Page 24 of The Bonds of Indigo

“Getting a better look at you. And I’m glad I am.”

“Bloody Beyond, you’re brazen. Do you have no filter?”

I chuckle. “Nope. Now, what’s your name?”

He strains to lean away. “Okay! Okay! Shit. It’s Lucifer.”

My smirk turns into a genuine smile, and I think it’s what causes his face to turn a deeper shade of crimson.

“It’s nice to meet you, Lucifer.”

He swallows. “You… too, Kayn.”

It’s been hundreds of years since he walked out on me.

I figured, like he warned me, that his kind doesn’t hold onto love. Eternal creatures of habit; they leave, and they don’t come back.

But for him to have been with his father, Belial… this feels different.

I believe in fate. And the fact that Xeraphine saw Lucifer in the Beyond, even for the briefest moment, tells me I’m meant to pursue him.

Again.

Maybe he did leave me. But what if he was taken from me… and I never even tried to bring him back?

Kairhyse hadn’t hesitated to find Xera, from what I understand.

Had I failed Lucifer by not doing the same?

I guess I’ll find out. I’ve made my peace with not being a good man, and a few dead bodies between me and him are justifiable in my book.

What weighs heavier on my conscience is what I’ll have to release to reach him.

I take a slow breath and fall back onto the bed. Just the thought of saying what I’m about to for some reason tickles my throat. A strange sensation tugging at the middle of my chest, like something is going to escape and rush to another…

However, I’m still compelled to do it and softly whisper, “Amarah Holloway.”

Chapter 7

I’m ripped out of sleep, my head snapping back as a jolt of energy tears through my spine. Fire blooms in the center of my chest, and I choke on a sharp intake of air.

I blink, trying to focus on the concrete wall in front of me. “What the fuck…”

Shifting onto one foot, I push myself up from the kneeling position I’d drifted into. My temple rests against the cold wall I’m chained to, the chill grounding me. I’m surprised they even gave me enough slack to kneel after what they thought I’d done earlier.

I wasn’t reaching for Vendra’s power. I’ve been without our connection for so long, I couldn’t summon it even if I tried. If they’d let me explain, I would’ve told them I only wanted to hear her voice. To get confirmation she hasn’t forgotten me.

Not to beg for help. Just to be remembered.

But this feeling—this sharp, electric flame through my body—it’s familiar. Almost like when I used to channel. That can’t be right. I shouldn’t be able to. Nothing about my predicament has changed…

So why does it feel like something inside me has woken up?

Rolling my forehead along the stone, I lift my hands above my head and cross my wrists before turning back around. Leaning until the wall supports my back, I let my knees sink into the cold floor again. My body goes slack, breath shallow, eyes fixed on the door.

“Vendra?” I whisper.

Moments pass, and as it has for the last however many years, silence greets me.