Those damp eyes flicked to my face, then darted away. “Um,” was all she said.
After a moment, I stepped closer and leaned against the closest wall. She stared at her fingers, her knuckles white from the grip she held on herself.
“I haven’t had a chance to say this, but I’m sorry about Levi,” I said. “He was a good angel.”
“He was,” she whispered. “I just don’t understand how I missed the signs. He died, and I…didn’t know.”
None of us had. Somehow, Lucifer had infiltrated our group perfectly. We’d been so focused on killing the dragon and Sable’s death that we hadn’t noticed anything else. And Lucifer was the perfect monster. Disguising himself was a skill he’d always done well.
“He started calling her Lilith,” Calyx muttered. “That should have been the first sign we noticed.”
Understanding dawned, and I raked a rough hand down my face. Hehadstarted calling her Lilith. How could I not have realized?
“He encouraged her every step of the way,” Eliza added. “And every time she succeeded, he told her he was proud of her. But that had seemed so normal. So Levi.”
Lucifer had just been playing a role, but he’d likely been curious himself—curious what his daughter could accomplish. He’d always been disappointed in what he’d always called her“meager abilities” when she was younger. It must have thrilled him to see her growth, to finally have someone he could mold in his image.
“Levi and I had only just…started,” Eliza continued quietly. “We were only together once, the night before Sable’s death. After that, he became more intense. Or rather, Lucifer did, I guess. Not physically, thank goodness—we never—but emotionally. He started pushing me to make a commitment, and I never questioned why. I just thought it was because we didn’t know if we would survive this war. And I was so head over heels in love that I didn’t see the truth. I should have known better, should haveseenthe manipulation.”
“Eliza—” Calyx started.
She huffed a bitter laugh, cutting him off. “It’s ironic, really. I’m a siren. My powers literally lure people in. But this time, I was the one lured in.”
“Berating yourself for not seeing the signs isn’t going to accomplish anything,” I said gently. “Lucifer is—was—an expert manipulator. No one expected him to seamlessly infiltrate the group as Levi.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Eliza said.
“No, I don’t imagine it does,” I said. Levi was more than justa lost allyto her.
“Time is the only thing that will,” Calyx assured her, his voice stripped of its usual edge.
Eliza gave a short, rough laugh. “Time,” she muttered, like the word itself hurt. She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes and drew in a shaky breath.
Calyx shifted his weight beside her. “He conned us all. Not just you.”
Her mouth twisted. “But you didn’t love him.”
“And neither did you,” Calyx said, insightful for once. “You loved Levi. You never loved Lucifer. You fell for a lie. A trick.”
I had a feeling nothing we said would help. Truly, there wasn’t much we could do about it other than giving Eliza space to grieve and heal.
Quiet footsteps approached, and I instinctively turned. My hand immediately fell to my side, only to remember I wasn’t armed. Right. Because we didn’t need to be anymore. But old habits died hard.
My gaze shot to the end of the corridor, only to find a rumpled-looking Lily. Her dark hair spilled loose over her shoulders, and she wore the simple, thin shift I’d helped her change into. Curled against her neck, half draped over her shoulder, was Purrgatory. He lifted his head and turned it toward us, his green eyes luminous in the dim light, and gave a soft mrrp as if unimpressed by Lily’s lack of attention.
Because her attention was on me. And at the sight of her beautiful celestial-blue eyes, every anxious knot in my body loosened. I wasn’t sure I’d ever forget the way she looked when the darkness possessed her. Demonic, monstrous, and one-thousand percent not Lily.
I instantly closed the distance between us and took her into my arms, holding her as tightly as the slightly annoyed cat would allow. She tucked her head against my chest, right beneath my chin. Exactly where she belonged.
“I thought you were resting,” I said at last, my voice soft.
“I was,” Lily answered. “But then I woke up and you weren’t there, so I came to find you.”
“Where’s Vol?”
“Sleeping,” she said. “I didn’t want to disturb him.” She pulled back from me to glance at her friend, and her expression shuttered. “Oh, Eliza.”
Lily’s voice was soft with sympathy, and that was all it took for the siren to break. Her breath hitched, so she ducked her head and covered her face as if she could hold back her tears bysheer will. A small, broken sound slipped between her fingers anyway.
