“What time is it?” she asks, glancing at Lucifer.
“A little after nine pm,” Lucifer answers, standing and making his way over to sit on the bed next to her. I agreed to keep my distance until we got a read on how well the spell had taken. “How are you feeling?”
She rolls onto her back and runs her hands down her face. “Exhausted.”
“What do you remember?” Jed asks, leaning against the door and propping one foot against the wood.
She pushes herself into a sitting position and her turquoise gaze locks with mine. “We were racing to get to the skyscraper in Greed. Myself, Zee and Archan made it there.” She frowns. “Then we arrived in Anger, but I can’t…”
“You were caught off guard,” I say. “The Titan Atlas swiped out and knocked you out. We fought and won, but brought you back here to make sure you were okay.”
She nods, the frown still etched on her face as she rubs her temple. “Nathan also needed to get a look at that curse,” Jed adds.
Natia lifts her arm and studies the snake burned onto her wrist. She drops it to the bed with a sigh. “Well, there’s no rest for the wicked. Guess we should see a man about a curse and get on with infiltrating hell.”
She swings her bare legs over the edge of the bed and peers down at her sleep shorts. “You tore your pants,” I explain. She nods as Lucifer sighs and gets up to search through the set of drawers next to his bed. He pulls a set of midnight blue leather pants out and hands them to her.
She smiles. “Aw, Lulu, you have a Natia drawer.”
“If you didn’t keep shredding your clothes, I wouldn’t need one.”
I tighten my fists, an irrational jealousy burning within me. If she owns a drawer anywhere, it should be in my residence. No matter, at the end of this she will have all her stuff in my bedroom, not just a drawer.
She drops her shorts, displaying her black lace panties. She glances at me. “What?”
“Do you need to strip in front of everyone?”
She rolls her eyes and tugs the pants up her legs. “I’m naked or semi naked more times than not. I’ve decided to just embrace it.”
I grab her boots from the floor next to me and make my way over to her. I go down on one knee and grip her ankle. She falls back onto the bed with a huff as I slip on the first boot and zip it up her calf. I search her turbulent gaze for a hint of the memory of her best friend. She stares down at me with a small smirk. “Not quite the diamond ring I’d expect from you on one knee,” she mutters.
I put on her other boot, then grab her crown from the bedside table. I position it on her head, using the same spell as Emi to ensure it stays put. “No rings, but a crown will suffice in the meantime.”
She swallows. “Am I meant to fight in this thing?”
I wrap my fingers around her hand, pull her up, and drop a kiss on her red lips. “You are a queen. You could fight buck naked whilst riding on a unicorn and throwing rose petals in the air, and still command legions.”
“Can we do that?” she asks.
Jed snorts a laugh as he pulls open the door and leads us back to the main club. I tug Natia along. “We can do anything you want to. When this is over, we will go on that honeymoon.”
She frowns. “Honeymoon?”
I watch her as we spill out into the main room. “With flying pigs?”
She tilts her head at me. This was going to be like navigating a minefield. Altering someone’s memories was finicky. The mind was the most complex structure known to the universe. It was intrinsically linked to the soul. Certain people left an imprint on the soul. Duncan had done that with Natia. Which is why I couldn’t simply remove him. I had to replace him.
“Natia, can I see your wrist?” Nathan asks, coming out from behind the table. Everyone tenses as Natia looks around the group. We are all here. This is crunch time. Her gaze lands on Zee, her face lights up.
“Zee,” she says. “Where were you? I was busy being naked, and you weren’t around to make fun of me.”
Zee’s lips pull into a tight smile. “That’s okay, Natia. I’m sure before the day is out you will have lost your clothing again.”
She draws back. “Natia? Have we fallen out?”
I cut a glance at him. He’s fallen at the first hurdle. This spell worked by reinforcing the fresh memories. He was Duncan’s replacement and needed to step up to the mark. “Sorry, Locks, I was just a little worried about you.”
She links her arm through his and drags him over to where Nathan waits. “You remember when we slayed that Rufuson demon in that bar in New York?”
