I had the choice to live with my mom and cut him out of my life. Did it hurt to turn down his repeated attempts at contact years later? Of course. But it was my choice, my only bit of control in a scenario that pulled the rug out from under my feet and ended my childhood years too soon.
The thought of someone—him, or the rest of my family—ordering me to keep in touch with him, essentially taking my right to determine at least this part of the debacle…the idea alone chafed. I couldn’t imagine having relatives practically dictate other parts of my life as well.
“Who’s your family?” I asked into the ponderous silence. Who held such rights over him?
His gaze flicked to mine, something hard and implacable glimmering within. “My line goes back to Daevi. She’s an original Fallen, and she’s the archdemon of this territory.”
Okay… I waited, because the weight of his words indicated there was more to this. Much more.
When he didn’t elaborate, I raised a brow and carefully asked, “And did Daevi found an entire family like Zeus birthed Athena from his head?”
He narrowed his eyes.
“I mean,” I went on, “unless you guys can reproduce by fragmentation like sponges—”
Lightning flashed in his gaze.
“—then it takes more than one demon to have offspring. So your line goes back to Daevi and…” Waving my hand in an encouraging manner, I let the rest of the sentence hang there.
He stared at me. A world of reticent defiance lay in that stare. His power seemed to replace the air in the room, and every breath made me inhale the raw force of Azazel in full-blown brooding mood.
It was quite impressive, as far as masculine sulking went.
“Fine,” I sighed. “You don’t want to talk about it—we won’t talk about it. Just to let you know, though, I get it. Family stuff can be shitty, and I know what it’s like to pretend one side of your family doesn’t exist.” I fiddled with the edge of the blanket. “The closer they are to you, the more it hurts when they betray you, so it makes sense that family has the potential to wreck us the most.”
The silence that followed was charged with the hum of his power and the quiet snoring of Vengeance on the couch to our left. I felt his every breath where my head lay on his chest, the thump of his heart a steady beat sinking into my skin.
“Thank you for installing a sprinkler system in my rooms,” I said after a while. “Mephistopheles wasn’t amused, but I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.” His voice a deep rumble, he started playing with my hair again. After a moment he added quietly, “Lucifer.”
“What?”
“My line goes back to Daevi and Lucifer.”
I sat up so fast, my head spun. Gaping at him, I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it again. “You’re related to Lucifer? The Lucifer? Ruler of Hell?”
He nodded, his expression sour.
“Wha—what kind of relation? Like, how close?”
A muscle feathered in his jaw. “Two generations.”
“He—” I cleared my throat. “He’s your grandfather?”
“My mother’s father, yes.”
Holy shit. Ho-ly shit.
I was related to Lucifer by marriage. The Devil was one of my in-laws.
The motherfucking Devil.
My mind just blanked. I couldn’t…process.
“Zoe?”
I stared past him.
He waved his hand in front of my face. “Hell to Zoe. You there?”
I didn’t respond.
Sighing, he shifted on the couch, reaching into his pocket. The next second he wiggled a small object in front of my face and said with surgical precision, “I carried this around all day with your delicious fragrance on it, and more than one demon sniffed the air around me like a hound who’s scented blood.”
My gaze focused on the vibrator in his hand, and heat shot into my face. “Ugh! Give me that.”
I tried to snatch it away from him, but he raised his arm out of my reach, tutting. “What are you going to do to earn it back?”
“Earn it back?” If looks could incinerate, he’d be a pile of ash. “It’s mine, you stole it. Now give it back.”
“Mine, yours…” He peered at the vibe and pursed his lips. “…ours.”
I crossed my arms. “I didn’t know you had a thing for vibrators, but if you want it for your own use so badly, go ahead, have at it. I’ll let you borrow it for a while.” I waved at it with one hand. “I can recommend setting number two, it has the best vibe rhythm.”