“The Crucifix is gone,” I said through gritted teeth, trying to control my unusual anger.
Dani paused and looked at me with wide eyes.She dropped her hand from Raphaela’s throat, making Raphaela double over to catch her breath.
“What?”Dani whispered.She hurried past me and into the Chapel Room, circling the room in shock.“How is it gone?Nobody can touch it, unless …” She turned on her heel toward Raphaela, nails lengthening into talons, eyes filling completely with darkness.Within a moment, she had Raphaela pressed against the wall with her claws puncturing her skin and her tongue gliding against her teeth.“What did you do with it?”
“I didn’t …” Raphaela started, choking on her breath.“I didn’t d-do …”
I grasped Dani’s wrist in my hand and pulled her away.“She didn’t do it.”
“She had to have,” Dani growled at her, letting her demon take more and more control of her.
I pulled her away until her back was plastered against my chest.
But even the Devil couldn’t hold Dani back.
She was strong.Stronger than Biast.Stronger than all the Envies put together.Stronger than me.
She ripped herself out of my grip and stormed back toward Raphaela again.Eros appeared at the front of the hall, saw Dani’s aggression, and stepped in front of her before she could kill Raphaela this time.
Arms wrapping around her torso, he held her tightly to him, and with her brown hair a disheveled mess, she calmed down only slightly.He wrapped a hand around the front of her throat gently and whispered something into her ear.
Dani’s expression faded, though her eyes were still an intense black.She looked at me.“Don’t believe her lies, Lucifer.I know you’re smarter than that.If she didn’t take it, she knows who did.”
I pressed my lips together.“The Prophet,” I said.“From the Kingdom of Envy.”
Dani stared at me with a clenched jaw.“I don’t believe it for a second.It was Raphaela.It had to be Raphaela.”
“Come with me to Envy,” I said to her and Eros.“Get dressed.We’re going now.”
Eros guided a reluctant Dani back to the bedroom to dress for Envy.I followed after them when Raphaela grabbed my hand.
“What about me?”
I yanked my hand away from her.“You need to choose the kingdom you’ll join because you can’t stay here any longer.”
“I choose Pride.”
“Well, Pride doesn’t choose you.I never have, and I never will.Tonight is your last night ever in my kingdom.”
Forty-Seven
We walkedout of the portal in Envy, and the glimmering knockoff-green walls nearly blinded me.It wasn’t beautiful; it was fake, stolen, disgusting if you asked me.I blew a breath out of my nose and walked ahead of Dani and Eros, straight toward the castle.
Some guards hurried out in front of us as we approached it.
“Commander Lucifer, the queen isn’t in right now.”
But I continued to walk and refused to listen to any Envy.No Envy told me who was or wasn’t ready for me.I was Lucifer.Commander of Pride.King of Hell.The queen would be ready whenever I said she was.
I brushed past him, and Dani followed, looking in his direction and licking her lips as if she was hungry after her confrontation with Raphaela this morning.But everything she had said was true—since Raphaela had come here, Hell had been a straight-up mess.
Commander Chari sat on the throne, almost as if she had been waiting for me.Her eyes were a sour green, lips painted an even uglier color.“Lucifer,” she said with distaste.“What brings you to Envy?”
“Who took it?”I asked through clenched teeth.“The Crucifix?Who took the fucking Crucifix?”
Chari’s eyes widened as if she had no idea what I was talking about, and I believed that she didn’t know anything about the cross that had been taken after the party.“I don’t have any?—”
“Who took it?”I asked.“Who in your kingdom would take it?Who is the Two-Faced Prophet?”
