My muscles shook from the rage racing through my blood.
He froze, and his black eyes widened. "I…I care for you, Anna, and couldn't stay away, no matter how hard I've tried."
"Is that so?" I stepped closer to his body and looked up at his face. "You care about mesomuch you killed and tortured my friends. If that's a sign of yourcare, I'd rather die."
He scowled and pulled his arm out of my grasp. "I fucked up, but you don't know the things I'm doing to fix it." His jet-black irises searched mine as I made no move to respond. "I debased myself in front of God. Do you know how much that hurt?"
"Oh, boohoo. Am I supposed to feel sorry for the devil because he had to meet his enemy?" I didn't quite understand what he was talking about and really didn't care. "Youhurtme, Lucian, and you destroyed my friends."
"But—"
"You abandoned me when I needed you most, and now you come back begging me to be your friend with just an apology? As if things could ever be the same between us?"
His shoulders slumped, and something like pain flashed across his face. "I'm sorry. Yes, Ihavedone terrible things, but I'm trying to be better. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
I shook my head. "You just don't get it, do you? I guess we humans are nothing more than playthings to angels and demons; silly mortal beings with a momentary span of existence only good for suffering and killing, as you proved with Ryan and Jason." I went to my tiptoes to feel taller, while narrowing my attention to his face. "Tell me, did you take Jason's soul to Hell so you could torment his soul even after death?"
My stomach churned at the thought. It had been something lying quietly at the back of my mind I'd always shoved away.
"You're more to me than just a human, Anna." He reached a hand toward my cheek but stopped. "I didn't torture Jason. I sent him straight to heaven."
"What?" His confession sent a shockwave through my nerves. Instead of Lucian spending years of revenge on my friend, he'd…what? Let him go? Just like that?
Lucian lifted a shoulder. "He's with God, or maybe reborn—I don't know."
"What about Ryan?" Was Lucian telling the truth?
He quirked an eyebrow. "He's still alive. I did not kill him."
"But you cut out his tongue. So, did you heal him?" A lightness lifted from my shoulders. Whether it was guilt, or shame, or depression, I didn't know.
Hope, it's hope.
"I can't just make his tongue grow back." Lucian ran a hand through his perfectly combed hair.
"You're an angel. Once, long ago, you told me you had the power of life and death. How can you not heal him?"
"It is not a simple matter of telling cells to replicate and bind together. It's about connecting the life force and physical matter. And I highly doubt Jason has been holding onto his tongue in a cooler of ice somewhere."
"Could you reattach it with a cadaver tongue?" I wouldn't give up on Ryan, even if he never wanted to see me again.
It was crazy to even consider such an unbelievable scheme, especially since I knew nothing even remotely medical, but I didn't care.
Lucian scrunched his nose and moved his hand to rub his chin. Slowly, he turned in the small room, as if thinking.
Even with his wings hidden, his presence made the tiny area smaller.What does he see when he looks at me, at how I live?
I'd become so used to his otherworldly presence, that seeing him normal—looking like a human—felt odd.
"Hmm. Itcouldbe possible to regrow his tongue. Granted he's willing."
Hope sprouted in my heart like a tiny green plant pushing against the soil, desperate to reach the sun.Jason isn't suffering in Hell, and Ryan can be healed, like me.
The hate and sorrow I'd been holding for so long eased.
"Yes," he said, swiveling back to face me. "I could do that." His eyes roved my face. "If it would make you happy once more."
I shrugged, not wanting him to see how much his presence affected me. "It would be a start."
