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“You won’t get far.”
Lucifer…
Craning my head, I find him, arms crossed and leaning against the gargoyle statue where Kai was yesterday.
“Excuse me?” I ask, trying to slow the rapid pace of my heart and settle the unease curdling in my stomach.
“My son will come after you. I’ve seen it and considering you searched my wife’s head; you know it too. If you leave… If you poke a hole in your boundary, then you don’t even make it to the tree line. He slips through before the boundary reseals. Hell, he’s likely waking up as we speak to find your ring on the nightstand.” He steps away from the pillar, making a move toward me. “Shall I continue?”
I swallow the lump growing in my throat, backing toward the stairwell as if he’ll pounce at any moment.
“I can help you,” he says, weaving his fingers together and letting them fall against his body.
“Why? Why should I trust you after you sold your own son’s soul?” My back connects with the stone frame of the stairwell, and I jump. “After you almost let Luri die.”
He snorts as if my fear amuses him. “Because I want us to be on a certain timeline, where we all get our happy ever after. My wife and I, you and my son,everyone. And if you run out the door, then we’ll be moving in a different direction.” A sly grin tilts his lips.
“And in this timeline, does Finn survive?”
“Yes. Let’s make a deal. No signatures required. I’ll share my secrets in exchange for you helping me correct it.”
“A deal…” I chuckle.
His jaw tenses, but the faux smile wins, stretching his lips wide across his face. “Yes. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
My eyebrows arch up. “Even about my parents?”
He nods. “Yes, if you want to know.”
“Why does this timeline matter so much to you? Is it truly because you want your wife back, or is it because she has something to offer?”
His teeth trap his bottom lip for a split second and his eyes dart to the floor as if he needs to think over his answer. “I do truly want my wife back. I’ve made many mistakes, but loving her wasn’t one of them. As for the timeline, I’ve known the men in the court for decades. In the one we’re on, my son will contest me and the court will not vote for him to supersede as King. In our law, if someone contests and does not win the vote of the court, it’s then sent to a trial by sword. I’ll be forced to either kill him or let him kill me. He knows this, yet still plans to do so.”
“Because of his engagement to me…”
Lucifer nods, pursing his lips. “Yes. They already were wary of you and your cat. Add your outburst in the meeting into the mix… They’ll come around to the idea in time, but contesting me right now won’t work in his favor.” Lucifer takes another step, but this time I stay put instead of matching it backward.
I scrunch up my face, trying to wrap my head around the idea of Lucifer and Kai fighting to the death. “You’re the sitting king. Change the rules. And if you knew you’d have to fight him when he contested you because he wants to be with a woman the council doesn’t approve of, then why force us to get engaged in the first place?”
Something changes as his blue eyes lock on mine. It’s an emotion I can’t pinpoint, but one I’ve never seen the Devil wear.
“Because only one timeline went this way out of hundreds of possibilities. I underestimated the risk. You and Kai weren’t supposed to enter that prison world, but you did. It changed the course of things and since, I’ve worked to correct it. It’s why I tried to help train you. It’s also why I forced you to fight Asmodeus alone. Still, nothing has worked. This is my last shot at fixing it. I won’t kill my son, nor will I force him to kill me.”
Lucifer strides forward until he’s standing before me. I have to arch my neck to look him in the eye. “I made a mistake. You were supposed to grow up in Hell, not on Earth, but we ran out of time. The angels had found your mother faster than I expected and she wouldn’t accept for you to live in Hell as a child. I improvised and tried to keep the future on track by promising you to my son. Everything was fine up to us bringing you here, then it wasn’t. I tried to stay away, to let the future play out the way it was supposed to, but it kept moving further off course.”
“So it wasn’t us that changed things. It was the deal you made,” I whisper, meeting his blue eyes and unsure of whether to trust the emotion I see there.
“Yes. Sometimes knowledge can be a burden. It’s why my wife hated seeing the future. The temptation to alter it is too great.”
“Yet you’re still doing it now,” I scoff, eyeing the watch in his hands. The thin chain drapes through his fingers.
“I have to try. I won’t kill him, Alice. But we both know him and once he sets his mind to it, there’s no changing his course. He’ll contest me because he made a promise to do so. Now, all I can do is make sure he wins the vote.”
“Fine…” I fold my arms across my chest, lifting my chin and straightening my shoulders. “Assuming I believe you, what do you suggest I do?”
He holds out the watch and I take it, steadying my fingers so he won’t see them tremble. “This is a prison world. I made it. The moment you click the button, everyone within the castle gets sucked inside. I’ll evacuate the space. You just make sure Kai is inside when you press it. Everyone will be safe within your barrier–the one he wanted me to take down last night, by the way–and he’ll be safely trapped inside. You’ll be free to leave and go save your friend, but you’ll be fully on your own. If you take Kai out, he’ll be trapped behind your barrier and unable to assist you. If the watch breaks, same thing. However, it will keep him away from the court long enough for you to save Finn and when you get back, he’ll deny you as his queen-in-waiting. He’ll get the votes he needs, and everyone lives.”
My thumb swipes over the clock face, the weight of it slightly heavier than I expected.
