“Rag!” Glory looked scandalized.
He shrugged. “It’s the truth. We all need to wrap our minds around the possibility, because this isn’t the little boy you sang to sleep, Glory. This isn’t the kid who baked cookies with Mags.”
“Shut up,” Remi groaned again. “I hate that you’re right; shut the hell up.”
Glory wrapped her arms around herself, as if to ward off the idea. “No, heisright. We need to consider all the outcomes.”
“I refuse,” Mags said quietly, then pushed back her seat. “I will not acceptthatuntil we’ve exhausted all other options.”
“The Armor,” Glory sighed.
“Yes,” Mags laid her hand on the ancient book, stroking the space where there had once been a title. “I’m going to talk to Luce about it.”
“And hopefully drag him out of whatever hole he’s crawled into,” Remi muttered.
“Knock it off,” Rag cuffed her on the ear. “You’re just mad because you didn’t get as many hits in this time.”
“Whatever.” She buried her head in her arms.
Mags smiled fondly. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell him you still love him.”
“I do not love him,” the muffled retort was weak at best.
“Sure sweetie,” Glory patted her shoulder gently. “We all definitely believe you.”
“Fuck off,” Remi reached out without lifting her head, groping along the table to grasp the first item her fingers found—the saltshaker, which she blindly chucked towards the blonde. It flew wide, missing by a mile and landing with a clatter in the corner.
“On that note…” Tucking the book into the cradle of her arms, Mags swept out of the kitchen in the direction of Luce’s suite, leaving the others bickering softly behind her.
The home Luce had given Mags was more than generous. She had a spacious, open plan bedroom and living space. The bathroom’s sunken tub could fit three people at once. There was a full, state-of-the-art kitchen with a fully stocked pantry, and a lounge to entertain guests. She was more than happy there and would never have thought to complain about the space.
But Lucifer’s wing of his estate made her cottage look like a broom cupboard. On her visits here through the years, Mags haddiscovered a private cinema, a bathroom with a tub the size of a small swimming pool, an art studio, a gaming lounge, his own private kitchen, a sauna, several closets stuffed with forgotten projects, endless rooms of discarded clothing from eras past, awine cellar, and of course, his bedroom. It was to the bedroom that she headed now, knowing exactly where she could find Luce when he was in a mood like this.
She slipped through the doorway into the silent darkness, knocking lightly on the doorframe as she entered. Even with all the lights off, she knew the path to the massive bed, swathed in its canopies of burgundy velvet. Many hours had been spent in this room, baring their souls until their voices were hoarse from tears and talking.
There was a reason Luce was her closest friend, and it was because they knew all of each other’s secrets. This chamber was for long, whispered conversations and drunken confessions; for comforting hugs and gentle murmurs of reassurance whenever their tattered hearts got too ragged and broken to bury the pain.
“Lucifer,” she laid her hand on the vaguely devil-shaped pile of blankets as she sunk onto the edge of the plush mattress.
“No,” the burrito nest answered, and she smiled fondly.
“Uncover your face, please.”
“Also no.”
She discarded the gospel on the bedside table so she could lay down beside the bundle of fabric. “Well come here, then.” She hugged him tightly to her and felt him relax just a bit. “Tell me what you’re feeling.”
“Horrified,” he admitted.
“Okay,” Mags ran a soothing hand up and down his spine. “I can understand that.”
“We have no real choice here.” Luce curled tighter into her side. “I couldn’t turn up anything else that would restore my power, short of...severing them. I can’t do that.”
“I know,” she sighed. “But I did get what we needed, when I went up…”
A pause, and then the rustle of blankets. Luce’s suspiciously narrowed eyes appeared in the gap. “What are you trying to say, Mary?”
“I’m saying that when I went to Heaven…I collected the Gospel of Peace.”
