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The memories continue to unfold until I spot the one I’m looking for.
Asmodeus’ face comes into the view as Persephone strokes his cheek, healing the flesh into what’s now become his scar.
“My beautiful boy.” Her voice is smooth, like a true-born goddess. Angelic.
“I won’t leave you,” Asmodeus says, tears slipping down his bruised and bloodied face.
“But you must. He’s convinced the world you’re a monster, and sadly, because he proclaimed it, they won’t see anything differently. I know what you did was to protect me.”
“He was hurting you… I’d do it again,” he says, wiping at his face as his amber eyes search hers. Whatever blinded him was separate from whatever cut his face. He still has them both here. “I won’t leave you to endure the consequences of his actions. I can beat him. I can save you and…” His eyes drop down, staring at her stomach.
She’s pregnant… She has to be.
“Was he successful?” he asks, not lifting his gaze. A tick hammers in his jaw as his eyes gloss over.
“Yes…” He tenses at her response but still doesn’t move.
“All because he didn’t want to wait… All because he couldn’t force my power out.” He scoffs, letting his eyes lift to something behind her. “Now he gets his do-over.”
“Your spellbinding hasn’t fully broken yet, but it will. I’m so sorry… When I placed it on you, I thought it would save you from this life. Instead, I played into fate’s hands and brought it about. I thought if you didn’t have power, then…”
Asmodeus sucks in a breath, looking off at something behind her. “You could change the future. I know. I would’ve done the same thing.”
The world shifts as if she’s agreed by nodding her head. “You’ve gone against him and showed your intent to rid him from this world—”
“He locked you away in a dungeon because you wouldn’t give him another child,” he seethes. “I would’ve killed him if you hadn’t stopped me, and I would’ve regretted nothing.”
“I love him. He was wrong, yes—”
“You think he loves you? You don’t do that to people you love. You don’t do THIS,” he points at the gnarled scar, “to people you love. He deserves to be the king of nothing.”
“Regardless, you are still bound. He’ll kill you if his men find you because you’ve shown intent to hurt him. He won’t risk your binding breaking and you getting your way. You have to go, Asmo.”
He chuckles, even as the tears pick up the pace, leaving glistening streaks in their wake. “And go where? Earth? Michael will smite me. Even then, if I leave, he’ll know you had something to do with it. He’ll come for you the moment that baby is born. If you think I’ll leave you at his mercy, you’re wrong. The only way I’m going anywhere is if you come with me.”
She reaches forward, taking his hands in hers. “This is my fate. I cannot leave. It’s in the deal my father made. If I step foot out of this realm, everyone within the prison world dies, including my sisters. They don’t deserve that.”
“Then we can find a way to break the deal.” His tone raises, growing louder and more assertive. His patience is coming to an end.
“There are no loopholes, my sweet boy.” She hugs him tight, pressing her cheek to his chest. The room they’re in disappears and is replaced by a clearing, the barrier hovering inches behind him. It’s pinkish-blue hue waves in streaks like light against glass. “Forgive me,” she whispers, planting her hands against his chest and shoving him backward. Asmodeus lands on his ass, his eyes stretching wide as he takes in what’s been done. The glossy surface of the boundary hangs between them as Persephone plants a thin, dainty hand against its surface.
“No!” He climbs to his feet, scrambling toward her. His hand touches the other side, pressing to hers, yet not. “Why? You know that once the binding breaks I can take it down. Why put me in here?”
“Because I know you’re smart enough to see why you shouldn’t. You’re right. You can’t go to Earth. Nor can you stay in the other six realms of Hell, but he can’t reach you inside there without risking war again. It’ll give you time.”
“If I survive here without magic,” he says, tearing his hand away from hers. Fire burns in his eyes as he snarls his lip. “I’ll die in here.”
“You’ll die if you stay here, too. At least there you have a family. You have a chance.”
The tears stop, drying up in his eyes as rage replaces the hurt. “Good luck on your second chance,” he whispers, turning and heading into the prison world without a single look back.
My heart clenches in my chest as if someone has reached inside and tore it out, but it’s not my body reacting that way, it’s hers. As he disappears, tears pour from Persephone’s eyes, yet a glimmer of hope fills the void Asmodeus’s absence has left.
Yanking myself out of Kai’s mother’s head, I gasp and take a step back, trying to regain my balance. Hands catch my shoulders, and I turn to find the Devil eyeing me. Their color a deep red, but otherwise human.
“What did you see?” he asks.
I’ll need to choose my words carefully and avoid lying at all costs. He’ll know if I do, and after what I just saw, that’s the last thing I want to happen. Lucifer removes his hands from my person, moving to look over his wife’s body as if I might’ve misplaced something by touching her.
