“Haglette.” He ached to hold her and soothe her. “We didn’t kill Christen. That wasn’t Christen anymore.” He edged closer to her. “It’s over, darling.”
“No.” The word was torn from the depth of her. “It will never be over.”
By heaven, she had been so strong through every part of their journey. Fearlessly, she had faced terror, gore, and danger, and laughed in its face.
He had forgotten she was merely human. Just a woman propelled by a necessity she had no part in creating into extraordinary circumstances.
Moonlight glinted on the tears tracking down her face.
Lucifer reached out to wipe them away.
“No.” She reared back from him. “Don’t touch me.” As an afterthought, she whispered, “Please.”
“She’s in shock,” Raphael murmured.
In all his millions of years of existence, Lucifer had never felt so helpless.
“Take me home,” Bianca said in an awful little wooden voice.
“Go.” Raphael prodded him toward Bianca. “I will take care of this.”
“Of course.” Lucifer motioned for Bianca to precede him. “I’ll take you home now.”
He had to fix this—fucking fix her—his wonderful, clever, brave, beautiful haglette.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Eddie fired up the lighting board for that night’s performance. On stage, a volunteer was presetting the props. All as if it was same old, same old. This had been her life up until recently, and she’d been happy with that life. Okay, maybe not happy, but definitely content…ish.
The problem for Eddie with having made her decision about Shade was that now she wanted to act on that decision. Except the fate of the fucking world kept getting in their way.
She’d already waited an obscenely long time. All those wasted opportunities haunted her. All the opportunities she’d had to jump Shade’s bones, and she’d turned them down. What a fucking idiot, because now her and Dee’s tiny living quarters were heaving at the seams.
Dee and Eddie kept the Paradise Players doing their thing. The Importance of Being Earnest was its normal sold out with Sophia causing a stir amongst their annual crowd. Despite the praise Sophia was getting, she managed to keep Lillian happy. That right there was proof that archangels could perform miracles.
Eddie finished her precheck and left the lighting booth.
The dressing room door opened as she approached the backstage area.
“Edsie.” Lillian dimpled at her. “All ready for tonight?”
“Yup.” Like she was every night.
Lillian pulled her into a perfume-drenched hug. “Of course you are. We know we can always rely on our Edsie.”
Eddie liberated herself from a cloud of vanilla and tuberose. “Full house again tonight.”
“Wonderful.” Lillian clapped and twinkled at her. “Earnest is always so popular with the patrons.”
Which is how Peter and Lillian got it on the Paradise Player’s play selection each year. Mind you, this year’s departure from the norm into Macbeth hadn’t gone the way anyone had expected.
The barest trace of a frown line crinkled between Lillian’s eyes. “Actually, Edsie, I’m glad I ran into you.”
Which, in Lillian speak, meant she’d been lying in wait for her, ensuring it was Eddie and not Dee in the lighting booth. Dee had no tolerance for Lillian’s “artistic temperament.”
“Oh?” Eddie kept it noncommittal.
“Yes.” Lillian glanced around them. “But not here. Come inside.”
She followed Lillian into the dressing room.
The other actors were due in the next fifteen minutes, but for now, it was her and Lillian—what joy!
“Edsie.” Lillian’s green eyes widened. “I don’t want to alarm you, but I can’t stay silent a moment longer.”
Eddie braced for anything from Lillian being upstaged to alien abduction. “Okay.”
“You know I’m not one to talk about myself.” Lillian pressed her perfectly manicured nails—bare of polish for her latest role—to her chest.
“Sure,” Eddie said.
“But I have…special abilities.” Lillian gave her a long, weighty look. “Unusual abilities of the mystic kind.”
It would be the first Eddie had seen or heard of that, but sure, why not? They already had resident witches and visiting archangels and hell princes. Not to mention the marauding demons and her being Nephilim. “Mystical abilities?”
She still had to make sure the volunteers for front of house had arrived and were preparing the auditorium.
“Don’t press me for details.” Lillian held up one palm to stop a protest Eddie had no intention of making. She closed her eyes and breathed deep “I can offer you no tangible proof.” The hand on Lillian’s chest fisted over her solar plexus. “But I feel it to be true, and these feelings are never wrong.”
A tingle of alarm shot through Eddie. They’d done what they could to conceal what was going on from the theatre volunteers and patrons, but it was possible someone had noticed something. “What do you feel to be true, Lillian?”
Opening her eyes, Lillian leaned in. “There is a strange vibe in the theatre.”
“Vibe?” Relief made her want to giggle.
“Vibe,” Lillian intoned. “I think Rodney is up to something. Something…nefarious.”
Rodney was always up to something. Rodney lived for the somethings he could be up to. But nefarious sounded like a stretch. “Right.” Eddie nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Thank you, Edsie.” Lillian’s eyes misted. “You are always so supportive and understanding.”
Voices of the remaining cast chattered from outside.
Lillian pressed a finger to her lips. “Let’s keep this our little secret.”
“No worries.” Eddie was becoming an expert secret keeper. “Break a leg tonight.”
