In response, Lucifer pressed his hips against her belly, and blood rushed to Gali’s face as she felt his erection straining under the denim. “Oh myGod,” she whispered, fighting back a hysterical laugh as relief washed through her. “My family isrightthere, Lucifer! What iswrongwith you?”
He was okay.He was okay.She hadn’t wounded him.
Lucifer ran a hand over her hair and pulled gently on a loose curl. Gali could feel Celestial and her grandmother glancing over at her.
“Seems like there’s an old score to settle,” the Devil said.
That was one way to put it. It was certainly old, as old as she’d been alive, a secret that had shrouded her as a baby, that had grown into her skin as she did, and now she was about to rip it off.
“Do you wish to speak to them alone?” he asked.
Gali shook her head immediately. “Nah. It helps to have you close.”
She could see that he understood.
“We’re always monsters to the humans,” he said.
Gali nodded. This was what she had chosen the moment she’d let the rage unlock her light, the moment she’d felt herself snap and had welcomed it. Maybe it was the power racing through her veins, but she didn’t regret it. She was smashing her world to pieces, and all she wanted was the truth, so she could have something honest to start building backon. If that cost her her family, then she’d deal with it, with the hurt and rage and betrayal, and maybe she’d crash later, but right now? Right now she was immense and they were afraid of her, and she was too big, too powerful, to care. She was going to get some fucking answers.
Gali took a deep breath and walked over to her family, who had folded Oriak? and Bonbon among them and settled down on the grass in a scattered semicircle, with Celestial, Collette, and Nana Darling at the front. Gali sat across from them, tucking in her legs. The ground was warm and layered with ash in the aftermath of her power flare. Lucifer lowered himself to the ground just behind her shoulder, and Nana Darling’s eyes flitted warily in his direction.
“Just pretend he’s a man,” Gali said, exasperation coloring her voice. They were acting like he’d ripped babies apart in front of them, for God’s sake.
Collette swayed forward, her body leaning toward her daughter. “Is that how you see him, baby? As just a man?”
Gali glanced away. Her mother’s face was carrying too many things: sorrow, a plea for forgiveness, a secret she still hadn’t shared. “I’m not here to discuss my relationship with Lucifer,” she replied, and she almost felt him purr behind her. She’d called it arelationship.
Collette pulled back and folded her hands in her lap. “Of course.”
Gali lifted her eyes to Nana Darling, her chest aching as she registered how broken her grandmother looked, as if she had lost Gali and were there talking to a ghost, as if there was nothing left of Gali to see. Had Nana Darling needed the secret that much? Maybe it had been a buffer veiling Gali, making her look as human as the other children. Just a favored Kincaid, like the rest of them. Nothing too strange. Nothing too strong. Celestial was right next to Nana Darling, but Gali couldn’t quite bring herself to look at her cousin. Sure, Celestial had tried to lead her to the truth over the years, she knew that, but maybe Celestial should have tried harder. Maybe she should’ve justtoldGali, whether Gali was ready or not.
Some secrets shouldn’t be kept.
Nana Darling was gazing off into nothing, and Gali dug her fingernails into her palms. She couldmakeher grandmother talk. The power was whispering all that possibility to her, telling her how the light could burn and force chattering truths out of singed lips. It wasn’t something you would do to family, but Nana Darling had called her evil, so did that make them enemies? Celestial coughed loudly, and Gali’s eyes swung over to her. Her cousin was the only Kincaid looking at her without any guilt or awkwardness, just a touch of pride, as if she liked what Gali was turning into, even the cruel bits. Celestial gave her a small nod, then leaned her shoulder against their grandmother’s, nudging her.
“It’s time, Nana Darling,” she said. “We have to tell.”
16.
Leviathan
When Galilee Kincaid first walked into the parlor with Lucifer, she’d brought a wave of power with her, hot and heavy and thick as it rolled through the room. Leviathan could detect power as if it were a fragrance, an oiled perfume on a lover’s pulse points, and Galilee smelled like crumpled tobacco burning in sheaves in the corners of a temple. It made Leviathan immediately wary. Her power smelled a little and too much like Lucifer’s—both of them with thatsmoke, as if you were burning two desperate things in two different worlds. Leviathan made a note to share this finding with Lucifer once they were alone; surely it had some significance.
He could understand why Lucifer was clinging so tightly to the girl—the Devil had been lonely for long enough that even the threat Galilee presented to him was welcome. Leviathan tried not to think about how Luci’s voice had dropped when he mentioned howarousingit was to be burned by the girl’s touch; it reminded the prince too much of the things he used to share with the King of Hell, in that other life. Back then, Lucifer had liked to be the one giving out pain, yet Leviathan couldn’t help but wonder what he would look like receiving it, his beautiful mouth gasping open, his eyes flushing black. It was entirely possible Leviathanloathed Galilee because shewouldknow, if she didn’t already. She could gaze into Lucifer’s flecked eyes as he panted under her hand, while Leviathan could only guess, with too much pride to do anything else. He’d burned up that privilege of intimacy eons ago, because Lucifer himself had made it worthless, but Leviathan knew Luci would’ve welcomed him back after the apologies and the changed behavior, a fresh Morningstar who Leviathan refused to touch.
The Devil didn’t understand. He thought Leviathan still held a grudge, and the prince allowed that, holding it up as a shield, because the truth was worse. Leviathan had loved the son of the morning so much, so utterly, when he was a sadistic, broken bastard—how much more of his heart would be lost if he dared to love Lucifer as he was now, this angel who kept his promises, who had becomebetterin the pit he was supposed to rot in? No, Leviathan had chosen not to throw himself into such unpredictable flames. Burning once had been more than enough, and while he truly had never cared about Luci’s other lovers, none of them had been this copper-haired, freckled false human with an unseemly glut of power who was standing in the princes’ parlor and looking up at Lucifer with doe eyes, like he was going tosaveher.
Leviathan had polished his blade and let the anger simmering in him leap out each time he snapped at the girl. He wanted Galilee tofeellike a human, even if she wasn’t one; he wanted her to not matter, to step away from Luci, to die and leave them all with what had taken them immeasurable time to build, this little faction of theirs that Leviathan cherished, even the assholes like Mephis. Faintly, in the back of his head, Leviathan wondered what would have happened if he’d met Galilee before Lucifer did. He would’ve known she wasn’t human, of course, the singed tobacco reek of her power would’ve made sure of that, but she might not have had to die.
She was beautiful because of her power, but her flesh wasn’t unwelcome—the curves that had slid under Luci’s tunic, the softness of her lips. Leviathan had taken his own share of lovers over the lifetimes,and he could admit to himself, albeit reluctantly, that the girl would’ve been a pleasure to touch. When he’d barged into Lucifer’s room earlier, there had been a second before Luci whipped out his wings, and that second was all Leviathan needed for a look. Galilee had been naked in bed, sitting up on her elbows with her hair mussed, all freckled and fucked out with a swollen mouth. Somehow, she seemed more naked in the parlor wearing Luci’s clothes than she had upstairs, shocked and staring at Leviathan. He could easily bring to mind her dark honey nipples and the fullness of her breasts, but Leviathan pushed that errant lust out of his head, replacing it with the certainty of her death. This was what it meant to serve the Morningstar: an unflinching loyalty and a clarity of purpose, even when Luci’s eyes were obscured by a pretty face who could burn him alive.
After Lucifer left to go meet the Kincaids, the other princes immediately fell into a heated discussion about the hellgate and the angelic residue, some of them gathering their weapons to provide backup for Astaroth as he hunted whatever had escaped from Hell. Leviathan returned to his gloomy corner of the parlor and Belial followed him, her tattooed snakes writhing and her eyes disapproving.
“I’m not a fan of how you looked at the girl,” she said bluntly, leaning against the wall.
“I thought I did murderous rather well,” he replied, even though her words raised an unwelcome alarm. She shouldn’t have noticed anything.
Belial didn’t blink. “You’ve changed your attitude toward her, Levi. A day ago, you were cold and indifferent. You would’ve snapped her neck and been on your way before her body even hit the ground.”
