I lower my gaze, not quite able to believe I’m going to choose this.But she screwed me.She didn’t even consider what making me kill her would do to me.
Fuck her.
Slowly, I look at him.His smile turns nasty.“You’ll bring me my daughter.”
I’m torn.Furious with her, knowing that to do what she did, she obviously doesn’t give a shit about me.Our entire relationship was a lie.But also recognising that she did this to get away from him.
“If I do that for you, she’ll never forgive me.”
“Then you have a choice to make.Your soul, for hers.Do that, give me my daughter and I’ll let you out of this contract.I want what’s mine and you took it from me.”
“What part ofshe made medon’t you understand?”I say, way bolshier than I should.
“You think I give one flying fuck what she forced you to do?Agree or…”
He slithers so close, his stubble and metallic breath trickle over my skin.I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself gagging.
He clutches my throat, the same way Arcadius did to him.Pathetic.The bullied becomes the bully.He’s such a cliché, trying to exert his fucking strength over a smaller person.
His expression goes pitch black; a searing sensation nestles in between my vertebrae.It starts faint then builds and builds until I’m shrieking a hollow wail of pain.
As my vision smatters and fades, the world glows bright.He’s ripping my soul out.Reaping me in the most savage way you can, not quick and gentle, but slow and brutal so I can feel every thread, every fibre tearing from my body.
Blood leaks from my nose, drips from my eyes until my vision is a rainbow of static and grey and murderous red.I no longer know why I’m even hesitating.Lucy screwed me, it’s time to save myself.
“OKAY,” I scream.“Okay…”
His hold on my neck loosens.
“Okay what, Midnight?”
“Okay, I’ll do it.I’ll bring her back.”
He tuts at me.
“Cute.But I need specificity.You’ll bring her back and hand her to me, do you understand?”
“And in exchange you’ll give me my soul?”
He nods.“That was the original deal, a soul for a soul.We’re just changing which soul.”
“Fine, deal,” I say and he lets me go and strides to the door.I slump to the floor.This is a mess.She will never forgive me, but after what she did to me, I’m not sure I care.She deserves this.
“You have five days,” he says and vanishes.
I’m aware there are no entropy moths this time.Is that because I have demon magic?
As the door clicks shut and his footsteps disappear down the corridor, I rest my head in my hands.
There’s no weight on my chest either.It was such a clear sensation that even more than a decade ago I can still remember the cold press of an immeasurable weight and the way my fingers went cold.
I feel nothing.I am numb and I have to wonder if it’s because this time, I sold Lucy’s soul and not mine.
10
Architecti
Angels aren’t meant to fall in love; we are love, so to speak.We are the essence of all things possibility, beauty and light.Love isn’t really a concept that we share in the Celestial world.
