"Go fuck yourself." She grabbed a heavy-looking metal cross from an entryway table and flung it at me.
Me. The Lord of Hell.
"Stop." A black coil of essence shot from my hand and caught the item mere inches from my cheekbone. "Perhaps I've been too lax with you all these years."
Her defiance and unwillingness to hear me out made my temper rise.
"Perhaps you're not as powerful as you think," she sneered.
"Do you forget who I am, what I can do?"
Those lovely brown eyes, framed by long black lashes, widened a fraction and she took a step backward.
I pushed forward. "I would never allow such an action by anyone else. They would burn merely at thethoughtof raising a hand against me."
Her lips thinned. "Thank you for the reminder of your capability for cruelty. I needed to hear it."
"When have I ever been cruel to you, Anna?" I stretched my wings, knowing how impressive a backdrop they created.
Papers on an old desk jammed against the wall spiraled into the air on the gust of wind caused by my sudden movement.
That simmering anger rose higher, becoming a rolling boil in my blood, pulling every shadow in the room to me, eager to unleash destruction.
"I have given you so much, from the money ensuring your needs were met as you grew up, to the gift of sight." I reached out and gripped her upper arms, pulling her against my chest. "You have defied me so many times, yet Ineverlaid a hand on you nor rose my voice."
She fisted her hands against me and stared up at my face. A dangerous glint shone from her irises. "You are insane. You have literally made my life a living hell, you demon bastard."
I ground my teeth together and gave myself a few seconds to collect my thoughts. "I punished those men because I thought…"
Just tell her I'm sorry, that's all I must do.The words would not leave my mouth. I apologized tono one.
"Because you thought I'd betrayed you?" Fresh tears pooled in her eyes. "You truly have no shame, do you?"
I deliberately released her and ran a hand through my hair. If I had any chance of saving whatever it was we'd had, this was the defining moment. Would it really be so bad to admit that, just maybe, Ihadbeen wrong.
That gulf between us kept stretching, its rate exponential and ever expanding.
"I'm sorry."
I hadn't come here to show Anna my anger. I'd come here to repair the damage I'd done, to show her my sorrow.
"Sorry? Do you believe I'll just take your begrudging apology and let you back into my life again?" She shook her head and let out a condescending laugh.
Perhaps I have made a grave error in my judgment of our situation.
Sure, I did do those things she accused me of, such as killing Jason and maiming Ryan, but I said I was sorry. What else could I do?
"Lucian, you could tell me you're sorry until I died, and I would still hate you."
Her words were a spiked arrow straight to my heart. My body broke out in sweat.
Hate? She hates me?I knew what I'd done hadn't been good—bad in fact—but I didn't expect it to make her hate me.
She turned in the small room as if looking for something.
"But I didn't know they weren't your boyfriends. I thought—"
"Thought what? That I'd betrayed you?" She bent toward a shabby nightstand next to her narrow bed, then yanked open a drawer.
