The dragon thought so too.
I felt his mind push back. Push an image into mine. The view through Lucifer’s eyes as I came apart in his arms.
Love, his voice whispered in my head. Amo.
I smiled through the haze of tears. Yes. Love. You and me, Devil. You and me.
In our shared mental reflection of our time together, a tiny light, as small as the end of a wand, appeared. It flitted and hovered above us as we slept, finally settling on my abdomen and disappearing where it landed on my skin.
I sucked in a breath. Another hard shudder ran through Luc’s body. Rain sluiced down, washing away my blood.
Physically, I was too weak to even keep my eyes open any longer, but my heart was full.
I didn’t need to slay the dragon.
I only needed to love him.
Chapter Twenty-eight – The Sacred union
With a terrible howl of pain, the dragon stumbled back, jerking his horns from the Tree as well as my body.
My weak legs couldn’t support me even as my magic locked onto Lucifer and refused to let go. I fell, lifeless, to the ground.
The rain fell hard, creating a flood in the forest and rising around my body. My vision went black and I heard the sound of the angels’ voices singing to me once more. I sank into it, reveling in the peace it promised.
And then rough hands gripped me, lifted me out of the rising water. “Oh, no, you don’t.” The hands shook me. “Wake up, dammit. You have to slay the dragon.”
Zayfeer. How had he broken through the ring of fire?
Didn’t really care. I was so tired. And too weak to fight off his manhandling. Even my magic was down for the count…I’d given all of it to Luc. “Leave me be,” I sputtered through the sheeting rain. “Let me die.”
“You’re an angel, dummy. You can’t die.”
Damn. “That’s too bad, cuz I’d really like to right now.”
“Yeah, well, tough feathers. I wanted to die a million times in my purgatory and I’m still here, so pull on your big girl wings and do your job. If you don’t slay the flippin’ dragon, I’m stuck here with you. Those bastard archangels left us.”
A fluttering sensation tickled my abdomen. At the same time, the ground—flood and all—trembled underneath me. I opened my eyes, craned my neck to see Luc.
Several yards away, he was morphing from the dragon back into himself. All beautiful, sinful, complicated Lucifer. Heaven’s Light Bearer. The Devil. Archangel and love of my life.
Love, in fact, of my entire existence. “I’ve already done my job.”
Z glanced over his shoulder, turned back to frown at me. “The beast still lives in him. If you don’t slay it, and the fears it symbolizes, you’ll never gain redemption. Never see Heaven again. We’ll all be stuck here in this poor excuse for purgatory.”
Poor Zayfeer. He would never understand. “No one can slay the dragon, traitor.” He flinched at the term. “But if you love it and accept it, rather than fighting against it, the beast will be soothed.”
“Soothed? That’s the best you got? Soothed?” He released me and sat back on his heels. “God bless us all to Hell. I’m stuck in purgatory with a bleeding-heart witch.”
“No redemption for either of us, I’m afraid, ‘cuz there’s no way I’m slaying the dragon and there’s no way you’re taking me to Heaven.”
He smirked and shrugged. “Hey, you can’t blame a Fallen for trying.”
Lucifer was in human form again. He lifted his head from the muddy water surrounding us and our eyes locked. The circle of fire flared high.
Rising to hands and knees, he crawled to me. His pupils were their normal black and magic oozed out of his pores, rushing toward me faster than he could crawl.
Shoving Zayfeer out of the way, Luc lifted me and helped me sit with my back to the Tree. His gaze never left mine as he covered the wound over my heart with his hand. Raw, undiluted power zapped my wound. My body arched and froze for a moment as his magic raced through me.
The hole in my heart shrunk and disappeared. The torn tendons and muscles knitted themselves back together. Bones repaired and the ragged skin smoothed over.
Luc started to say something, stopped. His eyes burned with sorrow. A hint of desperation.
I patted his hand where it rested over my heart. “It’s okay.”
He wiped water from his face, glanced at the sky and swore at God. “It is not okay.”
I tested my magic…it was weak, but it was there. I touched the Tree.
Shelter us.
Dozens of leaves burst forth from the highest branches, forming a canopy and cutting off the rain. “You were under a spell, Luc. You didn’t know what you were doing.”