Page 80

He covered his face with both hands, his shoulders shook and his sobs rocked him from the deepest part of his soul.

Enraged by the injustice of Uzziel’s fate, Rowan glanced down at the wings that hadn’t decomposed with centuries of existing next to the corrosive air of the ocean. Then over to the flora, whose leaves shuddered in the light breeze.

It was as if time had come to a screeching halt once Uzziel walked out into the waves. It kept the horror alive.

Activating Odin’s eye, she found the bars of the cage that had once contained the woman who’d helped her overcome the curses of the staff.

Determined, she ascended to the brightest point available. The apex of the criss-crossing spell of a god clumsy with magic.

Uzziel should have been able to break it if she’d been as well versed in magic as Lucifer implied she was. But, perhaps fighting the circumstance of her existence was no longer worth it.

Rowan gripped the crest and began the grueling task of tearing the threads of magic apart. Much like untangling a collection of necklaces. It was tedious work, but Lucifer joined her as soon as he realized what she was doing.

Together they undid it all by the time the sun reached the center of the sky the next day.

Sweating, hands burning from handling the magic of a god, they returned to the beach. As soon as Rowan touched down, the corner of her eye caught the moment her Cabin appeared, snug against the treeline.

They fell into the two oversized chairs on her porch, as silent as they’d been when they were working.

Then Rowan heard it before she saw it. A seagull’s call overhead.

Lucifer heard it at the same time.

They looked at each other before scrambling to the banister of the porch and looking up.

A flock of seagulls.

Rowan grinned and when she looked at her godfather, he was staring at her, half horrified, half awed.

“Uncle Luz?”

She was on the verge of passing out from exhaustion. The energy Alesandro had given her to Cleanse Antoni Barros was nearing depletion. She needed sleep she hadn’t gotten on her five-day getaway to settle the mark. And she needed food.

But his next words turned her entire world upside down. “Actually, it’s great-grandfather Luz.”

Suddenly, she was as awake as she was confused.

He began a trek into the cabin.

“What do you mean?” She called, following through the front door right into the kitchen.

“Knew you were hungry.” He mumbled as he made his way to the fridge.

“Uncle, Luz!”

“Great-grandfather.”

“Demons and divine creatures cannot procreate.” She slammed her hands on her counter. “I’m a succubus. You’re an angel!”

“It wasn’t a traditional creation.” He pulled out her carrot cake and opened the lid. His eyebrow rose at the sight of the spoon inside. “This is concerning.”

Rowan snatched the cake and picked up the spoon, pointing it at his chest. “Concentrate.”

He let out a heavy breath and raked a hand through his long, blonde hair.

“You’re right. It shouldn’t have been possible.

But Lilith has never actually listened to the rules, has she?

She refused the role she’d been created to fill.

She refused to let the endless hells cage her as they were supposed to.

And she did it once more when she created our daughter, Ellanora. ”

“Created? Alone? Auntie Lilith can’t be a god.”

He let out a scoff and a laugh. “No. If she ever became a god, the world would most assuredly come undone. But her intelligence allows her to skirt the expectations of the magical world. You’ve inherited that quality. Look at what you’ve done here. Look at what you did last night.”

“How?”

“The same way she created the original succubi. Though, this time she used my genetic make-up, not Adam’s.

She disappeared for a year. I-I thought she’d had enough of my darkness and self-inflicted imprisonment in our castle.

Then she showed up with a girl, just a year old.

Golden-haired like me, violet-eyed like her. ”

Disbelief exploded in Rowan. She’d always known her godmother was self-serving, with little regard to anyone her decisions might affect.

The only softness the woman ever showed was for Annabelle, Annabelle’s family, and Lucifer himself.

Rowan had seen her interact with the outside world, and the hatred she had for everyone who wasn’t those select few.

To think she could do something as life altering as create an offspring without input from the man she claimed to love above all else.

“How did you forgive her?”

He shrugged, “Love, I suppose. For her. I couldn’t stand seeing her shaking, terrified of my reaction.

But I also had a love for the child. Her magic was entertaining.

She was a master of illusion. She encouraged me to leave the endless hells and explore all the dimensions to satiate her curiosity. I was happy.”

“Anytime we asked Ama about her, she’d redirect or straight up ignore us. What happened to her?”

“She still lives.” He shrugged. “But she’s been hopping dimensions living for herself only.

When Annabelle was born, it was unexpected.

Her fling with the Southern Elven Kingdom’s ruler was a favor for all the other succubi, who she’d tried to fit in with even though she wasn’t one of them.

She stole most of the kingdom’s gold by the time she was pregnant.

Your grandfather, Lauricio, didn’t really mind.

He was old in age and had only one goal: to have a child.

When Annabelle was born, Ellanora already had her next big adventure planned. It didn’t include her.”

Anger brushed every cell within Rowan. “What?”

“Even if Lilith had created her, Ellanora was little more than a pet in her eyes. She had me, her father, to raise her, and I did the best I could. In her mind, it wasn’t a big deal to leave her daughter like she’d perceived Lilith to leave her.

We didn’t know about Annabelle until Lilith visited the one person who she’d ever loved other than me-Eliza Dahl. ”

“My dad’s aunt?” Rowan’s eyes widened.

“Yes. The Traveling Cabin settled in the endless pits of hell for a few months. Eliza was, well, for a lack of a better word, odd. I know my wife doesn’t encourage confidence, but Eliza liked her.

It didn’t matter that Lilith verbally abused the woman as she tried to work out how to get the cabin unstuck.

” Lucifer tapped the counter lovingly. “I like to think the cabin knew my woman needed someone other than me to love her, and knew that Eliza could withstand her. Eliza also needed Lilith. She was an outcast in the Eastern Elven Kingdom.”

“Wait.” Rowan choked on a piece of cake she’d taken a chance on as her—she still couldn’t believe it—great-grandfather, continued his story.

Lucifer poured her a large cup of milk to ease her distress.

“Love, love? As in, they were lovers?”

“Yes.” He shrugged. “You’re aware that we’ve had lovers throughout our marriage.”

“Yeah, but not with my paternal great-aunt!” She hissed. How could he be so nonchalant?

“Well, Eliza was different. She softened Lilith’s anger. Her passing broke her heart. I don’t think she’ll ever truly recover from her loss. For those years with Eliza, Lilith had patience. Enough that I could leave her and explore the world with my friend, your…mate.”

Rowan took a deep breath. She was half afraid of the answer, but she needed to know. “Friend or friend?”

He let out such a raucous laugh that she got two more mouthfuls in as he recollected himself. “You’re really not letting that mark settle, are you?” He shook his head. “You know that’s got to be torture for him.”

Her eyes narrowed, “Pardon me?”

“Lilith was the one who realized it. You’re not offering the bond any part of you, nor are you asking it for anything. If you wanted to know, you could simply reach in and explore it, but you’re afraid.”

“I’m not af-”

“I helped raise you, Ro. I know when you’re afraid, and you were afraid when you stood next to him on that pedestal, and then when you met his family, and even now that I’ve called you out on your bullshit.”

Rowan growled as she stuffed another bite of cake into her mouth to give her an excuse not to respond.

“You have spent less than a month at his side and look at you, acting like a little beast.” He laughed.

Rowan sighed. “One day it’ll be too much. One day he’s going to give into his godhood.”

“Ah, is that all that’s stopping you? He’s as stubborn as you are, Rowan. He doesn’t consider the power his, as such he won’t give in.”

Rowan narrowed her eyes. “Are you okay with the mark now? I thought you were going to pop a blood vessel yesterday.”

“It’s hard to deny that the two of you work. As loath as I am to admit it. I’ve never seen him happy .”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m not. The asshole side-lined me.”

Lucifer scoffed. “You came back. No harm, no foul.”

“I call foul!”

“It is your pride talking. I’ve warned you to not let it get away with you.”

“Hi, Pot. I’m Kettle.”

Lucifer snatched the spoon from her hand. A tendril of a shadow crawled from his hand to hers. “Pride and fear are such an ugly look on you.”

“When’s the last time you saw your daughter?”

His nose flared. “When you aim to hurt, you really go for the jugular, don’t you?”

“I apparently got it from my great-grandmother!” She clenched her fists.

“How could you guys have kept this from us? I’ve begged to learn more about our past. I knew I wasn’t normal from the day I set half of the forest on fire because I threw a tantrum.

Hundreds of animals died because you guys didn’t know what to do with me! Do-does Ama know?”

Lucifer’s shoulders softened. “Yes. But only because of you.”

“Me?”

“When you were born…Rowan, I didn’t know your mother, much less your sisters, existed. But when you were born, you died. Lilith told me about everything in the same breath that she asked me to come to the Eastern Elven Kingdom to help save you.”

“Died?” Rowan’s eyes widened.