I sat back, staring out the frosted glass windows.
“But why? If Lilith is behind this, why would she want me in the Immolation Circle if she thinks I’m the key to her cage?” Something wasn’t adding up. If I were burning up in Hell, that wouldn’t help her. If she wanted me dead, I’m sure she would’ve put that command in Aspen’s Hell Rune.
“That’s why she wanted you?”
“You didn’t know that?” I thought he had eyes and ears everywhere.
His expression tightened. I’d kept my snark in check, so I knew it wasn’t my tone that irritated him—more likely, it resulted from the fact that I had questionedhim.
Lucifer held up his hand, showing me a black ring on his finger. “This is what locks her in the Tenebrous Kingdom—a binding ring. As long as I remain in my lands, she is a prisoner to hers.”
If that bound Lilith to her lands, then why did she see me as the key to her cage?
“It looks like a wedding ring.”
“Yes. It’s a similar ceremony to what humans do when they wed. But with some tweaking and powerful runes, it can bind two people and control their movements. After our battle with Lilith and her demons, this is what the council decided to do.”
“You couldn’t kill her?”
Lucifer had been a Seraphim, after all, and they made up the council—the most powerful angels.
The temperature dropped, my breath coming out in white puffs.
“Donotquestion me or the past when you have not lived through it,” he said, a dangerous edge to his tone.
“Fine,” I muttered, dropping it. “But if that ring is what keeps her caged, then why isn’t she after that?”
“It’s possible she is. Only, it can’t be forced from my finger.” He pulled on the dull black metal, and it didn’t budge.
“How does it come off, then?”
“My blood and death,” he replied, a haughty challenge ringing in his voice.
“Does she know that?”
“Regardless of whether she knows or not, it’ll never happen.”
“But say she did—and she created the demon infection—why wouldn’t she use me as leverage against you to get the ring? How does killing me do anything?”
His silence served as my answer. After another minute, I realized he wasn’t about to admit he didn’t know. I sighed. Maybe Aspen would.
“Have you ever considered she’s the one behind Hell’s lockdown?” I asked. “Maybe she’s using Hell as leverage and is waiting for you to realize that to strike up a deal.”
Lucifer raised a brow. “I see you’re improving on your studies.”
I lowered my chin, hiding my smile.
“But you’re missing the finer details to make that theory work.”
Of course I was. “What details?”
“Why would Lilith seal Hell for the first four years without any correspondence or gloating? It’s only leverage if weknow. And if she sought to hold power over us, she would never open Hell.”
He had a point.
“I do not want to discuss this any longer. It’s time for your lesson.”
A cool presence entered my mind.
