Gali glared at him, annoyed at the startled kick her heart had given. “How long have you been standing there?” she snapped.
Leviathan still looked at her like he’d found her stuck to the bottom of his shoe, but to her surprise, he answered her question. “Long enough to know that neither of you got the answers you sought from your family.” He gave an unamused smile, then frowned when he saw the body of the hellbeast. “Why isthathere?”
Lucifer sighed. “The breach. The Kincaids hunted it on their way in.”
Gali looked between them as Levi briefly closed his eyes, as if reaching for patience. She had no idea what the hell they were talking about.
“They took corporeal form already,” Levi said. “These things multiply too quickly—we have no idea how many are out there.”
“We’ve already pulled princes off the guard to hunt them.”
“I don’t like this, Luci.”
“Nor do I.”
The two of them stared down at the scaled creature, and Gali rolled her eyes. “Y’all done now?” she asked. “Anyone want to fill me in?”
Levi sneered at her. “Mind your business, little human. I’m here to get Lucifer.”
“Leviathan, enough,” Lucifer said tiredly. “What’s going on now? Ijuststepped out.”
Levi folded his arms and remained pointedly silent, his eyes flicking to Gali.
“Are you kidding?” She folded her arms right back at him. “What, you want me to cover my ears like I’m atoddler?”
The dappled prince had the nerve to pause and consider. “I suppose it makes no difference,” he said, a sharp smile appearing on his face. It made him look far more attractive than he had any right to be. “Stay and die or leave and die, our secrets will die with you either way.”
His constant threats might have scared Gali again if he’d caught her before the confrontation with her family, but things hadchanged. She was no longer a helpless human who the princes could poke and goad whenever they wanted. His words meant nothing—Galilee wasn’t even sure shecouldbe killed. As it turned out, not knowing what you were opened up entire realms of lethal possibility.
Gali matched Levi’s smile as she called up the stinging power waiting inside her and let her eyes go blazing white.
“Why don’t you try to take my head right now?” she invited, as circles of heat spun out beneath her feet. It felt inevitable, easy, and it made her giddy with strength.
Leviathan’s hand drifted to the hilt of his sword, and his yellow eyes gleamed. “Your little demon’s growing up, Luci.”
Lucifer leaned down to kiss Gali firmly on her mouth, and she bit at his lower lip, still annoyed. He pulled back with black-bled eyes, wonder in the creases of his smile. “Your burn feels different,” he said. “Clearer, sharper.”
Leviathan sighed out loud. “Luci, you keep reminding me why she shouldn’t live.”
“Perhaps,” Lucifer agreed easily, his eyes still on Gali. “But I think she might be a little harder to kill than she was an hour ago.”
Gali smiled. She’d seen the woman who gave birth to her, and fair enough, her first mother had been mad and infanticidal, but she would have smelled of stark power. Gali was sure of it, could almost catch a whiff of it even through the memoryscape. The woman had christened Galilee in blood—although Gali realized uneasily that she didn’t knowwhoseblood had covered her as a baby. It was far more than would be warranted just by the birth alone. More important, though, the woman had confirmed that Gali wasn’t human.
Celestial had told her to getbig, and if Gali could burn the Devil himself, she was more than willing to take a chance on incinerating this annoying soldier of his, who looked down his nose at Gali like she was an insect he couldn’t wait to exterminate. Like all of Lucifer’s princes, he was painfully exquisite, sure, but Leviathan’s beauty sang of numb temperatures and barely tempered cruelty. Gali wanted to test her power against it, see who would incinerate first.
“What do you need?” Lucifer was saying to his prince.
Leviathan set his jaw, a taunting light filling his eyes. “Yourbrotheris here,” he replied.
Galilee felt Lucifer tense up beside her, every fine muscle of his facefreezing into place. With a harsh breath, he moved away, his flesh jerking awkwardly, like his form was having a hard time remembering how to function.
“Keep her away from him,” he said to Levi, his voice hoarse.
“Wait, what?” Gali stared at him, but Lucifer’s face was a rigid mask with black eyes cut out of it. “You’re leaving me here withhim?”
Levi looked just as displeased as she felt. “This is babysitting duty,” he protested.
“Thensit!” Lucifer roared, his voice redoubling and his eyes flaring. For a brief moment, Gali could swear she saw wheels of fire burning in them. “She doesn’t come near the house until he’s gone!”
