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“I did what I was supposed to,” she said, speaking directly to Lucifer.
Micah couldn’t hide how horrified he felt. “You made a deal with Lucifer?”
“Two, actually,” confirmed the devil.
“Two?”
Cinder pursed her lips. She didn’t say a word.
That was okay. Lucifer seemed more than pleased to elaborate.
His eyes were all but laughing as he smiled at Micah. “Don’t you know? Years before you ever met, she sold her soul to me. She’s always been ambitious. I’m sure you remember.”
“How? I don’t know him,” argued Cinder.
At his very core, Lucifer enjoyed nothing more than making his enemies suffer. As one of the royal angels, Micah was at the top of his list. Regardless of what he wanted from Cinder, he had ignored her in favor of tormenting Micah.
With a sly look shot at the angel, Lucifer decided to address Cinder. “Oh, but you do. You don’t want to remember. Not that I blame you. A betrayal decades in the making… but she wanted power. I gave it to her. Without me, Phoenix would have no fire. And she gave me her soul for her flames.”
“My name,” she said through clenched teeth, “is Cinder.”
Lucifer laughed.
Micah reeled.
He didn’t want to believe it. Fire witches were rare, but they weren’t uncommon. Sure, her fire had never been able to touch him. Now he knew why. It was Hellfire, and all celestials were immune.
Lucifer gave her the fire, and when Micah realized she was his fated mate, he took her soul.
He took her soul so that Micah couldn’t have it.
While Micah was realizing that, Lucifer had turned his attention back on Cinder again. “I don’t care who you are. I just want my key.”
Micah could deal with Lucifer’s revelation later. Right now, he couldn’t allow him to have the angels’ talisman.
“Don’t give it to him!”
“Oh, but she has to. It’s part of our second deal. But, don’t fret, cherub. I’m more than willing to make a deal with you next.”
Micah could feel Lucifer’s evil slithering out toward him. “No way.”
“You might change your mind. Hear me out. I made the same offer to Raziel.” Lucifer held out his right hand. “The talisman.” His left hand. “Her soul. They say I’m evil. I’m not evil. I believe in balance. There’s no reason why you should have both. Choose one and it’s yours. I’ll take the leftover.”
No reason? Of course there was a reason. One of the Fallen himself—if not the most infamous of their kind—Lucifer knew what the golden key really meant. Each faction had a talisman, a symbol of their power. The royal werewolves had a crystal skull. The bears had a music box. The demons had a locket. Though theirs wouldn’t have been missing as long as the angels’ key, they all represented the strength of the paranormal factions, and Lucifer’s latest curse relied on them being lost.
Find the talisman. Claim the mates.
Break the curse.
Whether it was fate or Lucifer’s machinations at play, Micah had heard rumors about how it seemed like all of the other royals were finding their mates after years, decades, centuries of waiting for their fated lifemate.
Raze did. So did Sam. But Micah… everyone knew what happened to his.
When it came to their talisman, Micah had given up on returning to Heaven ages ago. He’d thought Raze had, too—until Becca. Ever since the red-haired demoness discovered that Lucifer had their talisman all this time, Raze was determined to find some way to have both his soulmate and his home. Even though he claimed her soul when he claimed her as his mate, there was no denying that Becca had sold her soul to Lucifer before she had met Raze.
Just like it seemed Phoenix—Cinder—had.
Micah had no doubt in his mind that this was all part of Lucifer’s plan. As much as he hated all of the factions for getting to live in the human realm, the lord of Hell had a special hatred for the royal angels.
