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Alice, on the other hand, didn’t do damage control. She exploded orcs, decapitated a dwarf, and stabbed two men. Any one of those crimes are punishable by death in our culture. So, as far as I’m concerned, she’s missing and I’ll take it to my grave. I don’t have to wonder about Finn, either. He’s as loyal as they come.
“I’m asking. I don’t need to know where she is. Just tell me if she’s okay.” My father stares daggers into me, and power swarms around him, beating against my flesh like a drum. “Speak.”
The command slices into my throat, trying to claw the answer from it. “No.”
Fire blisters out from his skin, and it morphs from its peach-tinge to a dark crimson red. Twisted, ribbed horns burst from his skull until the man is no longer recognizable.
“I’m not here to hurt her, but I need to know.”
I sidestep, pacing around him and putting myself between him and Finn, who looks about ready to piss his pants. “Why?”
“I’m the only one who has seen your mother’s visions. I need to know which version we’re in,” he seethes. His chest pulses with every breath he takes as he twists to face me. “You were purposely told the wrong time for the meeting. You and Alice weren’t supposed to return to Hell Hold in time to attend the sit-down with village masters. That was the version of the future we were in. Or so I thought. Either something changed the trajectory, or I was wrong because you burst into the meeting and went off script. There were only two versions of the future where that happened, and one ended with Alice dying in an attempt to save her familiar. Now, I’ll ask one more time. Is she alive?”
My head jerks once in a sharp motion, telling him yes without speaking the words.
“Good,” he says, running his hand through his hair. The man returns and his eyes return to their azure blue.
“Why didn’t you stop her? If you knew she could die and how, why didn’t you try to prevent it? How could you not?”
“It could’ve changed her fate. She could’ve died, all because I intervened. It could have changed the future altogether or set us on a different track. There aren’t many with favorable outcomes, Kai, and only one that we know of where your mother comes back.”
“She could’ve died!” I snap, feeling my own version of a monster surge to the surface. I squish it down and suck in a deep breath. “You stood by and did nothing, and she could’ve died. You made a deal with her mother, and as such, you have to honor it. The fates shouldn’t have allowed you to stand by. The deal states you’ll do everything in your power to keep her safe, right? That you’d give your own life to protect hers?”
“Your mother gave us a chance. She gave us the knowledge we needed to win this war. My job is to make sure her sacrifice is worth something. If I intervene and change things, then it will change the timeline.” A glowing scroll appears in his hand as he steps forward. “I’ve already meddled by training Alice while you were away, and luckily, it didn’t end with her death.”
So that’s why he’s been so distant. He’s worried he’ll muddy his sacred timeline because he’s aware of how it plays out. But the sheer fact that she did die in one of those versions tells me Alice is still mortal. Her power isn’t strong enough yet to make her otherwise… He shouldn’t have been able to, but he risked that.
“I haven’t broken a deal, Kai.” He shoves the scroll into my chest. “All I did was give her a chance to prove herself.” Prove herself… Was I supposed to let her leave the castle? To give her the freedom she wanted? Is that what changed our course? My fingers fumble with the old parchment as I stare off at the floor. Was that a hint? Why the fuck does he have to be so cryptic? It’s infuriating.
“Just remember, sometimes ignorance is bliss.” With that, my father disappears, leaving me and Finn standing in the vacant hall.
“I hate when he does that,” Finn whines, still gathering his wits. “My beast fucking hates it. It’s like his power gets beneath my skin.” He shivers like it’s the most grotesque thing he’s ever encountered.
Without a word, I hand off the box to Finn, thanking the gods that I was able to hide it with my magic. In fact, I should be thanking Finn. It was his mustache that cloaked it and made it appear as though I was holding my jacket. We weren’t sure if we’d run into any of the survivors on our way out, and we didn’t want anyone trying to take the box.
I clutch the scroll, suck in a breath, and let it roll open. Eyes flicking over the parchment, my body tenses… He was right. The Devil didn’t break any deals, but he’s known on Earth for being cunning, and cunning he is. My father didn’t pledge to protect Alice with his life. He pledged mine.
“What does it say?” Finn asks, peering over my shoulder to glimpse the fluorescent text hovering just above the page. “Oh fuuuuck…”
When the Devil makes a deal, it’s sealed with magic, and that magic is strung by the fates. There’s no changing it. No manipulating it. Once the deal is made, that’s it. It’s officially out of everyone, including the dealer and dealee.
“It all makes sense now…” Finn whispers. “I swear from the moment you came back from Earth—after you met her—you were different. The Kai I knew never would’ve appealed to the High King, but you were so certain you had to do it for her sake.”
He’s right. I did it because I was worried we’d lose and I needed to know we had a backup plan. I was—am still—worried that Michael will shred our souls.
“Everything has been a lie…” The words float around me until my head spins.
Everything about us has been a lie. Celeste, Alice’s mother, likely didn’t know that ‘The Prince of Darkness’ wasn’t my father. It was a term coined for me because of what I am and how I look when my dark side rages.
Most demons get the eyes, but none of them look the way I do because they’re traits I’ve acquired from my parents—both of my parents. The talons and a majority of my abilities are from my mother, but the soot-colored hands and the way it swirls up my arms, and my wings are from my father. No one had seen someone like me. Belphegor, along with the other fallen angels, gave me the nickname. It was no one’s intention for it to spread to Earth, but somehow it did.
Alice’s mother couldn’t have known that by signing this contract, she was promising her daughter’s heart to me in exchange for me protecting her with mine. But here it is… staring back at me from the paper in my hands. A done deal.
Alice told me how she knew from the moment we locked eyes that she loved me, just didn’t want to admit it to herself. Now I know why. The fates made it be. We didn’t fall hard because we were two halves of a whole soul, destined to be together. We fell because of a deal made between our parents. The fates made it so.
The deal never made me love her… It only promised me to protect her. And since I met her, I’ve had an overwhelming need to keep her safe. Alice, though? Who knows what’s real… The fates have been pulling her strings and making her fall in love from the start.
“I don’t think you should tell her,” Finn says, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “As I said, she’s struggling enough. Telling her that how she feels about you is a result of some dead witches…”
