Page 206 of Wicked Believer

I’m not really sure how it got there.

Lucifer’s brow lifts at the sight of me. “I give you free rein to run wild for one bloody fucking night,” he says, shaking his head at me. As if hehasn’tseen me messier than this when he’s finished with me inside the playroom.

But I guess that’s not usually in broad daylight.

“Jax?” I ask hopefully, still praying that somehow, Lucifer was able to ...

Lucifer’s expression falls. “Still with my Mother, I’m afraid.”

My spine runs cold. “You don’t think she’ll—”

“No,” he says quickly. “She loves her prophets, and as one of my Father’s, your friend is a rare breed. Too valuable to lose.”

Which means one of my first true acts as an immortal, other than stopping the apocalypse and whatever Lilith’s planning, will be doing anything it takes to save my friend.

I can’t think of a better celestial path to take.

I glance toward Lucifer, shaking my head at the thought of how far we’ve both come.

It all started with a leaked press release.

But now it’s going to end with my PR proposal.

Between all six of the other Originals and Lucifer’s demonic army, wehaveto be able to save her and stop the apocalypse. Don’t we?

I take my proposal, that I retrieved from my office on the way up here, and toss it down onto the desk in front of him. “Read it,” I say in the exact tone he used when the tabloids caught Az and me.

Lucifer frowns before he does what I asked. He picks up the folder and quickly thumbs through it. “What is this, Charlotte?”

“My PR proposal. You said no outside angel investors, so I gotin-houseones.”

Lucifer’s brow lifts as he reopens the folder and looks again.

“All six of them signed on.” I stand taller. The pride expanding inside my chest isn’t meant to be an offering to him, but I know he’ll appreciate it all the same.

Lucifer watches me for a long beat, leaning back in his executive chair as he drums a few of his fingers over his desk like he’s trying to figure out what to do with me.

“Aren’t you going to say congratulations? Or that you’re proud of me? I’ve accomplished something you’ve never been able to do. I gotallof them to agree to something. Your siblings are going to help us fight Michael,andthey can help us get Jax back.”

Lucifer lets out a long sigh through his nose. He places both hands on his desk, hanging his head slightly, before he lifts his fiery gaze toward me.

My stomach does another flip at the furious look he gives me.

“Do you know what happened the last time all my siblings worked together?”

I tilt my head to the side, suddenly fearful. “No?” I say slowly.

The blaze of hellfire coupled with the weary look in Lucifer’s eyes is the same one he had when that mysterious package was delivered to the penthouse, the same one from when he realized it wasanthraxI was holding.

Like the danger we now face could be catastrophic.

“Did it ever occur to you, Charlotte, that there might be a compellingreasonI chose to keep my siblings separate?” he says through clenched teeth. “The fall of humanity? The great flood? The plagues of Egypt? Ever heard of them?”

My heart starts to pound as I realize the full gravity of what that might mean.

For me, for the apocalypse, for Lucifer.

Oh fuck.