no idea how long the Chain would let me linger here.
I had at least one of them in my sights, and I meant to do what I could before it pulled me back to my body.
I tugged myself forward hand over hand, fighting the Chain’s insistence, and the fact that the closer I got to Lucifer, the harder it was to move. It was like the air had solidified, stopping me from going any further.
I gritted my teeth and pulled harder. The smaller chain bit into my hands, but I ignored the pain, taking dragging breaths against the solidity of the air.
The golden chain was warm now. I was so close, so fucking close, I could almost reach out and touch him.
Lucifer looked down at his father, his expression unreadable. Even from the side, I could tell he had none of his usual warmth in his features; this was completely the other one, the Lucifer whose soul was owned by Satan.
I wouldn’t let that thing take him from me.
I threw myself forward the last foot, gasping from the struggle, and my fingertips just brushed his shoulder. His skin was burning hot, like touching a coal fresh from the fire.
His head snapped around, mouth downturned in a frown.
“Lucifer!” I gasped, gripping the chain between us with everything I had.
Lucifer’s brows tightened, his eyes narrowed and turned to distant liquid mercury. He took a step forward, tipping his head to the side as he studied what must have looked like empty air to him.
And the Chain had finally had enough. It ripped me backwards, yanking the golden chain out of my hands and jerking me into the sky overhead.
Everything spun around me, blurring with the shriek of wind. Through blackness, through fire, through ice, the world turned upside down-
I plunged through obsidian and slammed back into my body, all the weight of a real live body hitting me at once. My heart hammered in my throat so hard I tasted blood, my lungs spasming to draw breath.
I was laying on my back, supported by dozens of hands, and looking up into the eyes of rapturous Chainlings.
“What did you see, my Lady?” one asked.
I blinked. My hands ached like I’d held them in a fire.
“Lucifer,” I whispered.
12
Melisande
I sat up slowly in the midst of the Chainlings, my head spinning from the sensation of being plunged back into the physical world and from the thick smell of incense.
My mouth had gone dry as dust. I felt like I’d walked through some sort of dream; only moments ago everything had seemed completely clear, but now my memories of what the Chain had showed me were going fuzzy at the edges.
I’d heard a name… a name that had seemed so familiar at the time, but now I couldn’t recall it at all. Had it started with an R? Or maybe it’d been an S… either way, the visions of Earth in the past were already dissipating. Those memories had belonged to another mind in another time, and weren’t mine to keep.
But everything after the vision of my rise from death was completely clear.
I sucked in a deep breath, wishing I had water. I’d traveled through a darkened abyss and come out on the other side to a blasted mountain range, where Lucifer was hiding with Satan.
“Lucifer,” I whispered again, my hand automatically rising to clutch at my chest. I yanked the front of my dress down an inch, exposing enough skin to reveal the mate mark of an inverted cross that was still inked pitch-black on my skin.
It glimmered, and I squinted hard, trying to pick out the light again- and there it was. A slight chain, no thicker than a spider’s web, just barely shining golden enough to see it.
I flipped my hand over. Belial’s spiraling mark had glints of red in its depths, and the circle of Tascius had taken on the faintest hint of moonlight.
“Do you see this?” I demanded, my heart hammering. I held up my hand, showing my marks to the Chainlings. “The other chains?”
The one who’d brought me down here was still crouched in front of me, as rapturous as the others. “No, my Lady. What the Chain shows is for your eyes only.” He stood up, gently sweeping dust off his knees as he rose, and held up his arms. “The Chain has finally communed! Our Lady of Wrath has been blessed by its links and all-knowing wisdom!”
They didn’t cheer, but some of them were quivering in a way