“Like what?” Lucifer asks.
“I know where Zeus’s forces are gathering to storm your kingdom,” she says to the devil.
He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Have you checked under the floorboards?” she asks with a smirk.
He narrows his gaze. “There’s no way they can breach the castle from beneath. The foundations are both spelled and solid.”
Her lips tighten. “Were spelled.”
He launches himself at her and slams her back against the wall. “I should condemn you to endless cycles of torture. Do you understand what my kingdom is?”
Her eyes are wide and she clutches his arm that’s holding her a foot off the ground. “Treachery,” she whispers.
I dash over to them and tug on his arm. “Lucifer, she did it to save those she loves.”
He side eyes me. “Don’t mistake my leniency with you to be of the norm. What I threatened you with was a walk in the park compared to what others endure for far less crimes.”
I narrow my eyes. “You are being an ass. Marsha acted with her heart, and you know it. You might be ruthless but you are not so jaded as to mistake love for treachery.”
He drops Marsha to the floor and rounds on me. “You’re right. You have committed far worse treachery than her. Have you considered how you will be found guilty once you are in the deepest part of Hell? Do you think the realm will allow you to leave once it weighs your crimes?”
My palm twitches, the sting erupting before I realize what I’ve done. His head snaps to the side before he turns it back to face me, inch by inch, allowing the terror that’s clawing at my mind to build.
“You slapped me,” he states, palming his reddening cheek.
I wag my finger in his face with a bravado I don’t feel. “You deserved it. This bad boy “King of Hell” routine isn’t you. Drop the mask when you are speaking to me, or don’t speak to me at all. Because if this is you? This monster without a heart? Then I gave my friendship to a lie and there is no hope of ever salvaging it. Make your choice, Lucifer or Lulu, which is the lie?”
He grabs my finger and pulls it out of his face before leaning in. The monster I’d spied back in Greed, the one that had pried my soul apart for inspection, peers at me. I hold my breath and stare him straight in the eyes. Everything I have done comes from a place of love—my successes and my failures. He nods once, then pushes against my mind.
“I am honored to be your friend, to have the fight in your soul shine for me; but the mask must stay firm whilst we transverse Hell. To look weak will fuel the uprising and more demons will flock to Zeus’s side. He has spies in every realm, every building, every room. Do you understand?”
I blink back the tears and nod. He spins to face Marsha. “You come with us. You will identify every weak point you have created in my kingdom. You will spill every piece of information you have gained during your time with Zeus and The Duchess. And at the end of this war, you will belong to me. You forfeit your life on Earth. You will join my army and spend eternity making up for your deeds in Hell.”
She glances at me then back at Lucifer. “I understand.”
32
Chapter Thirty Two
Natia
A Taurus wants a partner who can tame them and simultaneously set them free from their stubborn ways.
Heresy is a mind trip, and not as simple as Lucifer sold. Then again, he’s the devil, so I should expect no less. I expected a barren room which would judge our souls and spit us out in Violence. Instead, I got Hell’s version of the Amazon river steeped in the blanket of night. Creatures peer out of the surrounding forest as we drift down the dark river on a rickety raft.
I sit in the center with Zee behind me; back-to-back so we have something to lean on. “How long?” I ask.
Lucifer glances over at me from his position in the left corner. A lantern swings above his head, illuminating his face in waves of creepy shadows. “Ten hours, give or take the current.”
“So long as we aren’t ambushed,” Archan adds from the opposite corner.
I debate on blanking him altogether, but then remember I’m not seven. “By what?”
“The tribe,” Jed says with a shudder. “The universe’s most feared tribe resides here. They punish heretics for their deeds whilst ensuring they continue to offer sacrifices to—”
“Silence, Jed,” Archan says.
