all honesty, you are wrong.”
“But he is born with the blood of the gods and angels. Surely, that meets the criteria for the one chosen to deliver this world and many more into my hands.” His voice took on an air of glee.
Yes, that would be what he wanted. But that particular prophesized child—of goddess and angel—had been born long ago. She’d sacrificed everything to protect him then. Could she do the same now when an innocent child was involved?
Turning to face him, Diana stepped so close to Lucifer their breaths intermingled and the flame in the depths of his irises sparked to life. Her heart thundered in her chest. She knew one misstep could mean violent retribution when it came to keeping secrets from him. “I give you my oath, Savannah and Jasper’s child is NOT the one you seek.”
Lucifer stared into Diana’s eyes, probing her very soul for the truth. Seeming to find what he was looking for; he planted a chaste kiss on the tip of her nose. “All right, darling. I believe you.” He pivoted away toward the open balcony. “The search continues then.” Just before the curtains swished behind him, he turned back. “Do not be out past your curfew tonight. You have tried my patience once too many times since our bargain was struck. I would hate to burden you with the consequences of a breach of our contract.”
Diana grabbed the closest thing to her—a porcelain statue of the god, Apollo—and threw it at him, but he’d already vanished. “Bastard!”
Swiping her sweaty palms on her thighs, she took a deep inhale before sprinting to the bed where Savannah lay. “All right, sleeping beauty. Time to wake up and get back to your family.”