Chapter 39 #2
I’m about to comfort her further when a groan breaks through the clearing and a bright white light floods the space. My attention snaps to Amarah just as her knees slam into the ground. A soft cry of pain escapes her.
I rush toward her, but the tree creature blocks my path. It doesn’t speak, just shakes its head.
“Generally, opening a portal to another realm is… difficult,” Zuhara says, stepping between me and the creature. Her growl rumbles, prompting an equally deep one from the guardian. “Not many of her kind can do this, Lucifer. It may kill her.”
“It will do no such thing,” the beast shouts. “The moment it opens, you will step through. Do not touch her.”
“Proserpina may get her mirror back sooner than expected.”
“Do not speak ill of our conduit. She is stronger than even your handler.”
Zuhara hisses, her hackles rising. “Overgrown weed.”
“Whipped pussy cat.”
I’m ready to end this pointless back-and-forth when the night suddenly turns to day—like someone flipped a switch. Shoving past both my Familiar and the tree, I see golden gates stretching open to a sunlit valley. It’s honestly hideous to look at but it’s exactly where I need to go.
As for Amarah… her arms shake violently, but her eyes are fixed on me.
“Go.” Her voice trembles. “Good luck, Lucifer.”
I hesitate. I can’t leave her like this.
“Go!” the creature roars at the back of my head, and I see the truth of it; every second she holds this rift open drains more from her. My instincts scream at me to stay, but I force myself forward, sprinting past her and hurling myself into the blistering warmth of the Valley of the Vayl.
Immediately, I turn back.
For a few seconds, I can still see the mortal world, and in that sliver of time, she collapses.
I hope you’ll be okay, dollface.
Unfortunately for me, I’ve got things to do. Starting with finding a certain Angel.
Present
I’m in a living nightmare.
How is it possible that the two people I’ve constantly thought about over the past several years and months are now standing in my room?
My room… in the fucking Beyond.
Kayn looks flabbergasted, and Amarah looks pissed.
I want to know who she is to him, and why every time he looks at her, it’s with the same eyes he gives me.
There’s no way, in my father’s name, that they’re together.
A pit forms in my stomach. Why is that so far-fetched? I mean, aside from the fact that she was supposed to be in prison.
I’d come back from the Vayl and immediately went looking for her. It had been years in the mortal world, only to find out she was being punished for what happened in a small town several miles north of where I met her. It wasn’t my business, but I knew down to my core it wasn’t her.
I returned here, to the Beyond, leaving the mortal world behind for good. I haven’t stepped foot back there since, because guilt, fear, and anger kept me from it.
She has every right to give me that confused look. Those eyes that want to hate me deserve to. They’re unfamiliar, and I definitely preferred the sunfire over the indigo ones that nearly mirror my own.
Zuhara stayed with Amarah after I’d left for the Vayl, saying she sensed my concern for the girl. That creature had said her family was under attack, and as hard as Amarah tried to stand, she was completely depleted.
Word of a group of Yldarwrights being slaughtered reached the Beyond not long after. Putting two and two together wasn’t difficult.
My request had depleted her, keeping her from getting to her people. She said yes for a fucking mirror.
“I have so many questions,” I finally say, cutting into their silent staring.
Kayn shifts, turning his shoulders toward me, and that same dominance that once drew me to him makes something deep inside me vibrate.
“You’ll answer mine first, Lucifer. Why did you leave?”
Bloody Beyond, he goes straight for the hardest question. I cross my arms in defiance, because honestly, he doesn’t get to walk in here and demand anything. This was reckless and dangerous and stupid…
But fuck, it’s good to see him.
And her, too, honestly. I’m glad she’s alright. At least—I think she is. The scar on her nose and chin says otherwise, but she’s alive and free.
Suppose that’s better than where she was before.
“I—”
Static crashes around the room as the Phantasm rips open. Zuhara lands hard, hissing. “He is coming.”
Dread floods my entire body as I lock eyes with Kayn. He’s as stubborn and resilient as he’s always been. He won’t leave willingly.
I could throw him back through the gates he came in from, or new ones.
I should.
But selfishly, I want the conversation he’s waited hundreds of years for—the one I’m terrified to have.
Snapping my attention to my Familiar, I gesture toward Kayn. “Take him into the Phantasm. Keep him safe.”
“Don’t you fucking—”
Zuhara cuts Kayn off by literally tackling him to the ground. With a loud oof, she lands on top of him. “I’ve missed you, big guy.”
She drags her long tongue across his face just as the portal opens to Hex, then quickly closes, swallowing them both.
“Kayn!!” Amarah shouts, rushing toward the spot where they vanished. She’s about to collapse to her knees when I draw my shadows around her, making her gasp.
“Sorry to do this to you, dollface, but you’ve put me in quite the predicament.”
With one strong pull, I yank her against me. My shadows—thick as smoke but stronger than Kayn’s fists—coil around her waist and throat.
I can feel my father approaching my room.
Mere moments to calculate a plan.
“Forgive me, hmm?”
“W-What’re you—”
I catch her chin, and before she can finish the question, I answer it. My lips crash into hers, and a new worry creeps up my spine. I’m certain someone will have to pry me off her to make me stop.