“And replace it with what?” Sophia frowned.
“Nature abhors a vacuum,” Celeste murmured.
“We think.” Bianca indicated herself and Celeste. “That it’s a question of replace it with who.” She tapped the Codex. “And that’s what we need to find out.”
The impact of repairing Lucifer’s seal had been the hardest on Eddie. Perhaps because it was her third repair, or perhaps because she didn’t share a deeper connection with him like she did with Wrath and Shade, but the repair of the pride seal had drained Eddie to the point where she’d slept for twelve hours.
Ramiel and Wrath had helped heal her, and Shade had left with her not ten minutes earlier. Ramiel had assured them she was fine, but Wrath and Shade had refused to even consider attempting another repair without the hell princes there to assist.
“Which puts the pressure on all of us to get our parts done,” Raphael said lounging on an ice-blue linen chaise and quaffing another glass of the excellent port Lucifer kept for him. “We need to stop the rest of this fuckery before the seals grow so disastrously weak again.”
When Ramiel and Vexia had left, it had been all Lucifer could do not to ask them to swing by Sophia’s realm and check on Bianca for him. “Or find that angelic Nephilim.”
“Or that.” Raphael sighed. “Michael and Ava are on that.”
That distracted him from his thoughts. “They’re working together?”
“Uh, no.” Raphael chuckled. “Michael is trying to hide what he’s up to, and Ava is determined to find him and take over from him.”
Fuck! They all needed to stop the infighting and the bullshit. Surely, if anything was wrong with Bianca, someone would have told him. Or maybe not. Maybe they all thought he didn’t deserve to know after his last interaction with Bianca. She was his though, of course he deserved to know. The best would be if he went to Sophia’s realm and saw for himself.
“Are you listening to me?” Raphael raised his eyebrow.
Lucifer studied his immaculate gardens, but even they didn’t give him a sense of peace. “Yes.”
She would refuse to see him. What was she doing with her time? His haglette didn’t like being idle. She must be happy to have Leona back. He’d bet his left ball, and his right, that nobody had bothered to tell her he’d given up Ashe to get Leona for her. The most inexplicable part of the Ashe business was that it didn’t feel like a sacrifice, so he had no reason to expect praise for it.
With the defection of so many of his horde, only a handful of demons were in the gardens raking, trimming, and weeding his painstakingly created paradise. He didn’t think Bianca had seen the gardens when she’d been there. She hadn’t even had Eggs Benedict.
Like most witches, Bianca loved nature, but she would love it in its wildest and purest form, and not his manicured and maintained gardens. She would hate the controlled rigidity.
“Lucifer.” Raphael joined him at the window. “You’re deep in thought.”
“Do you remember, Rafe, why I designed the garden like this?” Not a stray leaf or petal, not one grass blade longer than its fellow.
Raphael gave him a quizzical look. “You crave order. You always have done.”
“Do you like my gardens?” Raphael had never said.
Sipping his port, Raphael studied the gardens. “I never gave it much thought. They’re like the rest of your demesne, very…neat.”
“Hmm.” He’d always loved the exacting tidiness of his demesne, insisted on it from his horde.
“Lucifer?” Raphael stared at him. “Why are we talking about your gardens?”
He’d rather stab his tongue than admit to anyone how often his thoughts veered to his haglette, so he said, “I was wondering how others saw it.”
“Right.” Raphael gave him a searching stare. “Others in general, or others in particular?”
When in doubt, deny. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you don’t,” Raphael drawled.
“Indeed.” His thoughts were making him maudlin, drifting too close to that empty darkness within him. “Let’s discuss what we need to do next.”
“I still think we should concentrate on finding Ashe.” Raphael leaned a shoulder on the white pillar beside the window. “Levi and Zeb are doing reconnaissance. Wrath has the armies getting ready. Michael and Ava are on that angelic Nephilim. Gabriel is looking for Belle.”
“Ashe is no longer a major player.” And Lucifer couldn’t be bothered to pursue his vengeance anymore.
Raphael nodded. “But I have a feeling Ashe is the key to finding Indolex, and that’s a fucker I definitely want to have a conversation with.”
“Good.” He tried to work up some enthusiasm. “Let’s find Ashe and Indolex.”
“We found him before.” Raphael frowned. “Are you worried we won’t find him again?”
“No.”
“And you’re not upset you gave him up?” Raphael finished the port in his glass.
Raphael was digging for something, and Lucifer wished he’d come out and say it without this song and dance routine. “Where are you going with this?”
“All you’ve wanted since Ashe defected is to find him and punish him. And now.” Raphael clicked his fingers. “You give him up, and you’re not even upset.”
“I did it to save the witch.” He hadn’t even hesitated. Hadn’t even needed to think about it.
“Yes, you did.” Raphael nodded. “Because you promised Emma you would find her mother.”
“Exactly.” The knowing, smug look on Raphael’s face was asking to be punched.
“Here’s the thing about that.” Raphael smirked. “You promised that witchling you would find her mother. You knew better than to promise you would bring her back alive.”
Lucifer couldn’t believe this was coming from soft-hearted Raphael. “You think I should have let Leona die?”
“We’ve all had to make tough decisions for the good of creation as a whole,” Raphael said. “Nobody likes doing it, but sometimes it has to be done. Yet you chose to save one witch instead of capturing a key player in the demon rebellion.”
Raphael had been waiting like a bloated toad to have this conversation with him. Only the urgency of the seal repair had kept him at bay this long. “Your point being?”
“You didn’t save Leona for Emma.” Raphael pinned him with a hard gaze. “If you’d chosen Ashe over Leona, as much as I would have hated it, I would have understood.”
“Only a prick would have let that woman die.”
Raphael laughed. “Which you tell anyone who will listen that you are.”
Hell’s armpit, if it went on much longer, they may as well braid each other’s hair and get matching mani pedis. “Not that much of a prick.”
“You used to be.” Raphael strolled over to the decanters and filled his glass. “I can name you hundreds of arguments you and I have had in similar situations. You always choose the rational path. I’m always the one arguing for sentiment.” He draped himself over the chaise. “In all the ages we have been partners, I have never seen you let sentiment influence your decisions.” He toasted Lucifer with a smug grin. “At least you never did before.”
