“I don’t care about this stupid object. Give them what they want!” I shouted, desperate.
I wasn’t going to lose him for the world.
Di's expression shifted strangely. The smile on his face, his relaxed body, and the way his eyes got glassy were enough to send me into a spiral of worry.
Don't do anything foolish,I silently begged.
Like he could hear the silent plead, he shook his head. Panic surged through me.Please, please don’t do anything stupid.Please.I begged silently with my eyes. I fucking prayed he would listen.
“Remove the barrier around the object.” The woman smiled at Diablos. “Any tricks, and your lover dies. Of course, you'll get to watch in the first row.”
Di’s gaze swept to me in horror.
“You can’t kill me, and you know that.”
“I can't, but someone else does,” she smirked.
“Think carefully before doing something stupid, boy,” Cain said whispering in Di's ear. The bastard touched Di’s face. “The price you’ll pay if you do something stupid will be far worse than you can imagine.”
My everything was in the enemy’s hands, and I couldn’t fucking do anything. I felt powerless. Flashes of the moment I lost my brother came rushing, and the air left my lungs. Not again.
I wouldn't lose Diablos. No!
The woman handed the object to Di. He stared at it for a second too long before taking it in his hands. Even with all this distance, I could feel the object’s powers.
Di looked at me and smiled.
He fucking smiled!
Words I couldn’t understand flowed out of his mouth. What the fuck was he doing?
Time slowed to a crawl. Every eye was on him. The bow started shining in his hands, gradually followed by the arrow. He kept whispering undecipherable things. He raised his head, smiled once at me, and uttered the final words.
Suddenly, everything around us went crimson red.
It was Hell on earth.
Chapter thirty-five
Diablos
Imade my choice.Never in my life had I been so sure of anything.The choice was made, and I faced it with my head held high.
Earlier, I lied to Dagon.
When I went upstairs, I hadn't texted Thaddeos. I spoke with King. I sent him a no-nonsense message demanding he tell me everything he knew. My gut told me he was holding something back.
King responded with a truth bomb that stunned me. Not only the content but the fact he hadn't shared it sooner.
The objects weren't merelycelestial, they were alsoinfernal.
The creator of these seven objects was Lucifer. Lucifer before the fall.
I didn’t know the full story, and King likely would never share the rest. What he revealed was that with Lucifer's fall, the objects' energies split. Suspended between realms, they belonged neither to Heaven nor Hell, and angels on Earth, like King, were tasked with protecting them.
Once someone was bound to an object, they became either its vigilant protector or pledged their soul, aligning it with Heaven or Hell. By doing this, a side was chosen, and the object no longer lingered in the in-between.
I didn’t need time to think about it.
