“Then how did you find me?”
“Ah.” He cocked his head. “Torpidius. Remember him?”
A lazy, sly, malcontent demon she had nearly ended every time he’d come near her. She hadn’t regretted his defection to the rebellion. She had regretted not being able to recover his ability to track her before he’d snuck away. “Yes.”
“I was able to help myself to that nifty little trick of his.” He grimaced. “Unfortunately for Torpidius, he no longer has need of it.”
So, he’d ended Torpidius. No demon should have that power.
Belle palmed her dagger. That Ashe was dangerous she had no doubt, but he was a male presenting demon, and they always underestimated her. “You found me.” She shrugged. “What now?”
“Now,” he said in a cool, reasonable tone that put her even more on her guard. “I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”
His audacity almost made her laugh. “No.”
“When I say ask,” Ashe spread one palm up to her in a conciliatory gesture. “It’s more akin to insist.”
Belle brought up her blade. They all forgot that her diminutive form concealed a hell prince. “Then I must, not so regretfully, decline.”
“Belle.” Ashe’s face looked grave. “You are coming with me. All that remains undecided is if you do so peacefully or by force.”
Lucifer ignored Wrath glancing at him for what had to be the hundredth time and kept his attention on the meeting. In Wrath’s council chamber, a fine, if rather medieval, looking war room, he, Shade, Ramiel, Raphael, Haziel, Vexia and peeping Wrath stood around the massive central table as Eddie spoke.
“I’m not asking for your permission.” Eddie glared at Shade. “I am the only one who can repair the seals.”
Raphael looked apologetic as he said, “She’s right about that.”
“Were you here when she tried last time?” Shade rounded on Raphael, fury flashing in his eyes. “Did you see what it did to her?”
“I was there.” Wrath folded his arms. “And there is no fucking way I’m taking a chance on the seals draining the life out of her.”
“With respect, Wrath.” Ramiel held up a sheath of papers.
Ramiel speaking to Wrath with respect was novel enough to keep Lucifer’s attention straying to Bianca and what he was going to do about the vexing situation.
Shade didn’t want to risk the woman he loved, and it stirred a strange, inexplicable feeling in Lucifer. If he didn’t know himself better, he would almost call it empathy. It couldn’t be empathy, however, because that would mean he related to how Shade felt, and in order to do that, he would have to be in love. He wasn’t in love. Far from it.
He was Lucifer. Hell prince of pride. King of Hell. Prince of Deceivers. He didn’t love. Well, not in the romantic sense anyway. He supposed what he felt for Raphael could be described as love.
Wrath scowled at Ramiel. “With respect what?”
“Vexia and I have been researching what we know of Nephilim.” Ramiel tapped his papers and grimaced. “Admittedly not much, because…”
“Because you wiped us out before you could study us,” Eddie snapped.
“Quite.” Vexia cleared her throat. “But we have discovered that Nephilim power grows as it is used. When they…er…you first start to use your power, you are much weaker. A bit like the way a human is born into infancy and grows to adulthood gaining strength, abilities, and reasoning.”
Eddie blinked at Vexia. “Really? Because I do feel stronger. Like I’m getting more powerful.”
“Exactly.” Vexia smiled. “There is even a suggestion that your power will merge with your being and be able to respond to your needs.” She caught them all staring at her and lowered her head. “It’s all quite fascinating.”
“Eddie has only known about her power for a few months.” Shade pounded the table. “And I don’t need to remind any of you that as the seals weaken, they become more dangerous to work with.”
“We don’t have any choice.” Eddie threw up her hands. “We have to keep at least one functioning.” She thrust an imperious finger in the air. “As I understand it, if we can keep one seal this side of broken, we can stave off the end of days.”
Raphael smiled at Eddie. “Another excellent point.” He turned to Ramiel. “Working with Nephilim is proving most rewarding. I’ve no idea how we came up with the ridiculous idea of getting rid of them.”
Eddie looked befuddled. “Thank you. I think.”
“According to this text.” Ramiel smoothed his papers. “Nephilim have the ability to continue to grow in power. I believe concerns developed about whether that power would continue to grow beyond our ability to contain it.”
“So, you’re confirming that I’m stronger?” Eddie turned her intent gaze on Ramiel.
“Almost certainly,” Ramiel said.
Wrath growled. “Almost certainly is not good enough for me.”
Apart from the fraternal love he felt for Raphael, Lucifer supposed he loved his brother. They didn’t see eye to eye, but he was ready to stand with Wrath to protect his daughter and Lucifer’s niece. So, then there was familial love.
He was fond of Eddie and would like to know her better. Was that the beginning of another being he could claim to love? He wasn’t sure.
“It’s not your decision either.” Eddie rounded on Wrath and her face softened. “I’m sorry, Dad. I know you mean well, but you can’t make decisions like this for me, any more than Shade can.”
“He loves you.” Haziel laid her hand on Wrath’s where it rested on the table. “He can’t bear the idea of something awful happening to you again.”
And then there was that kind of love. The one that existed between Haziel and Wrath. The same love that was between Eddie and Shade. Romantic love. That was the sort of love he didn’t feel, and most assuredly not toward a human witch. It was unthinkable.
When he thought of Bianca, which he didn’t do more than two or three times a day, or hour, or whatever, he certainly felt affection and fondness. He had this overwhelming sense that she was his, even though she refused to recognize the fact. He enjoyed their banter and the way she went toe to toe with him. Her smile could take him out at the knees. The smell of lilies always made him turn and look for her. The color of those eyes and the way they would flash when she was angry or amorous held him captive. Her courage awed him, and her resilience inspired his admiration. Just as her stubbornness made him want to bellow and her willful disregard for her own safety infuriated him. He definitely felt strongly about her, and if he were forced to admit it, he missed her.
The argument about Eddie fixing the seals raged on around him. Lucifer already knew the outcome. Eddie would win, because as much as Shade and Wrath fought to protect her, Eddie was strong willed and determined, and the two hell princes who loved her would never deny her.
Besides, rant and rail as they did, they no longer had any choice. Eddie had called that true. At least one seal needed to hold, and she was the only one who could do that. With one horseman risen and another coming up faster than a dandelion in a lawn, they couldn’t afford to wait for Michael to verify and find the angelic Nephilim. Lucifer agreed with Eddie’s point as well that she was stronger. Her power signature had increased almost incomprehensibly, and if Wrath and Shade would stop for a second and think, they would sense it as clearly as everyone else did. She had managed a partial repair to the wrath seal, and she really was their only hope right now.
“Then it is decided.” Ramiel stood. “We take Eddie to the wrath seal. Between Wrath and I, we do what we can to mitigate its effect. The rest of you hold her power stable.”
Shade grumbled but got to his feet. “I’m trusting you with the most precious part of myself,” he said to Ramiel and Wrath.
“Understood.” Ramiel nodded.
The change in Ramiel was inconceivable. His arrogant posturing and pontificating seemed to have disappeared along with Haziel. In this war council with them, sat a humbler archangel and a kinder one. Ramiel had loved Haziel and lost her.
The most precious part of himself—the phrase Shade had used.
No, Lucifer did not love like that—could not love like that. Then why was there this growing part inside him that felt like the best part of him was missing?
Chapter Forty-One
