Cipher (Demonica Underworld #8) - Larissa Ione Page 0,66
their apartment inside Sheoul-gra, reading up on everything she could find about the Inner Sanctum, Cipher offered her a break.
“I have a surprise for you,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her up from the sofa.
She beamed. “Really?”
“I’m not sure it’s a good surprise,” he hedged, “but it might be what you need.”
Uh-oh. That didn’t sound great. Sounded terrible, in fact. “So where do we have to go for this unnecessary surprise?”
“I’ll show you.”
He escorted her to the portal, where they dematerialized and re-formed at the earthly forest clearing they’d used when they’d first entered Sheoul. Once topside, he flashed them to a dusty hilltop in Israel, and she cursed. Megiddo. He’d brought her to a place of angelic importance. Where executions and battles and expulsions from Heaven had taken place.
“What the hell is this, Cipher? Why are we here?”
A hot wind spun up, and a split-second later, Lihandra materialized alongside Lyre’s other sister, Bellagias.
Anger, as hot as the wind, blasted her, but the funny thing was that she didn’t experience the murderous rage she’d felt for years while she was in Sheoul. This was just good old-fashioned pissed.
“I asked Hawkyn to contact your family,” Cipher said. “I hope that’s okay.”
It wasn’t, but she nodded anyway. “It’s good to see you, Bella.” All she could muster for Lihandra was a glare.
Bella, always a softie, threw herself at Lyre, wrapping her arms around her in an enormous hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I’ve been so worried about you.”
Lyre pulled back. “Really?”
She nodded. “Mother and Father, too. And, believe it or not, Liha.”
Lyre laughed, but when she looked over at her other sister, Lihandra’s expression was serious. “I’m having a hard time believing that.”
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t true,” Lihandra said. “I...regret what I did.”
Lyre could have been knocked over by one of Lihandra’s lacy ivory feathers. “Seriously?”
“I could have handled it better,” she admitted. “I don’t regret the demon’s death, but you shouldn’t have lost your wings.”
Ah, well, that was more like it. Anger steamed through her again, but when she glanced over at Cipher, his calm, strong presence brought her down. Nothing from her past mattered anymore. Holding this grudge wouldn’t hurt her sister; it would hurt only her, and possibly her relationship with the male she loved.
She had to let it go.
“I forgive you, Lihandra,” she said, and it was her sister’s turn to be shocked. “But I don’t want to see you again. Not for a while. Maybe not ever.”
“What kind of forgiveness is that?” Lihandra said in a clipped, stung voice.
“Considering that just a week ago I wanted you dead, I figure it’s a pretty huge development. I’m sorry, did you want a relationship with me?” Lihandra’s mouth opened. Closed. Yeah, that’s what Lyre thought. As usual, she was playing the wronged party, but this time she got called out on her fake outrage. “I didn’t think so. Let’s just walk away from this with a fresh start. Agreed?”
Lihandra bowed her head. “Since I’m no longer welcome in your presence, I’ll go. Take care, sister.”
With that, Lihandra launched into the sky and flashed away.
“She’s such a bitch,” Bella said. “But I should go too. Call me and we’ll do lunch sometime.”
She and her sister used to do lunch all the time, and Lyre truly hoped her sister was sincere. Especially because now that Lyre was no longer bound to Bael’s realm, she could flash anywhere she wanted to inside the demon and human realms.
They’d just have to keep their lunches secret. While it wasn’t strictly forbidden for a Heavenly angel to have lunch with a fallen angel, it was a reputation-killer.
She waved as Bella lifted off, and then she turned to Cipher, who watched with what looked like envy. It could take months to regrow wings, and until then, he’d be earthbound. Maybe she could keep him distracted. With sex. Yep, that sounded like a plan.
“That was the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a long time,” she said.
He shrugged as if it was no big deal, but it was. It so was. “After all those years of wanting revenge, I thought you might need some closure.”
She flew into his strong arms, her heart singing. “You’re amazing. I love you so much.”
Emotion poured out of her as she held onto Cipher, and her wings erupted of their own accord, surrounding them in the most intimate of angelic embraces.
Swallowing a lump of his own emotion, he traced the edge of a wing