She grit her teeth against the strain. “This doesn’t feel like respect.”
“Because it’s not,” he snapped. “If you don’t give it, neither do I. You toed the line when you compared me to my brother earlier, and now you’ve jumped that line into a pot of boiling water. I amnotlike my brother, but Iamequivalent in power.”
He abruptly released her, and Remi dropped to a crouch, glowering at him.
“Yes, I know your power,” she said, cold and calm. “I happen to have a portion of it, if you recall.”
Her eyes grew bright, a ruby cast overtaking her dark irises. For the second time today, red markings spread across her pale skin like spilled ink—a thick band across her eyes and the bridge of her nose, rough streaks from temples to jaw. The war paint of Wrath.
Lucifer hissed, a golden glow coming to his palms as he moved into a defensive stance. “Again? You must be joking.”
“I have no room for humor in this fury,” she spoke low, her voice husky with rage. “I’m tired of your ‘woe is me’ bullshit. You are not the only one who has lost or suffered, and you will not be the last.”
“Silence!” Lucifer roared, and he lunged.
Remiel dodged his reach, focusing on her anger and frustration, and using it to form a weapon. A glowing red light grew between her palms as she circled Lucifer, who kept his furious gaze trained on her and matched her step for step. The light spread, wrapping around her hands and taking the shape of a menacing pair of brass knuckles, spikes jutting from them as she clenched her fists.
“You plan to fight me, truly?”
Remi sneered. “You're overdue for an ass-kicking.”
He laughed hollowly and echoed her words from that morning. “You can try.”
Remi sprung forward without warning, bringing her fist up to catch Luce under the jaw while he was off his guard. He reeled back a step, then caught himself against the counter.
“I’ll succeed,” Remi said, eyes flashing.
“No,” Luce growled. “You will not.”
He brought his hands up, cupping her jaw like he might a lover, and his eyes and hands radiated golden light. He didn’t squeeze or make any movement, but Remiel gasped, sucking in gulps of air like she was drowning. The war paint faded from her pale skin. Her glowing weapons vanished in a puff of smoke. Luce released her and let her sink to the floor, where she curled over herself and struggled to regain her breath.
To Remi’s credit, she didn’t tremble or cry or even speak a single word. Luce turned his back on her, closing his eyes tightly and forcing the power to drain away. The golden aura faded to a slight shimmer before vanishing entirely, and when he opened his eyes, they had returned to their normal brown.
“Why do you push me like this, Remiel?” he sounded almost as old as he was, and the air seemed to hang on his shoulders with a tangible weight.
“Because someone needs to,” she said, surprisingly calm. Rag reached out a broad hand, and she slipped her smaller one into it, letting him lift her back onto her stool. “Someone has to be honest with you, and I can take the fallout, so I do.”
“You have no right to challenge me whenever my moods displease you.”
“Sometimes you need to face reality, Luci.”
An emotion somewhere between rage and disappointment glinted in his eyes.
“I am well aware of reality, Remiel.” He flexed his hands and curled them into fists, fighting the urge to lash out at something. “For this second infraction in a single day,yourreality for thenext month will be to take all of Camiel’s shifts at soul reception, in addition to your own.”
He spun on his heel and stormed out of the room without looking back, leaving a heavy silence in his wake.
Remi groaned, resting her head on the countertop. “I am so fucked.”
“You’re lucky that’s your only punishment,” Mags said, frowning at the cracks in the island. “He’s not in the best mental state right now; he could have killed you.”
“The Deadly Sins don’t break so easily,” Remi muttered darkly. “We earned that title for a reason, you know.”
“We can’t afford for him to go AWOL right now.” Rag laid a hand on Remi’s back, giving Mags a pleading look. “Surely you understand that.”
“Try to look at it from his perspective,” Mags countered, worrying her lip with her teeth. “He just learned that his son is trying toend the world. There’s a possibility here that we won’t be able to sway him from that path.”
“And then we’ll have to kill him,” Rag surmised bluntly, expression falling.
