Mags looked alarmed. “Rag! Why were you cooking?! IsaidI was making a lasagna.”
“I made mac and cheese!” Rag protested. “There’s no way I messed up mac and cheese!”
The tiny woman seemed to radiate pure threat as she glared up at the ginger. “I swear if you ruined my cookwareagainRaguel?—”
“Mac and cheese!” Rag repeated with a note of pleading in his tone. He looked at Remi as if she might take his side.
“Don’t look at me.” She placed her hands on her hips. “You cook about as well as Luce bakes.”
“Hey!” Luce interrupted. “What is this, everybody harasses Lucifer day?”
“Isn’t that every day?” Judas deadpanned.
“Unbelievable.”
A laugh broke into their little squabble, and they all turned to see Glory giggling so hard she snorted, hands flying to cover her mouth and nose in surprise.
“Sorry, sorry,” she fluttered her hands, still smiling wide. “I just love this ridiculous family. Even with such darkness looming, you’re all a spot of brightness in my life.”
Judas narrowed his eyes. “Are you drunk?”
“I may have had some wine,” Glory flushed. “Do I have to be drunk to be affectionate?”
“With this crowd of ingrates? Yes,” Bal said, arching a brow. “Drunk, high, or seriously delusional.”
“Not all of us are as jaded as you,” Sachiel protested.
“It’s disgustingly sweet.” Remi shuddered. “I definitely don’t understand it; I keep trying to getoutof this hellscape.”
“You lie,” Luce said flatly. “I know, because I havetriedto get rid of you and you just won’t go.”
“Well, someone has to stick around to make sure you’re actually running this place and not just hiding in a room making papier-mâché dicks—” Luce shrieked, which she ignored, continuing as if he hadn’t spoken, “or letting your son start Armageddon, apparently!”
The tension they had forced out with their attempts at lighthearted banter swept back in like the tide. There was only so much dark humor could do to buoy them in the sea of despair.
“Good job, Rem,” Balthazar scowled. “Now I’m thinking about dead kids again.”
“Fuck off,” she snapped.
Camiel stepped between them, a perfectly manicured hand pressed to either of their chests. “Knock it off, both of you. Has anyone stopped to consider that all of this deflecting is part of the problem?”
Sachiel stepped up behind his wife, resting his hands on her shoulders and coaxing her to drop her arms. “We can’t help it, Cam. It’s too heavy to carry without trying to lighten the load.”
“We shouldn’t be trying tolightenit,” she protested, turning in his arms to cup her husband’s face in both palms. “We need to figure out how tostopit, before we lose Foster forever.”
“Well, there’s no way we can stop it on an empty stomach,” Rag reasoned. “Let’s move this over to the kitchen!”
“Speaking of kitchens,” a voice came from the doorway, and they all turned to see one of Bal’s sentries looking concerned and vaguely disgusted. “Something is either burning or rotting in ours.”
“My macaroni!” Rag’s face became a mask of horror, and he bolted from the room. Mags and Remi exchanged a wary look, and Mags sighed again, shoulders slumping.
“Don’t worry, I still have a lasagna.”
“In the meantime, I’d better go supervise my toddler husband.” Remi had the air of a woman who continuously expected nothing but was still disappointed as she followed Rag’s path from the room.
Judas kicked at the pavement in the alley across from Foster’s apartment, smoking a cigarette down to the filter as he debated if he was going to do this. Luce had dropped a bomb at tonight’s meeting, and while the King hadn’texpresslyforbidden anyone from talking to Foster about it, Judas knew Luce wouldn’t be happy he was here.
But wasn’t it worth sacrificing their upper hand, to try and do something to stop this from going any further? Judas had been the only member of the Fallen to stay by Foster’s side after Angela’s death—that had to count for something. He had always assumed the others were visiting. He knew Luce wasn’t, but thatwasn’t his business to meddle in. He had his own family drama, and that was more than enough.
