“The answer is simple: I plan to start a war. Lucifer will have more important things to worry about than me.”
“Awar? Why?”
“I have foreseen it, as I said before. The High King is destined to fall. If I’m successful, he’ll lose his primary source of power.”
“I still don’t understand why he wouldn’t come after you as soon as he knows what you did.”
“Redirection. Lucifer keeps his prison hidden in the Nine Rings. The souls are entombed behind a door with a powerful seal. My spell will break that seal and create a portal so someone may enter the Rings and open the door. But that someone will not be me.”
“Who will?” She was holding her breath. She’d never been so invested.
“Belial.”
“As in Belial, the King of Hell? What’s he got to do with this?”
“Everything. And he owes me a favor. Two, in fact.” Murmur’s lips curved wickedly.
She scrambled to make sense of everything. “So you’re going to use Belial to open the prison and free the souls. Which will make Lucifer focus on him instead of you.”
“Precisely. If Belial went against Lucifer right now, he would fail. The High King is too powerful. But, if I eliminate Lucifer’s main power source, then things will really get interesting.”
“You’re really planning on starting an underworld war.” She shook her head. “You’re trying to overthrow fuckingLucifer. God, you really are mad.”
“I’m motivated,” he replied. “My life depends upon it, after all. And if my spell is successful, when I eventually die,my soul will be free to be judged and then go on to wherever it is I should go.” He smiled grimly. “Make no mistake, I fully expect to rot in the lowest level of the Nine Rings, but I would rather suffer for thousands of years in the Rings than be trapped in limbo, in some lightless, inescapable prison, where my essence is used to feed the High King’s power.”
“That’s …” She blew out a breath. “That’s insane, Murmur.”
His whole plan was. The scope was so grand, it was hard to wrap her head around it. Everyone knew Lucifer was the ruler of Hell. He had been since forever. To get rid of him … She had a hard time believing it was even possible.
And it was a hell of a burden for Murmur to bear. Her feelings about him were complicated. She still half hoped Lucifer would kill him. Murmur was a bastard, but damn it, she sympathized with him too. If he really did have a soul, she supposed that meant there was some goodness in him, and he deserved a chance to redeem himself.
Besides, he wastheNecromancer. She couldn’t imagine him not existing. It seemed against the natural order somehow.
“What about me?” she asked suddenly. “Where do I come into this? Why do you needmyblood?”
“You still haven’t figured it out?” A teasing glint came into his eyes.
“Obviously not, or I wouldn’t be asking,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Your mother gave you this.” He tapped the pageThe Book of Gamiginwas open to. “Where do you think she got it?”
“My father, but—”
“And how did he get it?”
“I don’t know,” she said impatiently. “My mother said he wrote it, but after what you’ve told me, there’s no way that’s possible. I can only assume he got it from the demon who wrote it, but I don’t know—”
“Oh, my sweet, naive little witch.” His lips curved into that cheek-crinkling smile.
She scowled at him. “Quit beating around the bush, Murmur. Just tell me already.”
“Your father didn’t get this grimoire from the demon who wrote it, Suyin. Your fatherwasthe demon who wrote it.”
ANOTHERNAIL IN THECOFFIN
IT’S LIKE DÉJÀ VU!” EVA CALLED OUT AS SHE STEPPEDaround the corner at the end of the block. “Remember the first time we did this?”
Belial and his brothers—along with Iris and Sunshine—were waiting below the flickering neon sign for Bootleg, the club that hosted the Thursday-night jam Eva and Asmodeus frequented.
