words matches the expressions of the rest of the Sins.
Morax says nothing. He just continues to stand there, watching, waiting.
“Something’s wrong,” Delta murmurs.
And she’s right. Something does feel wrong.
My lips press together. “This is too easy.”
Delta nods at my assumption, and dread crawls over me in chilling little steps.
Taz looks over to Wrath. “Call Lucifer.”
Wrath flashes a wide, fanged grin and raises her blood-coated sword. “Gladly.” She slices her palm and speaks Lucifer’s name in the air. And even though she said it quietly, it rings through the room and bounces off the walls like she yelled through an endless cavern, as if just the name itself has power.
My heart pounds in my chest, my skin breaks into gooseflesh, and a trickle of fear, awe, and heady momentousness freezes all thoughts in my head as something in the atmosphere shifts. It’s almost like a vibration in the air, like someone just sent out a high frequency pulse that we can’t hear but we sure as hell can feel.
Almost as soon as the air settles into silence again, the sealed heavy double doors to the ballroom suddenly burst open, flinging dead bodies aside like they’re nothing. Footsteps sound, and I watch the most sinfully gorgeous male stride confidently inside, wearing a simple white button-up and black slacks, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that I’m looking at the Devil.
Every step he takes radiates power. He has stark black wings and hair, a beautiful, ageless face, and even from up here, I can feel strength emanating from him. He’s magnificent. He’s terrifying. Everything about him screams wicked danger.
“Well, well, well. What have we here?” he says smoothly as he comes to stand with his Sins.
“Lucifer,” the Ophidian says, speaking for the first time since Wrath took down his cronies. “You actually crawled out of the Hellish hole that you’ve been hiding in.”
Even from this angle, I’m able to see the smirk that crosses the Devil’s face. “Always needing so much attention,” he says with a tsk. “What’s wrong, Morax? Your Matron didn’t hug you enough as a child?”
Morax’s face flashes with anger, but in a split second, it’s gone again, like he just shoved it away. “The Impels were a more prestigious bloodline than you ever gave us credit for,” he replies, his voice on edge.
Lucifer rolls his eyes. “Perhaps it’s because instead of spreading the word of the Gods, as you were created to do, you corrupted your ability to affect free will. That cannot stand. You know, you always knew, that it would be your downfall. Balance always wins, Morax. Always,” Lucifer stresses as he takes a step forward. “I will take great pleasure in wiping you off the face of the realms.”
Delta’s hand comes down to grip my hand nervously, her fingers digging in nearly to the point of pain as the Devil closes in.
As soon as Lucifer stands directly in front of him, a quick, self-assured grin crosses Morax’s face. Then he reaches out, lighting-fast, and grabs onto the Devil, just as something on his finger begins to glow.
A split second. That’s all I have to realize what’s happening as a matching glow on my own wrist flares. Morax’s laugh is all I hear as Delta and I look wide-eyed at our cuffs, both of us understanding what’s happening but having no time to do anything about it.
My eyes snap up to Ire’s frowning face just as the cuff around my wrist flashes. His resounding “NO!” sounds in my mind as I’m yanked away through space and time, away from victory and straight into the frigid clutches of defeat.
Our bodies are pulled by the cuffs on our wrists, and all I can still hear is the terrifying and grating sound of the Ophidian laughing as I’m stolen away once again. But this time, I know there’s no coming back.
33
Being transported with Gatekeeper portal magic feels different than the shifting that Morax did to me. Instead of popping from one place to another, this feels like I’m sinking into a bottomless sea.
The glow from my wrist is the only thing I can see as currents of light pull and push me, forcing me to drift and whirl in dozens of different directions. Nothing else exists in this strange continuum, and just as I begin to feel fear, like I’ll somehow be lost in this break between places, the waterless waves of illumination shove me upward, and an airy tide pushes me out.