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“You must marry River and take your place. It’s what God demands.”
“Says who?” I yell. “When was the last time that you had an audience with God? You and I both know that things change, Camille. You’re going off of some heated conversation that you had with God when he was angry with you.”
“Yes, well, nothing has changed.”
“I’m changing it,” I screech. “This is my life and I’m done taking orders from people who deserted me.”
Camille gasps. “I never...”
“I’m not talking about you,” I snap, losing the very thin patience I’m holding on to. “It’s Heaven who threw me to the wolves. But you know what? I still don’t think this is what God has in store for me.”
“And how exactly would you know God’s plans?”
“You forget, I lived with him most of my life. God is all-knowing. If I’m so important, do you think he would’ve allowed for Lucifer to get so close to me? Do you think he wouldn’t have intervened a long time ago? I believe that Luke is my path, and God has yet to step in and tell me otherwise.”
“Victoria, while everything you’re saying is accurate, I don’t believe this is the best use of your time. You’re down to fifteen minutes,” Leanna says.
I take a deep breath and look between River and Lee. “Will you two give us a moment?” I ask.
Lee doesn’t look like she believes that’s a great idea, but River stands and exits without a word.
“Fifteen minutes, Tor, and then I’m leaving.”
I take another deep breath, turning toward my mother and deciding to lay it all out there.
“We need your help, Camille. If Lucifer loses the fight, it’ll mean the end of Earth.”
“But Victoria,” she says, placing her hand on top of mine, “that’s the thing. We don’t need to concern ourselves with Earth. There are many far greater worlds in the universe. We can explore them together.”
For a moment, I want to cave and allow her to whisk me off to worlds unknown. The idea of forgetting about all the issues that come with Earth and the wars that will undoubtedly occur because of the power struggle between Heaven and Hell is tempting.
Getting to experience what it’s like to have a mother is even more so. Camille’s hopeful smile makes it even more difficult to resist the urge.
I allow the wistful thoughts to float through my head, basking in the warm glow that accompanies each and every imagined adventure my mind has conjured for Camille and me, before shaking my head and removing my hands from under hers.
“I think God wanted me to come here to convince you to side with Lucifer,” I say, feeling that truth in my bones. “God doesn’t want anyone on the throne in Hell but Lucifer.”
She grunts. “You might not be entirely wrong about that. Where humans are concerned, God tends to intervene on their behalf. If Lucifer is trying to preserve humanity, Heaven would be all about him ruling Hell. I just don’t understand his obsession with such one-dimensional beings.”
“I’ve lived on Earth for years. The humans aren’t bad, Camille. They’re misguided and left to deal with the intense emotional pull of Earth. That shouldn’t condemn them to torture. There are good people living there. Women and children who don’t deserve to be fodder for demons. I can’t allow that. Don’t you understand?”
Her cheerfulness falters at the realization that I won’t budge.
“You’re half human. There has to be some part of you that doesn’t want to see humanity wiped out.”
“There is, but it doesn’t trump my need to protect you, Victoria. The one promise that God made me was that you and I would one day be reunited, and whatever legacy I built would be yours. Then, and only then, could I be released from my curse and effectively retire.”
Once again, I’m reminded that this is all because she wants to hang up her crown to rush off to worlds unknown.
And how precisely did she plan to do it with me? Her running off requires me to sit on that vacated throne.
She never did.
“So I’m your patsy?”
“I don’t like your insinuation, Victoria. You’re nobody’s pawn. I spent millennia building this.” She gestures around at the opulent palace. “Everything you see, I built for you. So that one day, you’d have a home. A family. Something I wasn’t allowed to have.”
“What family? You’re asking me to give up the one person I’ve truly loved so that you can travel. Who is my family?”
