“My precious one, you need to listen to me.” He cupped the side of my face, and I jerked back again.
“You told me if Lothar ever learned who I was, if he one day got his memory back and knew I was his mate, there’d be dire consequences…but for who, Lucifer?” I demanded, my voice shaking as hard as I was.
He said nothing.
“For you, right? The dire consequences were you losing me, right?” I demanded louder.
“Losing you would destroy me,” he said roughly.
I shook my head. “You made me think it was my idea. You played me. You used Sera’s attempt on your throne back then to kill two birds with one stone. I have been devoted to you, protected and worshiped you, Lucifer, my entire life. You are my family, my king, my maker, the first being I ever loved.” I looked up at him, holding his beautiful yellow eyes, and my heart cracked in two. “I would have done anything for you, and I have, over and over again. I’ve given my body, my blood, devoted every moment of my life to you and what you wanted, yet you couldn’t let me have one thing for myself? You couldn’t let me have Lothar.”
He flinched, the first and only sign of real emotion. “Roxy, please?—”
“You have destroyed any chance Lothar and I had to be together. We have hurt each other beyond measure. He hates me now, because of you. He despises me. There is no future for us. You’ve ruined the rest of eternity for me, and you don’t even care. I would have laid down my life for you, Luci. Don’t you see, I would have remained your most devoted servant until the end of time. Loving Lothar doesn’t take away the love I have for you. They are not the same. You are my king and my family. Lothar is the love of my life.”
“Why do you think I sent you with Lothar on this mission? It is because I knew you could reawaken the bond between you both. Yes, I could have stepped in at any time while you and Lothar were away, but I let it play out, I stayed away because I knew the outcome. I wanted you to find your way back to each other. I regretted what I did to you both back then, and this was my chance to make things right.”
“I don’t believe you.”
He sucked in a breath.
I’d hurt him, but I wasn’t going to take it back.
“It’s the truth,” he said roughly.
“Even if I did believe you, it’s too little, too late,” I rasped.
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is. Because now I’ve lost both of you.”
“You will never lose me,” he said, his gaze wildly searching mine. “I’ll always be right here.”
“But that’s the thing, Luci, I won’t be.” I shook my head. “I’m already gone.”
“No.” His yellow eyes flared. “I won’t let you to leave.”
“The only way you’ll stop me, is killing me.”
He cupped my face, and this time I didn’t shove him away. “I was trying to make things right and I hurt you again. That is the last thing I wanted. I’ll do anything you want, Roxy, to fix this.”
Nothing could make this right. Nothing. Still, I gave him an answer, because time was running out. “Kill Seraphina.”
By the time we exited Hell, the city was in chaos. The power was down. Humans ran around looting and fighting. Fire alarms were going off, cars were left in the streets haphazardly, while demons prowled, taking advantage of the mayhem.
We ran toward the source of the surging power, until we were finally close.
Lucifer snarled when he saw Seraphina, glowing, her intense strength rolling off her.
“She isn’t this strong,” he bit out. “The angels did this. They increased her powers. Then those fuckers set her free.”
“The forgotten prophecy,” I yelled over the storm whipping around me.
His jaw hardened. “Yes. They want to change the course of fate.”
A roar reached me through the storm. Lothar. I searched for him, and my heart almost burst from my chest when I saw him. He was on his knees in front of Sera, his body at an odd angle, while his brothers and the knights blasted her with their power over and over again, trying to get Seraphina to release him.
Fury burned through me as I drew knives from the sheaths at my hips. I needed to move now, while she was distracted. “I’m going in. Be ready,” I said to Lucifer.
