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“No,” Luc said at the same time Ur said, “Good idea.”
Brinna padded back across the room to set her cup in the sink. “Thank you, Lucian. I’ll see myself back to my room.”
Luc bowed his head slightly as he watched her go. When she was gone, he said, “First, Father, I’m a grown ass man.”
“Who makes rather childish decisions.”
Luc sighed. Ur wasn’t wrong, but Luc didn’t need reminding.
“And your punishment for that spell business was imprisonment here. What part of imprisonment means leaving?”
“Nix asked me to go.”
“Oh. So the brother you trapped—the very reason I’ve sequestered you here—asked you to leave, so you go?”
“What did you expect me to do? Tell him no? What if he needed help in the mortal world?”
Ur let out a frustrated noise. “Damn him. He’s after the mortal— or whatever she is.”
“Can you blame him? The god-yoke makes it rather difficult not to.”
Ur scoffed. “I’m not here about your brother.”
“I did it. I left. I went with Nix to the mortal realm. There.” Luc held up his hands. “Is that what you want to hear? There was a monster who went after Aurielle’s sister. So I used my power and you caught me. Like it or not, we owe Aurielle for Nix’s life. For mine. For Lexa’s.”
Ur walked into the living room and sat down, leaned back, and set an ankle on the opposite knee. Cool, calm, collected. Luc had always admired that about his father. There were things he hated about him, like his wandering eyes and the way he fought with their mother, who had her own wandering eyes. But when it came to everything else, Ur could assess a situation as if he owned it and only had to speak his will to see it as it should be. He had his faults, but nearly costing the universe something wasn’t one of them.
After a moment, Ur took a deep breath and said, “You’re my oldest son, Lucian. I need you to–”
“To what?”
“Grow the fuck up.” Ur set both feet back on the floor and leaned forward. “I need to pass my mantle, and I want it to be you.”
“Lexa said ‘no’?”
Ur sighed again. “I asked her. She said she doesn’t want it. Probably best. Her role as god of the Netherworld means she’s involved in all kinds of questionable activities. That kind of power might be a conflict of interest.” He paused. “Nix wants to marry a mortal–”
“Probably not a mortal.”
“Whatever she is.” Ur waved a hand. “And he thinks you’re better suited.”
“So I’m your third choice.” Luc scoffed, not sure why that news surprised him, considering what he’d done to Nix.
“You’ve always been my first choice. I asked the other two because I knew you’d refuse.” Ur stood and started back toward him. “I agree with Nix and Lexa. The god of the Cosmos—of the Vasmost— needs to be bigger than their immediate wants, Lucian.”
“Well, that isn’t me, now is it, Father.”
Thunder shook Sol as lightning streaked beyond the glass. Ur’s electricity sparked between them; his look menacing. “Enough.”
Light buzzed at Luc’s fingertips to challenge his father’s ire. “Enough what? Refusing you?”
With a twist of his hand, Ur grabbed hold of Luc’s power, and pulled, yanking the golden light from every fiber of Luc’s being. Bright tendrils of gold bounced across the expanse of the room to Ur, putting Luc’s power in his father’s fist.
“Is this what it will take?” Ur shouted. “Stripping you of your power? Banished to Sol isn’t enough? You need to be powerless too?”
“Just take it,” Luc shouted back. “I’ve never deserved it anyway. And that’s what you think, right? I’ve done nothing but abuse it. Give it to someone else.”
“Who are you?”
