Very likely.
“Thank you, Victoria,” Luke says from across the table, placing his hand on top of mine.
“For what?” I ask reluctantly.
“For obliging me.” He smiles. “You’ve been a good sport today.”
I roll my eyes. “You didn’t give me a choice, Lucifer.”
His face falls, but just slightly.
“Please stop calling me that,” he says, looking young and uncertain.
“It’s your name.”
He blows out a harsh breath. “Just for tonight, can I be someone else?”
The sincerity in his voice tugs at my heartstrings. Could he truly wish to be someone else? Could the side of him that I catch glimpses of be his true nature? I’ve spent so much time villainizing him that it’s hard to switch views. It’s not a stretch to imagine that even the ruler of Hell wants a break.
I consider how the request was made too; it was more of a plea than a demand. In a place like this, he’s king. These people would relish walking alongside Lucifer. Yet he just wants to be anyone else.
“They’re not all bad,” he says, reading my mind for the millionth time. “Some of them just want to be someone else for the night. Can you blame them?”
“Are we still talking about these people? Or you?”
“Both?” He huffs. “Doesn’t it ever get exhausting being this divine creature that everyone expects so much from?”
I lower my head, feeling exposed, vulnerable, under Lucifer’s intense gaze. “It’s been a long time since anyone has expected anything from me,” I admit. I say it so quietly, he shouldn’t hear it over the music, but this is Lucifer we’re talking about.
“You’re wrong,” he says, shaking his head as though that should be the most obvious truth. “Do you really think you and that hunter of yours are the only fallen angels on Earth?”
I narrow my eyes at the direction this conversation is taking.
“Are you saying we’re not?”
He laughs at me like I’m adorable, and I glare in response. “Of course you’re not. The only difference is you’re allowed to roam in the open. The others have to hide because if the arcs found them, they’d be exterminated.”
“Why?” I press, wanting—no, needing—him to tell me everything.
For so long, I felt isolated and alone.Until Zeke.
“You’re doing God’s dirty work for him here on Earth. You fell, yet you’re still working for him. You’re cheap labor, and it saves his precious angels,” he grinds out the words. “The others, those who fell to simply enjoy Earth’s trappings…” He wiggles his brows, but I don’t react. I want him to continue. He frowns but relents. “You serve a purpose. They don’t.”
“They tried to do the same to me.”
“They were messing with you, and only because you insulted one of them. I didn’t really need to save you, Victoria. God never would’ve allowed Malachi to kill you. He would’ve intervened if I hadn’t.”
“I don’t think so,” I say, shaking my head.
“Iknowso. You are part of a bigger picture. This war you speak of—” He stops, staring intently into my eyes. “You’re right. It’s coming.”
There are so many questions running through my head, and I want to ask them all, but he puts his finger up and shakes it back and forth.
“This is my night, and I’m done talking aboutHim.”
I bite my lip, one more question on the tip of my tongue, and I can’t help but spit it out.
“Do you know why Zeke betrayed me?”
