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CHAPTER9
From the moment the witches and the demoness worked to lift Lucifer’s shield on her memories, Cinder remembered everything she had blocked out. Her past with Micah, her time in the Pit, and the haze of the last few days while the lord of Hell had her waiting in the wings so that he could use her against her soulmate.
Lucifer was cruel. Vindictive. Bitter. He thought he was better than any of the other Fallen, and he hated those that were allowed to stay topside in Purgatory instead of Falling all of the way to Hell.
He especially loathed the royal angels, the most powerful of the angel faction.
Micah and his brothers weren’t actual royalty. They earned the title—which was a designation among all the different paranormal factions—because of their age, their wealth, and the strength of their celestial auras. It was no wonder Lucifer’s latest trick was to curse the royals in all of the factions. Not only would he weaken the Angels of Sin City, but all of the other paranormals, too.
All along she’d been a pawn. He didn’t offer to trade fire magic for Cinder’s soul because he thought she was worth the deal. Oh, no. Using his own extensive powers, he discovered she was fated to be Micah’s lifemate long before she ever knew about the politics at play for the angelic faction.
Lucifer had told her that once, she remembered. The worst part of her torture was the lord of Hell gleefully informing Cinder that, by selling her soul for her fire magic, she’d unwittingly sacrificed—and somehow betrayed—her future lifemate decades before she ever even met Micah.
Though she hadn’t met her yet—because Raze was overprotective, and Polly had kind of scared Cinder—she’d heard that Raze’s demoness mate, Becca, was another of Lucifer’s targets. Just like Cinder, she sold her soul to Lucifer decades ago and was already one of his before she met Raze. In her case, though, Becca had searched out Raze, desperate for his help, and had miraculously found her mate.
Cinder didn’t even recognize Micah after Lucifer used her magic to steal back the angels’ talisman.
She recognized him now. Remembered everything she’d ever learned about him—about their time together—and knew instinctively that she was his soulmate. And he was her lifemate.
Only… Micah hadn’t changed. Not really. For an immortal, the four decades she was trapped in the Pit had probably passed him by in the blink of an eye, and he looked exactly the same as he did in her memories.
Well, maybe not exactly the same. Fashions were totally different now than what they were, and even his hair was cut shorter than it used to be. But that was only his outside.
Inside? Micah was the same doting, devoted mate she’d loved then lost, and even now that she had her memories back, he still treated her carefully.
When she was Phoenix, she hadn’t known what to make of it. Convinced he was only drawn to her because of fate, she never let him in. Now she was Cinder. She was different.
If Micah wanted to call her his mate, he needed to decide if he was ready to claim her so that she really was in truth. Cinder couldn’t stand to wait, knowing they’d already been separated for decades. She couldn’t sit on the sidelines until he decided to make a move, either.
It was another Saturday night. One of the busiest for House of Sin, with Raze out of the country, Micah was the angel prince responsible if the floor manager needed one of the owners. Feeling guilty that he’d spent so much time away from work to be with her, Cinder told him he should go check in.
Of course, then she spent a couple of hours pacing around the room he provided for her in the hotel, feeling his presence on the floors down below like an itch she couldn’t scratch.
That was the witch in her. Now that she knew for sure that Micah was meant to be her lifemate, she could sense him on the other side of their fledgling bond the same way her angel could track her anywhere. He was on the third floor, so close yet too far.
Cinder made it until ten o’clock. Four hours after she promised Micah she’d see him tomorrow, she yanked on her boots, told Crow that—if everything went according to plan—he shouldn’t wait up for her, then marched purposely toward the elevator.
She selected the third floor before moving aside for other hotel patrons to join her in the car. By the time she arrived, it was packed, and nearly everyone got off on the same floor. House of Sin took up the entire space, and Micah was right. It was hopping on a Saturday night.
He was probably busy. Did that stop Cinder?
It didn’t.
It couldn’t.
Before she could change her mind, she followed the itch between her shoulder blades until she reached a closed door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked once, then turned the knob.
The door eased open.
She exhaled softly, shaking out her long black hair, and walked into the room.
It was the office that belonged to the Angels of Sin City—or, at least, two of them. She saw two matching desks, complete with ornate chairs, set along two different walls. The one in front of her was empty.
The one to her left had Micah sitting with a stunned expression.
Closing the door behind her, she moved purposely into the room.
He got to his feet. “Cinder… what are you doing here?”
