“So what? We were all made for something, to be pointed and loosed in a direction. It doesn’t make us who we are.”
“You should worry more about this,” Gali scolded. “I could’ve killed you.”
“And I could’ve killed you a thousand times over. And yet, here we both are, arguing about it.”
Gali shook her head and looked away. “Until we can understand what Deziel did to make me have this suicidal ass effect on you, maybe we should—”
“Maybe we should what? Stay away from each other?” Lucifer’s gaze narrowed, his voice urgent. “Galilee, don’t you see?There is no magic here.All Deziel did was place our power in proximity and hope for the worst. She gambled. She rolled the dice. The rest of it is just a story to make you believe that nothing else is possible, to make you distrust everything else.”
Gali couldn’t help scoffing. “Then how do you explain ourconnection?” She jerked her fingers in air quotes at the last word, contempt and doubt dripping.
Lucifer stared at her for an incredulous moment, then burst out laughing. Gali glared at him.
“It’s not that funny.”
“I’m sorry,” he gasped. “Our connection isnormal, Galilee. It’s attraction and lust and interest and a fair amount of infatuation that’s to be expected when you meet someone who’s not only incredibly hot but also incredibly powerful.That’swhat Deziel was gambling on.” He wiped his eyes and looked at her with a deep fondness. “I hope we get the chance to explore it more, but don’t worry, Galilee. I haven’t been enthralled by the seductive magic of your body.”
Gali blushed as Lucifer’s eyes roved over her skin.
“I mean,” he amended, “I’m absolutely enthralled by your body, but not in a this-was-engineered-by-your-evil-angel-of-a-mother way.”
She threw a pillow at him, and he caught it laughing, but the mention of Deziel made her think of something else, something important.
“Did Michael say what would happen to her?” she asked.
Lucifer’s laugh faded away and his eyes went somber. “ApparentlyDeziel returned to Heaven and announced that their plan with the hellgate was successful. Michael denied his involvement, and she was judged for attempting to tear the veil between Hell and earth. She’s going to Fall.” Sorrow twisted his mouth. “I wish she’d listened to me. I wish she hadn’t believed in him.”
“You tried to tell her.” Gali couldn’t quite summon up the same sympathy for her mother that he had, but then again, their histories were different. She was trying not to think about the things theydidhave in common when it came to Lucifer. “Why didn’t she tell Heaven that Michael helped make me? He betrayed her. She coulda gotten her lick back that way.”
Lucifer shook his head. “That’s a crime worth annihilation for her. It’s bad enough that they’re stripping her wings and dumping her on earth. It could be much worse.”
“So she was smart to keep her mouth shut.” Gali exhaled in relief. “I really hate this shit, Luci.”
His eyes warmed as he looked at her. “I know, beloved. But you’ve got me and Levi on your side. We’ll do everything we can to keep you off Heaven’s radar.”
Gali reached out, then caught herself and dropped her hand. “I appreciate it, Luci.” She thought of Deziel being thrown out of Heaven, lost on earth among the humans. “Deziel’s just... broken now, isn’t she?”
A shadow passed over the Devil’s face. “Yeah. Heaven’s good at that.”
Gali knew he was thinking about his own Fall, and even though she wanted to ask him about it, she kept her hands off his skin and just let herself sit with him. The light shifted across the room. It was quiet and they were together, the King of Hell and the angel’s child designed to kill him.
The shower had stopped, but Leviathan still hadn’t emerged from the bathroom. Lucifer was about to leave, and Gali stood a few feet away from him, twisting her fingers.
“I wish I could hug you,” she said softly. No matter how much shewanted to touch Lucifer, she just couldn’t stop seeing him in the vault, dying with her power piercing him while his princes screamed in despair, and his eyes glazed over with acceptance.
Lucifer nodded, his eyes gentle. “However long it takes, Galilee. I’ll be here whenever you’re ready.”
When he left, the room rang with his absence.
Galilee walked into the bathroom and found Leviathan sitting in the bath that she’d never used, his bone-white locs trailing over the edge and down to the stone tile. He turned his head to look at her, and his yellow eyes flickered.
“Has he left?”
Gali pulled up the teak bench and sat next to the tub. “Yeah, like five minutes ago.”
Leviathan exhaled, and his gaze pulled away from her.
Gali reached out and smoothed her hand over his forehead. “It hurts you to be around Luci,” she said. “You love him that much?”
