Chapter 48
“Son.” Proserpina’s voice feels too loud, even if she whispers.
I was scared before, but I’m terrified now. The shaking my body is doing is impossible to control, and if left unchecked, I’m sure I’d find myself in the floor in no time, ready to drill myself straight to the center of this world.
Now who’s the stupid one. Me. Clearly.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
“Amarah, shh.” Both of Lucifer’s hands come up to my cheeks, cradling my face and lifting my gaze to meet his. “You’re worrying me, it’s alright. She… she already knows Kayn is here.”
The moment he leans in and presses his lips to mine, I feel a strange sensation of calm. It’s like the moment a candle holds steady. No flickering, no shaking. Just a quiet, unwavering flame.
I close my eyes, grabbing onto his shirt and allowing the feeling of his mouth on mine to settle me.
Only after a few moments, he pulls me back, before placing a few kisses against my cheek. “Answer me first. Why don’t you want me to tell him?”
Swallowing roughly, I shake my head. “I desecrated those kids. Even if they were already dead.” My voice is raw, and I feel too exposed to the truth. It’s too close, too real. “It doesn’t matter the purpose of—”
He chuckles, cutting me off.
He’s… laughing?
“W-What?” My singular word is breathy and confused.
“The fact you think he cares is… endearing.” His lips are on mine in a fleeting kiss. “Take a deep breath. That is a trivial problem right now when you’ve just told me a Yldarwright was going to summon my father and was working for Vaeloris.”
I mean, it’s not trivial to me. I’ve fallen hard for that Vampire, and imagining him leaving me is something my brain can’t fathom.
“Lucifer, dear.” His mother clears her throat. “You failed to tell me the connection between your partners, but suppose this answers that. All the pieces are falling into place now.”
He swipes both of his thumbs across my cheeks, and steps closer to me. “He won’t care, Amarah.” His voice is back to the gentle-calm he’s had for me. “I have so many questions.”
I bite my lip and decide not to lie to him. “I can’t answer them. I wish I could.”
When his brows pinch, I know that telling him that hurts. He must also be aware, with my reaction just seconds ago, I won’t be telling Kayn either. Regardless of what they think or feel for me, there are some secrets worth dying with.
“Your father is going to be calling for you soon, son.” Proserpina is beside us now, her weary gaze on me. “I do not know what he will ask of you, Amarah, but you must agree to it.”
Stepping away from them both, I shake my head.
“Nothing good comes from kings, or Gods, or rulers asking anything of my kind.” My tone matches my demeanor: unwavering.
“Politicians. Greedy men. Deceitful women. You’re all the same.
Deals upon deals. Bargains. Promises. It never ends with you people.
One thing turns into twenty, into a million. ”
When I take in a breath I look up to Lucifer with a pleading gaze. “Allow me to leave. Take me back to the gate with Kayn and come with us.”
His shoulders drop as he looks to his mother, who hasn’t turned away from me.
“He will just come for you,” she offers with a sorrowful sigh. “If you take his son, telling him no will be the least of your problems.”
My stomach ties into knots as I continue to stare at him, waiting for him to meet my gaze once more. He doesn’t. Just simply seeks answers in the side of her face.
“I’m not good here. I may not be able to protect myself in the mortal world, but I can protect you and Kayn…”
“From my father?” he says while finally looking at me. “He’s… Dollface, just appease him with a lie for now. We will go to Kayn and talk with him then make a decision.”
“I am no weak woman. Belial, in Vendra’s world, he’ll bleed. Here? I will.” My lip trembles as I shake my head. “You ask me to… Lucifer. Do you know nothing of my people? Who do I serve?”
“Vendra.”
“I can’t lie to Belial. It would be turning against my God. I am a conduit to Vendra. I am hers.”
“She will forgive you!”
I shake my head and look at his mother. “You know what my people are. Don’t you?”
The corner of her lip pinches as she nods.
“Then you know why I cannot do that to Vendra.”
“Tell me, Amarah.” Lucifer grabs my arms and turns me to face him.
“I’m the one that will stand beside you, not her.
” His voice trails through the link. “Because as incredible as my mother is right now, her loyalty will always lie to my father and herself. The moment I leave, she will stand beside him. She is his.”
My nostrils flare, wanting to be defiant, but the look in his eyes—it’s pleading. Like he wants that same loyalty.
“I’m her conduit, Lucifer… the title means more than just being her vessel.”
“What does it mean then? Tell me so I can protect you.”
“You can protect me and Kayn by taking us to the mortal world and staying with us.”
His violet gaze flickers with gold flecks, and just as his mouth opens to speak, a loud gong explodes inside my skull. I gasp and clutch at my temples, fingers threading desperately through my hair.
My knees buckle, but Lucifer catches me before I hit the ground.
“I’ve got you,” he whispers against my temple. “Deep breaths… I’ve got you.”
“Lucifer.” Belial’s voice drowns out the ringing in my ears.
I lift my head, and the greenery that had surrounded us seconds before is gone, replaced by high, pointed arches that fan out and converge into soft, sculptural ribs.
Above us, clouds sweep across the ceiling in deep black and violent red, and I swear I see shadows crackle through them like lightning.
“It’s as though fate has been kind to me.” Belial’s deep, commanding voice vibrates through my skull. “Which is a first.”
“Tell me what my mother knows but I don’t. Now.” Lucifer’s in the link, and this isn’t a request. It’s a command.
When I look up at him, he’s got his glowing purple eyes hyper-focused behind me. I can only imagine that is where his father stands.
“I am a direct descendant of the first Yldarwright to ever exist on Earth.” That pulls his gaze down to me. “Vendra is deeply rooted into my very blood. Going against my God means far worse than whatever your father could do to me. I’d rather him kill me.”
“Son. It’s about time you and I revisited a previous deal.”
His lips part as his hold on me slackens. “I’m sorry. I’ve made my last deal. And it was with Kayn… To bring him to you, in exchange for him killing someone for me.”
“Who was he meant to kill?”
“Me. I was going to command him to kill me, Lucifer.”
“Son!” Belial shouts.
“What?!” The space around us drops into ice, and as shadows burst outward from him, the immediate area drains of all color. Power—more than I’ve ever felt—pours off Lucifer. He seethes, “You’ve taken enough from me. I’ll make no deal with you.”
“No?”
I turn slightly, staring at the monster who’s grown in size since I last saw him. His deep red skin glows faintly, his eyes swallowed in onyx, and the dual set of horns, a pair reminiscent to that of a goat, curl around his skull in a deliberate crown.
“You have no idea what I’ll offer you.”
“What for? The girl?” Lucifer snaps. “It’s not happening, regardless of what you—”
“The boy?”
My jaw locks, every muscle in my body going rigid as all the oxygen leaves my lungs at once.
“Take it”, I say quickly through the link, eyes squeezing shut so I don’t have to see his reaction.
“I could’ve sworn you weren’t stupid.” I don’t know how I find the strength not to cry. “Even if I trusted that he’d allow me to have Kayn…” Lucifer steps to my side, pulling me fully behind him, shielding me with his body. “There’s no part of me that wants to let you go.”
“You don’t even know me…” I whisper. The sound feels fragile, like I truly am the porcelain doll ready to crack.
“Then give me time to.”
Shadows crawl up my sides, rising like a cage to protect me.
“The answer is no,” Lucifer growls. “You may ask your request to her, but there will be no deal between us.”
Belial sighs, dropping his head to the side with utter boredom, and a wash of fear floods through me.
Boredom is so much worse than anger.
It means he regards all of this as a minor inconvenience. And I know I’m nothing more than a bug here. It’s exactly why I needed Lucifer to take me back to the mortal world if I have any chance of fighting.
“It isn’t as though I need your permission, anyway.” He looks away from his son and directly into my eyes as I peek around Luce. “I hadn’t known the love Vendra has for your kind until the Night of Emethye.”
I grip Lucifer’s bicep and press myself against his back.
“Or should I say, love for her conduit.”
“What do you want from Vendra?” I ask far more harshly than I probably should.
“So smart.” His smile is not friendly. It holds a wickedness that makes my skin crawl. “I need her to remove the protection spell your kind and she cast after the war.”
So many of my people died for that spell. Vendra herself was reduced to a voice in the wind, unable to return to the Vayl. No matter how much she loves me, my life would never be worth undoing that sacrifice.
“I can’t ask that of her,” I say, voice steadying. “Nor would my life be worth undoing what was done.”
“I’m sure images of the things I’d do to you would change her mind.”
“You will not touch her,” Lucifer seethes. As if anticipating an attack, he reaches back and wraps his arm fully around me. “Why do you need that? You want to kill Vaeloris. What does the mortal world have to do with that?”
“Everything, Lucifer.” I slip the words through our link, each one fractured by pain. “Do you know what the protection spell does?”
His silence tells me he doesn’t. For a place that has academies for the mortal world, he doesn’t know much about what maintains it.
“It keeps Belial and Vaeloris from stepping foot simultaneously on Earth. It prevents them from bringing war to that world.”
“He only wants to kill his brother, Amarah, I don’t understand…”