Gali grimaced. “What did the wind tell you?” she asked instead.
Her cousin met her eyes. “You made a deal you oughtn’t. That was the first warning.”
A chill rippled over Gali’s skin. It had been harmless, just a dance. “What else?”
Faint worry flitted over Celestial’s face, and that alarmed Gali more than anything she’d said so far. Celestialneverworried.
“A cascade has begun,” her cousin said, her voice hesitant. “A gate screams. A darkness presses against your house.” A sheen of fear slid over her eyes.“Don’t open the door.”
Gali bit the inside of her cheek. “That you, or you passing it on?”
They had both grown up among the seers in the family, and frankly, Gali hoped this message had come from someone else. Celestial didn’t prophesy often, but when she did, lifelines changed.
Her cousin shook her head gently. “The wind told me most of it, but I’m the one asking.”
“Why can’t I open the door?” Gali already knew it was the smart move to leave all doors closed, but her cousin didn’t understand the hunger, the ache, or the scope of the temptation at hand.
Celestial leaned forward, her beads swinging into her narrow face. “Whatchu think’s gonna happen when Nana Darling finds out?” she asked. “When she realizes she couldn’t keep you safe cos your ass didn’t stay home? You let any darkness in and you think she’s gonna let you fight it alone?”
Gali dropped her face into her hand. No, her grandmother wouldnever let any of them fight alone. She’d bring the full force of the Kincaids into the city, a pack of hunters, and she would not give a singular fuck about what that did to the life Gali was trying to build here, as long as Gali was safe by the end of it. Her friendships would go up in smoke, and in the end, she’d be forced back to the big house because their world couldn’t exist alongside this other “normal” one.
“I need her to stay out of it,” Gali said, raising her head to glare at her cousin. “Don’t you run telling.”
Celestial raised her palms. “I don’t gotta say shit for her to find out something’s wrong, Gali. You setting off hella alarms with whatever you’re doing.” Curiosity crept into her voice. “Whatareyou doing, by the way? Who you cutting deals with?”
Gali sighed. She had to tell someone, and Celestial was really her best choice. It wasn’t like she could say this to Bonbon or Oriak? without them thinking she’d lost her damn mind. Zélie would probably run and tell Nana Darling immediately, and Leah would just stare with those large eyes of hers until Gali felt too guilty to breathe. But Celestial would actuallylisten.
“The Devil.” Gali rubbed her forehead and dragged her hand down her face. “I made a deal with the Devil.”
Celestial’s face didn’t move. “What.”
“I didn’tknowhe was the Devil when I made it, if that helps.”
Her cousin blinked. “You talking, like, some bad boy you ran into?”
“Uh... I’m talking Lucifer.”
Celestial’s eyes widened. “Now Iknowyou fucking with me, cuz.”
Gali winced. How could she get her cousin to understand when Celestial hadn’t been there, hadn’t seen the way the light was trapped inside him? He’d touched her, and the things roaring inside her had been touched too, for the first time.
“He’s... he’s beautiful, Celestial. Like, I know Nana Darling told us the stories, but... it’s not the same.”
In the Kincaid family, no one could really hide anything from Celestial. If it wasn’t the wind that was telling her things, it was that Celestial could read them like children’s books. Gali felt her cousin’s gaze brushing against her skin in a dry rasp, and so she tried to bury her secrets, the dreams, and the loud clanging of her want.
“Gali?” Celestial’s voice was suspicious. “What did youdo?”
Blood rushed into Gali’s face, staining her cheekbones dark, and Celestial gasped. “It’s not what you think!” Gali blurted out. “We... we kissed.” It wasn’t the entire truth, but the horror in Celestial’s face was enough for Gali to swallow the rest of it down.
“You kissed theDevil?” Celestial moved her fingers in a quick warding gesture. “He entrance you? Did he trick you?”
Gali’s heart sank and her mouth turned sour. Of course she’d think that. So much for her listening. Lucifer was the Great Deceiver, after all, the lying trickster of their childhoods, a sleek and convincing snake curled around a forbidden fruit. In this story, Gali was nothing but prey, someone to be glamoured and manipulated. She doubted if anyone in her family could imagine her as she had been the night before, the woman who had stepped into the Devil’s personal space and bargained for his touch, who had pulled up her dress and screamed for him, coming apart against his tongue.
“He didn’t trick me,” she said woodenly, but Celestial was barely listening.
“If he’s got you in his sights, then we gotta rally,” she was saying. “He won’t be satisfied with just a taste. He’s gonna keep hunting you.”
Gali’s skin thrilled at the idea. What if it was true? What if he came back after he’d left, possibly driven by a hunger that matched the one inside her?
