Demetri hops down with a grunt. “My gift to you for your earthly adventure.”
“Thank you.” I crook a brow his way. “I accept. Is this how you plan to kill me? Bucking me off a horse that I love?”
His lips curve into a smile. “There are worse ways to die.”
“Come now, you know the only way to truly rid me off the planet is by fire. You’re no fool.” I glower at him. “I take that back. You are very much a fool.”
His expression grows serious. “That I am. I allowed you to slip through my fingers, and now look where we are. Warring for people neither of us cares for.”
“I care for them,” I quickly correct. “They belong to me. God has his armies, and now I have charges of my own. It’s a privilege to serve the Master, and with an entire league at my fingertips.”
He nods, his expression still uncharacteristically somber. “Those in the celestial high seat will govern the land, and I with you as their celestial cohort.”
I frown over at him. “We both know it will be Sector Marshall by my side.”
Demetri kicks a stone into the crystal lake. “What is this fascination you have with Dudley? I can no more stand to hear his name than I can to see you groveling for his affection.”
A sharp laugh bites from me. “Oh my dear Demetri. I am not groveling for anyone’s affection. Perhaps you’re conveying your own actions as of late.” My lips curve deep into my cheeks. “Nonetheless, he is a specimen. And that is precisely why I shall gift him to my sweet daughter.” The words trill from me. “I know I shall.” That sly grin of mine only widens. “My daughter shall bear children with a near perfect Celestra. And, when the time is right, with a perfect Sector as well. She will create a new form of Nephilim, a sublime creation that will surpass the powers, the authority gifted to that unwarranted breed.”
Demetri’s chest trembles with a laugh. “Then perhaps I shall arrange a Fem for her to have children with as well? Someone handsome, irresistible, the very one I choose to rule over my people. They shall be a mirror of our love.”
A surge of anger rises in me. “Demetri.” I close my eyes just to shield him from my sight. “We’ve fallen so far so fast, and it’s all your wicked doing.”
His fingers caress my cheek. “We could have it all back. Just say the word and we will end this futile game right now. I will rule with you—side by side, you and I.”
I bear my eyes into his and look into the darkest corner of his mind.
A sigh draws from me. “Your great deception won’t work.”
“Of course, it will. It will work so well, it will deceive your child as well.” He studies me with a mesmerizing appreciation. “We will be family, bonded by our grandchildren. How very wonderful it will be. Perhaps the granddaughter we share will become the next in line after your own daughter? Her powers will know no limit—her strength only magnified because of your own.”
A laugh catches in my throat. “That fabled granddaughter won’t see the light of day should you forge her into existence. Nothing or no one will stand in the formation of my daughter’s pure lineage—nor the lineage she shall hand down. My child will have a daughter herself. And that child will be the fruit of a pure union. There will be no seed of wickedness in her—much like the Garden of Eden prior to the moment you cast a shadow in it.”
He tilts his head away from me. “You’ve planned this, haven’t you?” His left eye comes shy of winking. “You planted the seed in my soul to usher the angels to the daughters of men so that you could form a new people, one that will work under you for all eternity. Your own underlings—your own people. That would make you akin to the Master, now wouldn’t it?”
“How grandiose your own delusions are. You caused the plague. I simply channeled it where I needed it to go, tempered it. I was gifted authority over the fates of humans and these beasts are no different.”
“Ah, but they must be. After all, you’re hand-selecting them for your private service—the inner circle of which will be those born of your own bloodline. You have plans for these people, these beasts as you call them. They will be your treasured possessions.”
“Yes.” Any trace of joy bleeds from my face. “And your delusion—how very cruel to cause your own child to believe he should be a gatekeeper in Hell.”
A dry laugh rumbles his chest. “You have extracted my deepest thoughts, and, of course, you would be accurate.”
“Demetri, the Master needs no such thing. The agony your child will go through to think he could be eternally separated from the ones he loves is unfathomable.”
“Separated from your daughter—their children. One of which you’ve already all but killed.”
I close my eyes a moment. “Don’t charge me with that. The human body can’t be trusted.”
“No.” He gives Shaddai a pat over the side. “It cannot. Neither can those who reside in them.”
I take in a deep breath and hold the scent of the lilacs inside of me.
A heavy sigh expels from me. “Your deception, though cruel, will be a powerful promoter of your nefarious will. No doubt your son will move celestial mountains to gain eternity with his beloved.” I bow my head his way. “You have proven to be a worthy opponent.”
“Did you ever doubt my love for you?”
“No.” I lift my chin. “I doubted mine for you.”
