Page 54 of An Unexpected Ascension (A War Between Worlds #1)

The Angel

“Lynx! Briar!”

the Devil’s voice calls out, echoing down the hall of the West Wing.

Quickly, I turn to my Demon. “Here.”

Looking down, his brows dip along with the corners of his mouth. In my hand I hold a small, round violet fruit, still as shiny as the day I snatched it.

“Briar.”

“Come on, we can split it. It worked for Lucifer and Ada; it could work for us too.”

I don’t miss the exhaustion in his eyes. Once a blue so rich it was unnatural and now, they sit dull like that fire he held has extinguished.

He curls his hands around mine, closing my fist around the fruit.

“I—”

He sighs.

“I don’t know if I want to exist for all of eternity. I think I might be okay if I don’t make it back from this war.”

My jaw drops at his confession, and it takes me a long few heartbeats to gather my thoughts.

“No. I don’t accept that. You don’t get to proclaim your love to me day in and day out, hold me when I cry, nurse my heart back to health just to leave me!”

He flinches.

“Briar, after—”

His eyes shut closed to fight the tears that waver in his voice.

“After everything, I just don’t know if I want to go on.”

I step back to put space between us.

“And what if you’re gone and we still don’t win. Are you okay with what happens after that? What will happen to me? How am I supposed to go on without you, Lynx?”

My frustration shows in the tears gliding down my cheeks. He brushes the wetness with his thumbs, then cups the side of my face yanking me to him. Lowering to meet me, he crushes his mouth against mine in a devastating kiss. A kiss that feels too much like goodbye.

When he pulls away, his eyes say everything his words don’t.

“Take it and if I make it through this war, I will try my best to stay.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not how this works. If you go, I go.”

He rears his head.

“Briar. That’s absurd.”

“I don’t care.”

The sound of Lucifer clearing his throat demands our attention.

“I fear that we don’t have time to argue right now. I’m sorry, but we must move this very minute, or it may be too late. I’ve already sent the first wave of soldiers.”

It kills me to drop this debate, but the Devil is right. It’s only a matter of time before the other Gods know what I’ve done.

As I follow Lucifer out the door, I narrow my gaze at Lynx drilling it into him how pissed his choice makes me. But it is his choice.

Together, the three of us descend into the dungeons.

Chains scrape along the stone floor as a beast the color of obsidian looms forward. Lucifer unlocks his shackles, and they drop to the concrete with a loud clatter. The monster turns his head, stretching his neck and the muscles beneath his leathery skin twist with the movement.

My stomach sours at the sight of him, of the glowing yellow eyes and horns like spears. He towers over us like a black hole ready to swallow us into its darkness. It also makes looking up incredibly uncomfortable with what hangs between his legs.

I shudder.

Lucifer raises the alabaster sword, and the monstrous thing actually stiffens. Cowers from the weapon just as I knew he would.

Lynx looks to me impressed and gives me a little nod of approval. As much as I hate to admit it, that nod was everything.

And then we were gone.