Lucifer’s darkness blade disappeared like vanishing smoke. He spread his hands and bowed his head, as if to say he’d play nice. I looked at Jo and narrowed my eyes a little. She sighed and put her sword on the entry table.
“May I have a moment alone with Hannah?” Lucifer asked. I was surprised by how polite his voice had become. “I promise I won’t steal her away.”
“Absolutely not,” Jo declared. “Out of the question.”
I turned to her. “I’ll be fine. I spent a week with him and I’m unharmed, aren’t I? And if I want answers, how else can I get them if I don’t talk to him?”
“Fine.” She huffed as she narrowed her eyes at Lucifer over my shoulder. “You can use the library, but I’ll be in the living room. And leave the door open!”
I rolled my eyes. What was I, a teenager with her first boyfriend?
I led Lucifer into the library, where he eyed all the books I’d pulled out. He picked up the copy of Dante’s Inferno and snorted, shaking his head as he tossed it back in the pile.
“I see you’ve been doing some research,” he said, his voice dripping with disdain.
“Is it true?” I asked in a low voice. “Am I Eve?”
“Yes, it’s true.” He arched an eyebrow. “What else did Jophiel tell you?”
“Jophiel?” To me she’d always been Jo. I’d just assumed it was short for Joanna all this time. Now I was beginning to realize I didn’t know a single thing about her.
“Indeed. Your ‘sister’ is an Archangel. Did she mention that?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to contain my frustration. “No, she left that part out.”
“Of course she did.” He reached for me, but I quickly stepped back, and he paused. “Are you afraid of me?”
“No, I just…” I turned away and drew in a breath. “I have a lot of questions.”
He sank down in the chair I was sitting in earlier and leaned back, then gestured lazily at me. “Ask away, darling.”
“Is it true that I was married to Adam before you? That you abducted me and made me your mate?”
He let out a sharp laugh. “Abducted is a strong word. Trust me, you weren’t happy being married to Adam. He was still in love with his first wife, Lilith, and he had a horrible temper. He’s the kind of man who charms you with flowers, poems, and promises, and only once he has you in his grasp does he reveal his dark side.”
“And you’re not the same?”
“No, I'm completely up front about my villainous nature.” He smirked at me as he leaned forward. “You ran away with me to escape Adam.”
I swallowed hard. “But he followed us. And then…he killed me.”
Lucifer’s eyes darkened. “He did.”
“And this curse? Is that real too?” I clenched my throat, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. “Is my fate to die over and over at Adam’s hand?”
He rose to his feet and stepped toward me, with pain and sadness written across his face. “I wish I could tell you that wasn’t true, but I never lie to you, Hannah.” He reached up to touch my cheek, and this time I didn’t flinch away. “I’ve watched you die hundreds of times, and each time my heart shatters into a million pieces. My only solace is that I know one day you’ll return to me, but it’s little comfort as you take your last breath in my arms.” Darkness swirled around him like angry tentacles. “And then I usually rip that fucker’s heart out.”
An endless cycle of love and death, for all eternity. I blinked back the emotions threatening to drown me. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He brushed his thumb under my eye, catching a tear before it fell. “It wasn’t the right time. You were just beginning to accept the supernatural world and your place in it as my mate. How could I add this burden on top of everything else? I planned to tell you about the curse eventually, but only when you were ready.”
“I’m not sure it’s possible to ever be ready for a revelation like this.” I drew in a ragged breath. “Do you know where Adam is now? Do you think he’s behind the attacks?”
“I don’t know.” Tension tightened the corners of Lucifer’s mouth. “My people have been looking for him, but haven’t found anything yet. All we know is that he must be human, since he’s reborn in a pair with you. It seems unlikely he could be behind the attacks unless he’s sided with some of the Archdemons somehow. Though he has gotten very crafty over the years…” His voice trailed off as he considered, but then he met my eyes again. “It’s more likely the Archdemons are trying to overthrow me again. It happens now and then, but my display at the ball should make them reconsider.”
I shuddered a little at the memory. The darkness holding the traitors in place, the blue hellfire that turned them to ash, the way everyone bowed… And the worst part of all, how it had secretly thrilled me, deep down, to see them punished.
“It bothered you, I see,” he said, cocking his head. “When I couldn’t find you at the ball, I feared the worst, but then I suspected you might have run away. I was almost relieved when I’d learned Jophiel had taken you.”
“I did run away.” I stepped back from him, my eyes wide. “I’m not sure what to make of you, Lucifer. History doesn’t exactly paint you in the best light. And in every one of these—” I indicated my large pile of books. “They tell the same story, over and over—that the devil is the personification of evil.”
“They also say I have horns and a pitchfork, and that’s obviously not true.” He cast a dismissive glance at my pile of books. “History was written by the angels, who have long sought control over Earth. They’ve hated me ever since I rebuffed their control and fought for humans to have free will. They paint me as the villain, making me their scapegoat, blaming all evil on me. As if any one person could have such power.”
He sounded bitter, but there was something else in his voice too. Vulnerability. Pain. Despite all my hesitations and fears, my heart ached for him. If he was telling the truth and they’d made him out to be this horrible monster that he wasn’t, that was incredibly sad. It would be a hard life to live, and lonely too. Especially in the long years while he waited for me to be reborn.
But was Lucifer telling the truth? Or was he deceiving me? I couldn’t tell. I’d learned so much about myself and the world over the past eight days, but I wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
“Lucifer I… I need some time to think.”
He moved close and touched my face again, with the lightest of caresses. “I know this is a lot for you to take in, but it will all make sense in time. Come back with me to the penthouse. You know in your soul we’re meant to be together, even if you’re uncertain about everything else. Your place is by my side, ruling as my dark queen.”
I pulled back, out of his grip, and shook my head. “I’m not ready for that. It’s too much. Please just…give me some space for now.”
“You want me to leave.”
“Yes. Go. Please. Before this gets any harder.”
He searched my eyes, like he didn’t want to believe what I was saying, but then he bowed his head and stepped back. Without another word, thick darkness swirled around him, the shadows dancing and claiming him as their king.
When it cleared, he was gone.
27
Lucifer
Space. Hannah wanted space.
Fine. I could give her that. For now.
But that didn’t mean my business here was finished.
Using my power to become darkness, I slipped through Jophiel’s extravagant house until I found her office. White walls, white distressed desk, white chair… What a bore Jophiel was. If she hadn’t been an Archangel and the CEO of Aether Industries, she’d hardly be worth my notice. Except now it seemed she was apparently Hannah’s sister, though that was impossible. To my knowledge, Hannah had never been an angel in any of her past lives, and she certainly wasn’t one now. Her wings would have long emerged by now if she had been—plus I would have sensed it.
I pushed back Jophiel’s white chair and sat in it, then kicked my feet up on her desk, knowing the sight of me invading her space would drive her mad. It only took a few minutes of playing on my phone before she arrived.
She jumped when she saw me at her desk, and then her eyes narrowed with a look of pure, unadulterated hatred. “What do you want?”
The sight of her made my blood boil too, but I flashed her a devilish smile. “I want the truth. Isn’t that your area of expertise?”
Her mouth twitched at that. As an Ofanim, Jophiel was an angel of truth…and was one of the best at concealing it. All Archangels had a special, unique power—and Jophiel’s allowed her to erase or hide memories. “The truth will only hurt Hannah.”
“I’ll be the one to decide that.” I rose from her desk slowly, the shadows gathering behind me like menacing wings. “You stole some of my memories, didn’t you? Of a past life where Hannah was an angel. And your sister, apparently. Now you’re going to put them back.”