Chapter 42
DAISY
Istand frozen, staring at Ezra while Korithax slowly rises to his feet beside me. My pulse is hammering so hard I can feel it in my teeth.
“I said,” Korithax growls, voice low enough to tell me he’s still teetering on the edge of destruction. “How the fuck did you get here?” Korithax growls.
“The stupid fuck summoned me,” Lucifer mutters, still rubbing at his throat.
Every instinct in my body screams to run to Ezra.
To throw myself at him, grab him and check him over, make sure he’s real and alive.
But I don’t move. Because something else inside me is screaming louder.
To stay back. I don’t know if it’s fear or instinct, or whatever strange new awareness has been sharpened inside me lately, but it roots my feet to the floor.
Ezra feels… wrong. Not bad, not dangerous either. Just altered.
“Daze?” Ezra says softly, his burnt orange freckles stark against skin that’s gone too pale, green eyes wide with confusion and hurt. “What’s wrong?”
My throat is desert dry “You…” I swallow hard. “You feel wrong, Ez.”
His face falls for a second before he tries to school it, his sharp jaw tightening.
Lucifer groans dramatically and throws himself onto my bed like he owns the place.
He sprawls out with his back resting against the headboard, one leg crossed over the other, acting entirely bored with this reunion.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like this.
No polished, untouchable perfection. Just loose black trousers hanging low on his hips and a soft dark maroon cotton shirt, his dark hair mussed like someone had been tugging at it recently.
When he catches me looking, he grins. “I was summoned just after fucking the life out of the Shadowtongue,” he says casually, winking with a menacing look on his face. “Terrible timing, honestly.”
A startled laugh escapes me despite everything.
It bubbles up, obnoxiously loud and hysterical, half-stress, half-disbelief.
And then awareness hits me hard. I’m wearing Korithax’s shirt and nothing else.
Bare legs with no panties. And Korithax is standing beside me in nothing but boxers and a murderous expression.
Lucifer’s gaze flicks between us, delight brightening his crimson eyes. “I see someone else is freshly fucked. Good job on not killing her, Kori.”
Korithax doesn’t reply. Instead, he grips my wrist and drags me towards the closet.
“What are you doing?” I hiss, stumbling after him.
“You don’t have any fucking panties on,” he mutters, already rummaging through drawers with aggressive purpose. “And I know that fucker has been trying to rope you into a threesome.”
I laugh so hard it turns into a cough. “I promise you, I’d rather be in Kaelith’s dungeon again.”
Pain flashes across Korithax’s face, his hand stilling and shoulders locking, instantly making me regret my words. “Gods,” I rush. “Korithax, I’m sorry. Humour, it’s—”
“A coping mechanism,” he says stiffly, not looking at me. “I know.” He shoves a pair of panties into my hands. “It’s just not how I deal with things.”
“Yeah,” Lucifer calls from the bedroom. “You prefer trying to strangle people to death instead, asshole.”
There’s a beat of silence. Then to my immense relief, the corner of Korithax’s mouth twitches. It’s small. Barely there. But it’s enough to loosen the guilt from my chest just a fraction.
When we step back into the room, dressed and marginally more presentable, Ezra is still standing near the door, gnawing nervously at his thumb with a deep frown set between his auburn brows. Lucifer, meanwhile, looks far too comfortable lounging on my bed.
“Great, now I have to burn those sheets,” I mutter.
“Oh, please. You’ll be sniffing them the second I leave.” Lucifer grins, all bright white teeth and menace.
I don’t even bother looking at him. Instead, I flick my wrist, a sharp line of white flame following to race across the sheets. Lucifer yelps and launches himself off the mattress, barely avoiding the sparks as they snap and hiss across the fabric. I giggle under my breath, deeply satisfied.
“He’s rubbing off on you, bitch,” he mutters, wiping out the creases from his shirt with wounded dignity.
I finally turn to Ezra, though I still can’t make myself cross the distance between us.
“Daisy, I swear,” he says, hands lifting a little in surrender. “I’m not a threat to you. Never.”
His green eyes shimmer with hurt and confusion, making my heart ache for him.
I take him in properly. Since the last time I saw him, some of his spark has returned.
Faint glitter dusts his eyelids like stardust. His bright ginger hair has grown long enough to be twisted into a thick, messy bun high on his head, loose strands curling around his beautiful face.
He’s wearing colour again too—the jacket I made him for Christmas last year, bright and loud and very Ezra.
“I know,” I whisper. And I do know. Gods, I do. But something is seriously… off.
“Oh yeah, about that,” Lucifer cuts in, brushing invisible lint from himself. “He summoned me. And I’ll give credit where it’s due, he used every trick in the book. That call was strong enough I couldn’t have ignored it if I wanted to.”
Ezra beams like he’s proud of himself. It’s so purely him that a reluctant smile tugs at my mouth.
“When I arrived,” Lucifer continues, and his tone shifts into something I’m not used to hearing from him—seriousness.
“I knew something was off immediately. Luckily, for my little pony over there, I recognised him.” His eyes slide to Ezra “Otherwise, I’d have snapped his neck before he could blink. ”
My stomach twists as an image of him doing just that flashes through my brain unbidden.
“Tell her,” Lucifer says. “She deserves to hear it from you.”
Ezra swallows hard, refusing to meet my eyes. “I was at home,” he says quietly. “In my kitchen. Just... normal. Everything was normal.”
My hands curl into fists hearing the fear in his tone.
“The lights flickered,” he continues. “Just once. And when they came back on…” He breaks off, breath hitching as his face drains of colour all over again. “There was a head on the table,” he whispers.
My heart slams against my ribs, my ears ringing as my palms instantly dampen.
“My head,” Ezra whispers, voice shaking. “Same ginger hair. Same face. Everything.”
Lucifer’s voice slips in, calm and horrifying clinical. “It was an illusion. But an excellent one.”
Ezra nods, eyes glassy. “It blinked,” he breathes. “It fucking blinked, Daisy.”
My vision blurs as my head swims.
“And then,” he says, voice barely audible, “the demon spoke. Not through the head. From behind me.”
Korithax stiffens beside me so sharply, I can feel it down the bond as every muscle in him coils tight.
“It told me to tell you something,” Ezra says. He finally looks at me then, eyes full of terror. “It said—”
He swallows hard, shaking his head as his eyes shimmer with tears. Lucifer clears his throat and finishes for him.
“Tell the Queen and her resurrected Child of Ruin, that when we are done, this is what every single person she loves will look like.”
The room goes deathly still. Ezra nods, tears spilling freely now. “It said they weren’t waiting anymore.”
My chest caves in. Earth isn’t safe. Ezra isn’t safe.
No one is safe. I turn slowly to Korithax.
Every conflicting thought I’d had, every whispered maybe he should leave, maybe it’s safer if he stays away from this war—it dies instantly.
They’re not afraid of him. They’re afraid of us together.
They know he’s back, and they’re panicking.
“You can’t keep running away,” I say quietly.
Korithax meets my eyes. Something dark and resolute settles over his features.
“I know,” he says solemnly.
Ezra is still shaking. He’s trying to hide it by standing straighter with his shoulders squared like he always does when he’s scared. But I can see it in the way his fingers keep flexing, in the way his gaze keeps flicking to the door like he’s expecting another monster to walk through it.
I step closer to him, the wrongness that surrounds him finally becoming clear.
It was never him—it was the residue of that evil being clinging to him like smoke.
Whatever the hell was in that apartment had stained the air so potently around him, that it clung to his aura, tarnishing his safe, calming presence.
“You’re not going back,” I say quietly.
Ezra blinks. “What?”
“You’re staying here,” I repeat with a firmness to my tone that my kingdom would know not to argue against. “With me. In Hell.”
Lucifer lets out a low whistle. “Bold move, Sunshine.”
Ezra’s eyes widen. “Daisy, I can’t just—Earth is—my life is there. My flat, my—”
“Was there,” I cut in, not unkindly. “They know where you are, Ez. They found you. That wasn’t a scare tactic—that was a message.”
Korithax shifts beside me, silent but coiled tight. I can feel the apprehension down the bond, but he says nothing. He knows this choice is mine.
“I won’t let them use you against me,” I continue, keeping my chin raised and shoulders squared. “And I won’t let them kill you to make a point.”
Ezra swallows hard. “So, I’m… trapped?”
“No,” I soften. “You’re protected.”
Lucifer snorts. “Potato, potahto.”
I shoot him a glare sharp enough to flay skin.
He lifts both his hands in defence. “Hey, I’m on your side. Mostly.”
Ezra exhales slowly, running a hand down his face. “Okay,” he says after a moment. “Okay. I trust you.”
Those three words mean more to me than he will ever understand.
I cross the final distance and pull him into my arms. His familiar marshmallow scent wraps around me instantly, sweet and comforting and achingly human.
He hugs me back hard, resting his chin atop of my head.
And for one fragile moment of peace, I just let myself breathe.
After a few moments, I pull away and turn sharply. “Lucifer, I need you to notify Aran. Now. Tell him a full council meeting needs to happen immediately.”