The King of Hell with all the power that entailed, and still,thiswas his nightmare—the family that had cast him out, the home he could never return to again, the beings he missed because they were the only ones who couldeverunderstand the scale of power and the weight of history he was cursed with. Lucifer kept his face controlled, but Levi’s eyes softened by a fraction.
“I wish it had been otherwise, Luci.”
“Standard or arch?” Lucifer was keeping his form locked tight inside him by sheer force of will and endless lifetimes of discipline, because itwanted to rage out again and keep going until the world was gone. A fuckingangel. Inhisdomain. Pawing with his gates, toying with them, fucking his shit up.
“I couldn’t determine that much,” Levi replied.
Lucifer didn’t want Leviathan’s soft eyes; he didn’t want to look at him. The other princes hadn’t been angels, not like Lucifer had. They hadn’t Fallen like him; they hadn’t been cast out and thrown underfoot. They didn’t understand the rage and loathing, the immortal burn of an exile, or the bitter, bitter love, and Lucifer would never be able to explain it to them because there was no point. He passed a hand over his face and exhaled a controlled breath. Every cell in his flesh form was leashed so tight they were straining, all so Lucifer could ignore the screaming wings and the wheels churning under his face.
“So,” he said, “it was an angel the whole time.” He felt like a fool for not suspecting them before, but he’d never have imagined that one of them woulddare. The consequences alone...
Belial took a cautious step forward. “You couldn’t have known, Luci. It doesn’t make any sense. Why would an angel try to unleash Hell? It could cascade, it could trigger, what, an unscheduled apocalypse?”
“They’d Fall immediately,” Levi added. “They’d lose favor.”
Lucifer felt numb again. “If they haven’t lost it already,” he said.
“You think it’s a Fallen one?” Asmodeus must have finally felt it was safe enough to chime in. The rest of the princes were still mute and wide-eyed, either from Lucifer’s rage or from the shock of finding out that an angel was now a player on the board. “There hasn’t been a Fallen on the radar for centuries,” Asmodeus was saying, “let alone one with enough juice to pull off something like this.”
Belial shook her head. “I don’t know. Why would an angel inHeavenget involved?”
“Maybe it’s personal.”
Everyone turned to look at Leviathan, but he was looking at Lucifer, and the Devil did not care for his expression.
“Don’t you dare say it,” Lucifer snapped out. “We’ve been handling this alone, and we willcontinueto handle it alone.” Soft whorls of chaos were building in Lucifer’s chest, and they tangled into a shouting mess when Levi stepped forward again and placed his hand on Lucifer’s shoulder. It felt as heavy as a world.
“That was before we knew an angel was involved,” Levi said. “Hell isyourresponsibility. If it breaks, the consequence will fall on you.”
Lucifer tamped down on his rage even harder. All this time, he’d done his job not because he was a good worker, but because he knew firsthand how cruel God could be, and so failing had never been an option.
Belial nodded. “You need to contact Heaven, Luci. You need to make a report.”
“They can fuck off,” Lucifer snarled. “This is Hell’s business and it’s going to stay that way.”
“Wait,” Asmodeus interjected. “Breaking the gate, you think that’s their goal? To sabotage Luci?”
“We’re not talking about this.” Lucifer bared razored teeth at his prince. They didn’t understand what failure meant. They couldn’t understand the true extent of how terrible the Fall had been—how could they fathom that there were worse punishments dripping from the hand of God?
“Becausewe’renot the ones you need to talk to about this,” Leviathan countered. “Even if you don’t make a report, you know where you need to go.”
Lucifer turned in Levi’s direction and smiled politely. “Get your hand off me before I rip your fucking bones out.”
Levi smirked again, but he took his hand away and stepped back. “What would you have us do?”
“See if you can get any more information from the residue. The type of angel matters greatly. And for fuck’s sake, get Astaroth some support in tracking whatever got out before they start eating humans.” Whateverthey were, this was a safe prediction—nearlyeverythingin Hell liked to eat humans.
Belial made a face. “Understood.”
The Devil pulled at his cuffs and looked over his team. “Double the guard on the artifact. I’ll deal with the Kincaids and return to place a new ward now that I know what we’re dealing with.”
He wondered if it was a mistake not to head to the hellgate immediately. In the scale of things, the lives of the impending Kincaid women seemed unimportant, just a handful of flickering souls looking for trouble. If the artifact broke, it was very possible that thousands would die before Lucifer could close the gate again,ifhe was even able to close it. From the look on Levi’s face, his prince was considering the balance as well, yet Levi simply nodded.
“We’ll do as you command,” he said. “But hurry back, Luci. The girl is a distraction.”
Lucifer didn’t reply as he slipped out of the parlor, his mind already working. All he had to do was talk down the Kincaids, convince Galilee to hand her soul over to him for protection, then return to the artifact, secure it now that he knew who the fuck he was securing it against, andthenhunt down the immortal son of a bitch who was trying to wreak havoc in what was unquestionably Lucifer’s domain. Lucifer had spent thousands of lifetimes doing impossible things, but this sequence was particularly enraging. His mood wasn’t improved when he stepped out into the foyer of the house and found it entirely empty.
Galilee was gone.
