sure of anything anymore.
“Lucifer I… I need some time to think.”
He moved close and touched my face again, with the lightest of caresses. “I know this is a lot for you to take in, but it will all make sense in time. Come back with me to the penthouse. You know in your soul we’re meant to be together, even if you’re uncertain about everything else. Your place is by my side, ruling as my dark queen.”
I pulled back, out of his grip, and shook my head. “I’m not ready for that. It’s too much. Please just…give me some space for now.”
“You want me to leave.”
“Yes. Go. Please. Before this gets any harder.”
He searched my eyes, like he didn’t want to believe what I was saying, but then he bowed his head and stepped back. Without another word, thick darkness swirled around him, the shadows dancing and claiming him as their king.
When it cleared, he was gone.
27
Lucifer
Space. Hannah wanted space.
Fine. I could give her that. For now.
But that didn’t mean my business here was finished.
Using my power to become darkness, I slipped through Jophiel’s extravagant house until I found her office. White walls, white distressed desk, white chair… What a bore Jophiel was. If she hadn’t been an Archangel and the CEO of Aether Industries, she’d hardly be worth my notice. Except now it seemed she was apparently Hannah’s sister, though that was impossible. To my knowledge, Hannah had never been an angel in any of her past lives, and she certainly wasn’t one now. Her wings would have long emerged by now if she had been—plus I would have sensed it.
I pushed back Jophiel’s white chair and sat in it, then kicked my feet up on her desk, knowing the sight of me invading her space would drive her mad. It only took a few minutes of playing on my phone before she arrived.
She jumped when she saw me at her desk, and then her eyes narrowed with a look of pure, unadulterated hatred. “What do you want?”
The sight of her made my blood boil too, but I flashed her a devilish smile. “I want the truth. Isn’t that your area of expertise?”
Her mouth twitched at that. As an Ofanim, Jophiel was an angel of truth…and was one of the best at concealing it. All Archangels had a special, unique power—and Jophiel’s allowed her to erase or hide memories. “The truth will only hurt Hannah.”
“I’ll be the one to decide that.” I rose from her desk slowly, the shadows gathering behind me like menacing wings. “You stole some of my memories, didn’t you? Of a past life where Hannah was an angel. And your sister, apparently. Now you’re going to put them back.”
She raised her haughty little nose. “Why should I?”
I turned to shadow for a split second to glide through the desk, then I grabbed her by the throat while my eyes turned red with rage. “Because I demand it.”
We stared each other down, her body glowing with light and power as she faced me. The high and mighty Jophiel and I had never gotten along. For years, she’d blamed me for killing her former lover, Archangel Michael, even though I never would’ve done such a thing. He and I had once been enemies, that much was true, but we’d worked too hard to end the war and establish peace between angels and demons. Why would I kill him after all that effort? His death nearly undid the treaties as it was. Now we knew Archangel Azrael was behind Michael’s death, and he was in Penumbra Prison—a place where the angels, demons, and fae kept the worst supernaturals locked up. Yet she still hated me.
“I don’t take orders from you,” she finally gritted out.
I tightened my fingers around her throat, my darkness filling the room like ink. “Not even you can resist an order from the devil.”
“Villain,” she muttered. “All you do is lie and kill.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Enlighten me on the truth then. You know I didn’t kill Michael.”
“But you did kill my father!”
I rolled my eyes. Not that old excuse for her continued behavior. “Phanuel attacked me, as you well know. It was self-defense and we were at war then. We aren’t any longer.”
That only made her glare harder at me. “Not at war? Tell that to the angels and demons who died at Seraphim Academy last year.”
“We both know that was Azrael’s doing.” I cocked my head. “Wasn’t he your former lover as well?