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“I’m so glad you’re back! Okay, so you might not believe this, but—” the words freeze in my throat as I stare at the person in the door. It isn’t Lucifer at all, although she bears a striking resemblance. Diana smirks at me from the doorway.
“What won’t I believe? And thank you, such a kind greeting, although I can’t say I’ve really gone anywhere recently.”
“How—” Before I can finish asking her how she got past Fenriz, she steps into the room, giving me a view of the hallway outside. Fenriz is slumped against the opposite wall, breathing but clearly unconscious. I snap my mouth shut and give Diana a wary look.
She smiles at me, smug and vicious, as she closes the door. This feels like that fateful elevator ride with Naamah—cornered with a beautiful woman who has every reason to dislike me, and the power to do something about it. I swallow hard and take a couple steps back.
“Charming guard,” she says. “Effective too, for protection against demons of an equal or lower level than himself, of course. Poor thing couldn’t resist me, although I must say, he did make a valiant attempt. Loyal to Lucifer to a fault, isn’t he?” The way she says it makes it sound like a personality flaw.
“I suppose so,” I say noncommittally. “They’ve been friends a long time.”
“Friends?” Her eyes widen and she laughs, sounding genuinely surprised. “Oh, you dear sweet thing, Lucifer doesn’t have friends. In fact, that’s why I came to see you.” She loops her arm through mine as though we’re the best of friends and walks me over to the window. Her friendliness feels simultaneously authentic and dangerous, like a cuddly crocodile with a full belly and a warm rock to bask on. One shift, within or without, and I’m certain she won’t hesitate to devour me whole.
“I thought we could have a little girl talk, up here in your gilded cage,” she speaks again, gazing out the window at the garden below. She slides a sly look at me. “Woman to woman, you know? I’m sure you’ve had plenty of experience with men on Earth, but think about it, sweet girl. Think what those men would become if they could live forever.”
“What are you saying?”
“Nothing, sweetness, nothing at all. We’re just chatting. Lovely outside, isn’t it? Don’t you just ache to be out in it? We should go for a walk down in the garden, there are some lovely…” Her blithesome voice fades into nothing before she sighs and continues. “Oh, but Lucifer would never allow it.”
I don’t know how much she knows, if anything, about the attack. My wounds are visible, but she hasn’t asked about them. My impulse is to jump to Lucifer’s defense, to tell her that he has every reason in the world to take extra care to protect me right now, but she doesn’t need to know all of that. “He knows what he’s doing,” I tell her instead.
“Oh, of course he does, sweetie. He always has.” The look in her eyes is coded and layered in emotions and thoughts that I don’t have access to. “Those cases downstairs, with the trophies? He designed those, you know. He’s always been very particular about protecting precious things.” There’s a little more emphasis on that last word than I like.
“He’s very responsible,” I agree, ignoring her insinuations. Lucifer doesn’t think of me as a thing.
Diana chuckles softly and turns, bringing me along with her to stroll around the room. “You should have seen him when he was young. Someone gave him this jewel, a ruby the size of a man’s heart, all polished and set in gold. It was brought from Earth, which made it all the more rare, and a lot more interesting to Lucifer.” She gives me a meaningful look.
“So he’s always taken an interest in Earth?” I ask, although it’s not like it matters. It’s like Fenriz said this morning, his fascination with Earth stuff is different from his feelings for me.
“Obsessed,” she groans, dropping her head back. “On and on with the stones, and the music, and the culture and blah, blah, blah. That ruby started it all, I’m absolutely certain. He spent a great deal of time carrying it around with him, everywhere he went, never letting it out of his sight. Then, when he was called away to war, he vowed to protect it.”
Something shudders in my core. So he vowed to protect a stone, so what? I brush her words away but they stick, heavy and cold, to my heart. “How did he manage that?” I manage to keep my voice steady, although I feel like there isn’t quite enough air in the room anymore.
“He locked it away,” she tells me matter-of-factly. “He had one of those display cases built on the top floor of his private tower and he secured it there. It’s there to this day, I could show you—except that no one is allowed in. He had it sealed and warded when he moved away, to keep all of his most precious belongings safe, untouched, and unseen.” She looks at me, virtually glistening with sympathy. “He didn’t want them to be hurt.”
“I didn’t know rocks could be hurt.” Finally, something my sarcasm can work with.
She shrugs. “Or lost, or traded, or used by anyone but himself. The point is, he doesn’t love those things, he just wants to own them. As I said before, darling, Lucifer doesn’t have friends—he never has. Lucifer has loyal subjects and he protects them or uses them as he sees fit. His social circle is his armory, full of stolen bits and repurposed tools, with the most precious or useless, displayed in cases on the walls or hidden in his tower.”
Okay, yes, I’ve seen that pattern myself with Lucifer’s employees, but that’s because they’re his employees. He’s the boss and his job is to protect and utilize his staff. But Lucifer does have friends. That Alchemist guy, Fenriz said they traveled a lot. I’m getting flustered and she can sense it somehow. Diana is exuding sympathy again, but there’s a gleeful gleam in her eye that gives her away. She’s manipulating me, that’s all.
She wants me off-balance.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she says. “You’re thinking that you’respecial.That you cansavehim from himself, teach the broken man tolove. That he’llneverlock you up or throw you away because he reallycaresabout you, but oh!” Her gasp is a dramatic pop, complete with her hand over her mouth and big wide eyes looking around the room. She drops her hand to her breast, gaping prettily and shaking her head. “Oh, but he already has!”
“I—” I bite my lip to keep the argument inside.I was attacked, you witch.I need protection and rest.
Diana smiles smugly, then affects a mocking pout as she pulls her arm away from mine. “You poor thing. Reality is so harsh sometimes, isn’t it? Well. At least, like the ruby, you’ll always have your looks—Oh, right, I forgot. You’re mortal. Hm—in that case, I’m glad I decided to get to know you sooner rather than later. It’s good to come to terms with these things early, wouldn’t want you getting your hopes up.”
She turns away from me with a smile and strides across the room like she owns the place, flinging the door open. “Ta-ta, sweetness, and keep your chin up. After all, as they say on your plane, even the caged bird sings.”
“That’s not—”
But the door is already closing behind her. My stomach rolls and I can’t tell if it’s anxiety or fury making it churn.
“She’s just trying to get under my skin,” I tell myself with a scowl. She’s succeeding too, much as I hate to admit it. I shake my head in attempt to free myself from her poisonous words. She’s got that whole rivalry with Lucifer, that’s what this is. She hates that he’s happy with me and she wants to ruin it however she can. She’s a skilled manipulator, taking the truth and twisting it into something awful.
Still, the fact remains that the truth was there to be twisted. I press my hands against the dread growing in my belly and wander to the window. Looking out over the palace, I wonder which tower is Lucifer’s, or if he even sealed off a tower at all. That’s the problem, really. I don’t know, and can’t know, how much of what she said is true. Without that, I can’t contextualize her insinuated conclusion that I’m nothing more than a pretty, precious thing to Lucifer. Not a person at all, and certainly not a partner. Just a gemstone, locked away from the world forever for my own protection.
