Comical, really. Everything that happened brought me here—to this bed, this moment. I’d gone from being relieved to lose mysenses to resenting their absence now, with the end closing in. The reversal almost mirrored my fall.
I thought of my descent into Hell. Back then, I’d started with nothing and discovered everything. I remembered the feelings that spurred my choice, the anger at angels for condemning me for wanting differently. That hatred was gone now. What remained was anger at myself—for pretending my choices didn’t lead me here. For acting as though I hadn’t built this cage with my own hands.
And here I was: a woman asleep on my bed, a beast with no means to touch her.
I thought of the golden well, the gilded water rippling inside, and the decision that changed me forever. I’ve spent centuries denying my past, yet the truth I couldn’t escape was this: I could never remember why I changed as an angel.
Only that I was still glad I did.
Chapter Seventeen
Lucifer
The past
“Did you see His new creations?” my brother, Michael, asked, ascending the golden path with light in his eyes.
Everything was gold. The trees shimmered with it. The road beneath our feet, the wind in our hair—it all gleamed as if Heaven itself was dipped in sunlight. It wasn’t just beautiful. It was home. And for as long as I could remember, home had been gilded.
Gold was all that existed.
Sometimes I wondered if we were gold, too—our blood, our bones, our souls. But I knew better. Angels. Family. Born in the First Light, crafted by His hand. The oldest of His creations.
“He made us more brothers and sisters?” I asked, letting my robe swish as I glided halfway down the steps to meet Michael.
“No,” Michael said, smiling faintly, “but I’ve heard they have a likeness to us.”
I frowned. “They’ll live here?”
He shook his head. “No. He made them a world of their own. Filled with other creatures. Earth, sky, water. Time. It’s vast and wild. And we—we get to see it. He’s shown us glimpses through the scrying glass.”
I stopped by his side, looking toward the distant expanse where the scrying glass shimmered like starlight.
Michael leaned closer, eyes bright. “Do you think this is it?”
“What?”
“Our purpose. Maybe…maybe we’re meant to guide them.”
We had gold.
Was there meant to be anything else?
“Come on. We’re allowed to see them. That must mean something.” Michael said, grabbing my hand and tugging me forward.
We raced through the garden. A vast expanse of gilded petals and shimmering vines spread beneath our feet, as though the ground itself bloomed with joy at our passing. In the center of that sacred place stood the well—circular, perfect, quiet. It had always been there. But until now, it had shown us very little. Dots. Blurs. Shapes we couldn’t understand.
Michael believed that was changing. That maybe the well, like us, was finally waking to its purpose.
When we neared the crowd gathered around it, several of our siblings stepped aside, allowing us to pass. A gasp broke thestillness—Lailah’s voice—and Michael quickened his pace. He peered in first. His jaw fell open.
I stepped up beside him.
“They are like us,” I murmured.
Two beings stood in a field—not of gold, but green. Earthy, soft. They had skin like ours, but no glow. No robes. The female’s chest held twin mounds I hadn’t seen before, and the male…bore the same strange appendage I glimpsed only in passing when I changed my robes.
I knew the difference between brothers and sisters, but I’d never considered what made us male and female. We simply were.
