Maybe it was death. Maybe it was mercy.
I gave in, and the pain evaporated.
Gold.
I smiled as it enveloped me, as if Heaven itself had lifted me from the battlefield. My chest no longer ached. My skin was no longer on fire.
I turned and saw him—Lucifer, my brother, standing at the well again. Still and silent, entranced. As he always had been in this memory.
But this time, I understood. There was something I hadn’t seen before. Something I needed to see before I passed on.
I stepped to the well.
Peering over the edge, I gasped. My mouth parted in silent wonder. And then—I smiled.
“This is why?” I whispered, though he couldn’t hear me. He was just a memory, flickering like candlelight against time’s surface.
And just like that, the image rippled.
Gone.
I blinked back into reality.
Harvest had vanished.
And there—Lucifer stood cradling Kara against his chest.
He didn’t speak. Didn’t move to leave.
He only stood there, as if the act ofholdingher had become the only thing tethering him to sanity.
She was limp in his arms, her hair tangled, stained with blood. He shifted her carefully, gently—so very gently—and slipped a clawed hand through her golden strands. Long, wicked talons combed through her hair, his face impassive, yet…haunted.
I wanted to touch my chest, but I couldn’t lift my arm.
I blinked slowly, each breath a little harder than the last.
Pain returned in quiet waves, subtle but growing.
Still, I watched him—Lucifer, the Devil, the fallen angel—standing in the ruins, stroking the hair of the girl who was never meant to be his.
And I thought:this was never about power. Not truly. It was always about her.
The warmth lit me up as if Heaven itself had reached down to cradle me.
“Is Kitty okay?” My voice came out like a croak.
Lucifer’s head swiveled toward me, and for a heartbeat, he was not the Devil—he was the angel who fell.
“Kara’s fine,” he said softly. “Her powers have returned.”
Kara. He called her by name.
I coughed, and blood pooled in my mouth.
Lucifer dropped to one knee beside me, clutching her with one arm. “You’re dying.”
“I’m not meant for this world,” I whispered. “I’m ready. But you…” My gaze blurred. “You belong here, Lucifer.”
