Malachi had orchestrated this entire mutiny while I'd been gone, while I'dtrustedhim. Yes, I'd seen the way he'd always treated Cain, how envious he'd become when he'd learned I'd been the boy's father all along.
But I'd assumed he'd get over it. His place as one of my esteemed generals was an honor rarely bestowed.
Now my careless assumptions and confidence have backfired.
Cain stepped toward Malachi. "I'll just take that back." He plucked the key from Malachi's bound hand. "Can't have the likes of you sneaking into Heaven or thwarting Lucian. I mean, I know he's not the best when it comes to showing his feelings, but deep inside, I think he has a heart." Cain hiked a shoulder. "Besides, without him, our worlds will disappear, and I happen to enjoy my life now." He glance at Phoebe, who smiled in return.
"You are nothing, Cain.Nothing." Spit flew from Malachi's mouth and landed on the silver tattoo around Cain's eye.
"You are a spoiled brat." Cain wiped the spit from his face and flung it onto Malachi's bound body. "And to think I used to strive tobelike you." He shook his head and gave a soft laugh. "Pathetic."
"I have been with your father for eons and have only ever served him faithfully. I've been more of a son to him than youeverwill." His muscles strained against my bindings. "Ideserve this world, not you, not that little bitch, and certainly not him, not anymore." His defiant stare met mine. "He's proven he doesn't care about his so-calledChosen."
When I get through with him, he'llwishhe'd died.
I raised an eyebrow and reminded myself to stay calm, to remain controlled. "You will suffer as no one has ever suffered before, Malachi. You know the price of treason." I nodded to Cain, mentally telling him to keep a close eye on the fallen angel.
I then turned to Lilith. Her lily-white face seemed even paler. "Andyou, with your poisoned tongue and constant machinations for power. Youdarecome into my realm and try to take what is mine? To destroy the only person I would obliterate the universe for? The only woman I have ever genuinely loved?"
"It was all Malachi's plan," she whined in a high voice. "I had no choice but to help."
Of course she'll play the victim now.But I knew Lil, and she never did anything without weighing all options. She enjoyed her little mind fucks, manipulating others to get what she wanted.
"Silence!" I glanced at Samael, who'd propped himself against a back wall and watched. "What do you have to say,brother? Were you also in on this little coup?"
"I let themthinkso, but no. I'm pretty sure I'm smarter than Malachi. Besides," he said while picking at a nail. "You know I'm too lazy to join an uprising. I gave Malachi the key hoping to prove my sincerity while waiting for you to return, which took much longer than I expected. Then I blew the Horn of Heaven when he thought his plan had come to fruition. Minimal effort but maximum effect."
I could hear the truth in his words. If it hadn't been for his help, this could've turned out much worse.
A glass of wine formed in his hand and sipped, closing his eyelids as if relishing the taste. "Ah, much better. So good to not be powerless any longer." He pushed himself from the wall, tossed the glass to the floor where it tinkled as it broke. Giving an extravagant bow, he then went to his knees and pressed his forehead to the floor. "You are, and always will be, the true ruler of Hell. Your will is my will."
I walked to him and laid a hand on his head. "I'm extremely grateful for your loyalty and help." I turned to the crowd at my back, in various stages of regaining their feet.
"You have all disappointed me. Do you also wish to share Malachi and Lilith's unfortunate fate? Speak now, and I will give you counsel."Straight to the bottom of the Lake of Fire.
Several demons darted their stares from Malachi, to Lilith, then to me in confusion, but most understood what I truly asked for and immediately bowed. They murmured praise and devotion and swore their loyalty.
Those who hesitated seemed to come to an unanimous decision to follow the pack.
I'll need to keep closer tabs on the hesitant ones.
As furious as I felt, I could not place all the blame on those who'd defected. Malachihadbeen right in one thing: I'd been a mostly absent ruler lately.
That would change beginning now.
"Swear fealty to me once more—all of you—and I will forgive this transgression. But be warned, I will bind you with a new vow and you will bear my mark henceforth.Iam the appointed ruler." I swiveled to where Malachi stood, his body completely entombed in my black power with only his face and wings free. "Not this weak, pathetic Fallen who couldn't even keep my throne with help."
"Youneeded help to take it back." Malchi tipped his chin toward Cain and Phoebe.
"Do you know what the difference is between us?" I asked my subjects, pacing to stand behind Malachi's cocooned form. I grabbed the tops of his wing, where they met his shoulder blades, and watched the crowd. "Icareabout my duty. My power is not the prime focus of my existence."
Low conversation filled the air. A couple of the succubae, Jericha and her sister Jerilyn, licked their lips with excitement.
"But Malachi?" I sneered. "He only wants that which he cannot have. There is no driving force in him to seek a purpose other than envy and overpowering those he perceives as weak." With that, I ripped off his wings. Blood spurted across my throne and poured onto the floor.
His shriek of anguish bounced around the obsidian walls of my palace, and I smiled. Feathers floated in the air as he continued to roar, still completely trussed like a pig.
This is the true test. Do they still see me as Lucian the Ruler, or Lucian the Weak?
