Revealing the Monster (Playing with Monsters #4) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,61
his mouth pulled into a tight line. “I guess I should be impressed that you survived them, right? I offer you love, a womb, and children, Lena. And you settle for being their whore? I thought you were different. What do they have that I don’t?”
“Heart, Lucifer. They have a heart, whereas you have a black hole.”
“Did he have a heart when he bartered for you to never live through losing your son again? Do you know what he gave in return?”
“No, Luc, I don’t. Why don’t you tell me?” I snapped, irritated at everything and everyone today with the emotional overload unfolding within me.
Lucifer pushed off the wall, strolling closer as his wings expanded behind him. His violet eyes glowed a mix of blue and violet while he smiled coldly. Studying me, he placed his hands on the altar, where he kept putting me during our visits. “Your entire bloodline, Lena,” he laughed chillingly, surveying my face. “He bartered their souls for you. Even if Makenna hadn’t killed Kendra, your sister would have died. Your bloodline was the cost he paid without your permission.”
“You’re lying, asshole. If Lucian had done that, then Makenna would have also died, and she is very much alive.”
“Makenna lives because part of her soul belongs to me. Therefore, Lucian couldn’t claim her in his bargain. I am what saved Makenna from the reaping.”
“Lucian wouldn’t do that to me, ever,” I chided, swallowing past the swelling in my throat as I laughed soundlessly. “He knows what my family meant to me.”
“Then ask him, Magdalena. Ask Lucian what the cost was to free you. You don’t experience your death echo anymore, do you? You haven’t since the day you lost your beloved family. They’re not able to be summoned from their graves, are they? You’ve asked witches to try, and they fail every single time. You know that something happened to their souls even if you won’t admit it, fearing you’ll never see them again. You just didn’t think Lucian would be the one to do something so horrifying to you and to those you loved. I may be the bad guy, but I didn’t kill your fucking family, Lena. Why don’t you ask the monster you love what he paid to free you and him from ever having to watch you slit that pretty throat of yours again? I get it; I’m the Devil. You won’t believe me, so go ask your precious Lucian.”
I sat up on the bed, blinking, the heavy scent of brimstone and sulfur clinging to my flesh. Frowning, I peered around the room before grabbing clothes to head into the shower. Lucian wouldn’t have done what Lucifer claimed. Right?
Sure, Lucian had said he would destroy the world for me, but kill my family to free me from the death echo? He wouldn’t dare. They were my family, and he knew how much they’d meant to me when I’d been alive.
Showered, changed, and with my emotions all over the place, I left the apartment to search for Lucian. If he had done those things, what would I do? What could possibly have given him the idea that our relationship would ever be okay if he had?
Lucifer hadn’t held his usual cockiness this time. He hadn’t cared if I believed him or not, which told me I had to ask Lucian. The implications caused my heart to pound painfully against my chest as worry consumed me. Why wasn’t Lucifer concerned about me asking Lucian unless he didn’t fear me doing so, because he’d spoken the truth?
Chapter Sixteen
You never know true pain until it rips into your chest and tears out your soul. ~Lena
I walked silently through the empty hallways. My heartbeat thundered deafeningly in my ears, growing louder with everything step I took closer to the upper floor and bar area. Fear of how far Lucian had gone to protect me made it worse, knowing that he didn’t even think as humans did. Lucian had no limits. His ethical compass pointed south of the border, and it never moved.
Lucian knew how much my family meant to me, so if he’d done this, it could destroy us. I didn’t think he would do this to me. Not after everything I’d already sacrificed for him. Right? My life had been altered; my world changed because of Katarina and Lucian and the game they’d enjoyed playing. Everything about me and my life was burned to the ground, and I had no one but Lucian now.