The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,104

honestly care that little? And if so, then why are we doing your work for you?"

I allow you to live the lives you choose. To make mistakes, to be caring or cruel. It is free will, and I did not make you to be puppets. And yet, you have never reacted the way I expected.

"What do you mean?" I asked before Sia or Nick could rage at her again.

The worlds in the middle - Earth, Vesdar, and Tyrnigg - were made to advance on their own. The worlds on the ends were made to be stable. To give me something to base the advances on.

"A control group and an experimental one," I said, showing I was keeping up.

The dragon blinked. I couldn't tell if that was agreeing, or merely pausing for a thought. The angels were made to embody all that I thought of as good. To be beautiful, shining examples of greatness. Demons were made to be monsters. To overcome struggles with strength and power. Two completely different designs because it is impossible to see light without understanding darkness first. But it did not stay that way.

"What do you mean?" Sia asked.

The angels were given luxury. They were pampered and when they moved to other worlds, worshipped. They learned they were better than others. That they were more powerful, more beautiful, and more capable. In their minds, they assumed that meant they deserved more. The lesser creatures must have been created to serve them, since everything else on their world was. So they grew spoiled and cruel.

But the demons, she went on, had to struggle for everything. They learned compassion. They learned to help each other when times were hard, and because of that, to help others. When they saw the angels commit their crimes, they did not ignore it, but fought to help. The struggle that was meant to prevent you from destroying my other creations instead taught you to shelter them. And the privilege that was meant to advance my gentlest creatures instead made them uncaring.

Sia's head snapped over to look at Nick. "That's..."

"Yeah," he agreed. "That's why it doesn't matter if you're evil."

"Am I evil?" Sia asked the dragon.

I no longer know, Tiamat admitted. Those words no longer have meaning without context. Things are not bad simply because they exist. A snake may be poisonous, but it only wants to eat mice. To a mouse, it is evil. To a city suffering plague, it is a hero. The context matters, and so no, you are not a bad creature, Sia. You are simply my creature. You are my punisher. My destroyer. My...

"Weapon," Luke breathed, taking a half step forward. "She's the weapon you made to do what you can't."

"I don't want to be a weapon!" Sia snapped.

"But you need to be one," I told her. "Sia, don't you get it? If she's God, then you're..."

"Don't," Luke begged me.

But it was already too late. From the look on Sia's face, I knew she'd already finished my sentence in her mind. Her head slowly swayed from side to side as she tried to deny it, but all the facts were there. She wasn't the kind of person to ignore the truth when it was this blatant. She also dreamed of being something else. Something easier.

Which was why she'd had a problem with loving her legion completely. It was why she'd worked so hard to help the people on a world she barely knew. This was the thing driving her to stop the angels. And yet, she'd told me about Nick's refusal to let her see his real body. The way she'd been so excited to learn that demons were real. And that was what she needed to hear right now.

"Sia," I said, clambering to my feet and moving around Luke so I could reach her. "When you learned Nick's name, did you hate him?"

"No!"

I nodded. "When you saw his horns and wings, were you scared of him?"

"No," she said again. "I thought he was beautiful. I told you that."

"So why would being Satan be ok, or Lucifer, Beelzebub, or any of the rest of us, but not this?" I found her hand. "Why does hearing this make you want to push it away and call it a lie? Why does it matter?"

"Because I'm not..."

"Evil?" I offered. "You're not a demon from Hell, bent on devouring the souls of people, or twisting them to darkness? You're not going to lead them into the worst sins? And what were those