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“You’re scary.” Sariel deadpanned.
This time, I wasn’t the only one who laughed. Even Atlan chuckled, elbowing his pouting brother when we all entered the cafeteria.
Dinner was surprisingly upbeat after our dreary discussion this evening. I was glad for it; the positive atmosphere has been excellent at keeping my mate in a good headspace, and I was relishing it. Any occasional bursts of anger or pain were easy to brush off when overall, he was being so—
Sariel surprised me with a soft peck while I’d been daydreaming about how happy he had been lately. I beamed, ducking my head shyly, where he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and then returned to whatever conversation he’d been having.
I snuggled into his side and soaked it all in.
15
ELECTRIC HEARTS
SARIEL
Iwas so fucking tired.
The walls of my cage were a mirror image of the one I’d been locked in when the Upper Council had me. I tried not to let myself think too hard about that.
I hadn’t worked out why Aria couldn’t feel me suffering in here, nor why she was so damn happy with Barimuz, and if I lingered too long on either one of those problems, I started to go a little crazy.
Was I not good enough? Devoted enough? What was he doing that was making her so much happier than when she’d been with me?
I mean, I knew I had been an asshole at the beginning, but surely she… surely sheknewme by now. I would be losing my shit—Iwaslosing my shit—that Michaelson had gotten that damn fae princess pregnant, and now my niece or nephew was going to be handed off like chattel over a dealIhad made.
Why didn’t she know that? Why was she accepting my silence?
This pacing was all I could do. I was gripping at my hair and pulling the strands as if the pain would ground me.
Lucifer had left me to stew in the agony that was my mate being happy with someone else, but when he did visit, I knew pain would come. The bastard would kill me before I would admit to having felt the pull to shift, though.
I couldn’t do it either way. The power was there in my chest, coiling tighter and tighter every day I sat front and center to Aria and Barimuz being the best of fucking friends, yet whenever I desperately reached for the growling beast in my chest, it would vanish.
It must be because of the cage. I was grateful for it, for once, because fuck Lucifer and his obsession with me and my mate completing our bond.
“Good morning, Sariel!” Lucifer singsonged cheerfully when the walls of my cage shifted, leaving me to stare at him through the bars. He’s beaming, hands clasped together like he’d been clapping seconds before.
“Morning,” I responded begrudgingly after his expression began to dim, knowing that if I pissed him off, it'd just be another day of misery. At least when he was happy, he wanted to talk, and it postponed whatever bad intentions he had for me.
“So, a little birdy told me that you had a fun experience in the Free Kingdom.” His chalice appeared from seemingly nowhere, and he took a sip. “I thought we could try replicating it. What do you say?”
It didn’t matter how I responded, but he waited anyway.
“What experience?” I asked.
Honestly, I thought I already knew, but he wanted a conversation about it instead of throwing me into Hell today.Just play along,I told myself.
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, don’t play dumb. The one where you have to save your family? I can’t remember if you fudged it up or not, but it got me thinking. We could have a lot of fun with something like that.”
Lucifer snapped his fingers, and then I was standing alone in the dark.
“Every time you fail to save them, I’m gonna give you a little shock, okay? Consider it positive reinforcement—oh, actually, that would be negative reinforcement, wouldn’t it?”
His shrug might as well have been audible; I could picture him so clearly, it made me growl.
“Sariel.”
The problem with these tests was that they worked a lot like dreams—because youweredreaming.
