“Strange. It must be one of my forms leaking through.” I looked around the vault and took a moment to appreciate the devolving chaos. “Gorgeous, but I can’t focus in all this.” I drew a quick weave in the air, and though the gate kept screaming and splitting, it slowed its breaking as it recognized Heaven’s patterns,mypatterns. “There. Now we can have a conversation.”
Lucifer dropped his arms. “So kind of you,” he bit out, his nostrils flaring.
I smiled at his tone. “Anything for you, Morningstar.”
Galilee was looking between both of us, confused by the intimacy in our exchange. My daughter, in the flesh,lookingat me. She had no idea I was the same woman who’d been at the party the night before—thathad been a different vessel, a different skin. I allowed her to gaze uninterrupted, but I kept my eyes on Lucifer, my former beloved. We had not been this close since he Fell, since I stood at Michael’s side and watched the Morningstar plummet into the deserved dark. From the corner of my eye, I saw Galilee lean toward one of Lucifer’s demons.
“Who is that?” she asked him in a low whisper.
She could not hear my name from another’s mouth first. We both deserved better. I turned to her, and the shredding portals of Hell cast a reddened slant over us both.
“My name is Deziel,” I answered. “I’m the angel who tampered with Lucifer’s little gate.”
Galilee sucked in a breath. “You’re anangel?” I could feel her eyes taking account of me: the too bright of my eyes, the too long of my neck, the too wide of my smile. “Why would you do something likethisthen?”
Another demon with discolored skin and yellow eyes scoffed. “You’re still thinking that angels are good,” he said, his eyes flicking between me and Galilee. “Welcome to the real world, little one.”
Oddly, there was clear affection in how he spoke to her. I hadn’t expected that from one of Hell’s creatures, but I made sure to note it.
Lucifer hissed behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder. His eyes were void black and deliberate as he bared his teeth. “Get away from her, Deziel.”
Menace radiated off him, and Galilee stared as the Devil’s body began to broaden in preparation for a shift. I held up a finger and wagged it in warning. “No, no, Morningstar, you’ll let us talk. Move, and I’ll disembowel her right here.”
Galilee folded her arms and glared at me. She was doing a good job of pretending to be brave, but I could hear her little animal heart racing in her chest, thudding prey muscles trembling in the presence of a predator. “Join the line,” she snapped. “Seems likeeveryone’stryna kill me.”
“I didn’t say I’d kill you,” I corrected. “I said I’d disembowel you. You’d probably survive it, since you’re not human.”
Galilee went a little pale. “What the hell is wrong with you? There’s noreason—”
“No reason to gut you?” I interrupted. “There’s anexcellentone, Galilee. Because it would hurt Lucifer.”
The Devil took a step toward me. “Michael was right,” he said. “This reallyispersonal for you.”
Wait.I turned slowly. “You spoke to Michael?” When had Michael come down? Why wouldn’t he have told me? He knew I was so close to finally damning Lucifer.
The Morningstar’s mouth was hard and unforgiving. I’d seen it like that before, when the war started. “He knows what you’ve done, Deziel. He told me you’re the angel who fucked with my hellgate.”
I frowned at him. “Well,ofcourseMichael knows what I did.” My mind was racing now, trying to calculate why the archangel would give Lucifer that information. I’d been planning to reveal it myself in the moments before the gate lost control. It would’ve been spectacular, seeing the shock and despair in Lucifer’s eyes. Had Michael wanted that for himself?
Lucifer was watching me carefully. “What do you mean,of coursehe knows?”
“He said it was a good idea.” I shrugged. “He wouldn’t teach me any of his weaves to use, but it turned out mine were enough on their own.”
One of the demons laughed, snakes animated on her skin.
I hissed in her direction. “Silence, creature.” Lord above, how did Lucifer ever get used to these foul things?
The Morningstar’s eyes were wide and dark. “Oh, Deziel,” he said. “Do you think Michael signed off on this?”
He was speaking like a fool, like he thought I was one too. “I don’t need tothinkhe did,” I snapped. “I’m not like you, Lucifer. Ifollowthe order of Heaven. I couldn’t have done this if Michael didn’t permit it, but he did, and here we are. How does it feel to be so close to facing Heaven’s judgment again?” I prowled slowly in his direction, wanting him to feelhunted. “I’ve waited so long to see you brought to proper justice, you know.”
The Devil didn’t seem concerned about himself. “Michael signed off on this but refused to share his weaves. I bet he wasn’t anywhere near you when you worked on the hellgate, right?”
“He’s anarchangel. He was busy.” I hated that I recognized the look on Lucifer’s face, puzzle pieces spinning around in his head, hurtling toward a conclusion I couldn’t see yet. It almost felt like our old arguments before he Fell, and I hated it. I hatedhim. “Why did Michael come to see you?”
Lucifer frowned. “I’m not sure.” He met my eyes. “Michael said you defied him.”
A flush of blood stained my cheeks before I could stop it, and I cursed the tells of the flesh. “It was a long time ago, and I didn’t defy him. I just disagreed on your punishment. It wasn’t harsh enough.”
