Page 44 of Wings of Darkness (Daughter of the Seven Circles #2)

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

LUCILLE

I sat on the heated bench in the greenhouse, nibbling on a roll as I waited for Lucifer. He was late, which left me to wonder about Ni.

“Daughter,” Lucifer greeted moments later, taking his place next to me and pulling me from my thoughts. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair stuck up in disarray, and he had bags beneath his eyes like he hadn’t slept in weeks. The only part of him put together was his immaculate white suit.

What happened between yesterday and this morning to make him look like that?

I slowly chewed and swallowed the rest of my roll. “Father,” I said, testing the word. It didn’t exactly make me cringe, but neither did it feel natural coming out of my mouth .

“How has your morning been?” he asked, although by his emotionless tone, I wasn’t sure if he was curious or just going through the motions.

“Fine. Oliver and I are close to completing the ten-mile run.”

He grunted, as if unimpressed.

I gritted my teeth, not sure if I was more frustrated with him or myself. “And yours?”

“Fine.”

He sure looked fine. But I didn’t comment.

“Today—”

“Did the general find a bite mark on Ni’s right shoulder?” I interrupted.

Lucifer peered at me, questions in his narrowed eyes. “Yes.”

“So the black veins are some sort of demon infection.”

He turned in his seat, fully facing me. “How do you know the infection was from a demon?”

“I don’t. But the Doors of Moirai showed me an image of a male with white hair and horns sinking his teeth into what I assume was Ni’s neck. He looked pretty demon-like.”

His forehead creased faintly. “The Doors of Moirai showed you that?”

I nodded.

“They showed you, but not me?” His lips pressed into a thin line.

“Is that bad?”

“It’s—” He paused. “Unnatural. We’re connected. They should only respond to me. Their mosaic images are their secondary power. They show me important scenes that will have an impact on the future. ”

“Maybe because I’m your daughter?”

He didn’t look convinced, but I had no other explanation.

“So the doors were warning me about Ni.”

“Not just Ni. The white-haired male who infected her will play a part in the future, if he hasn’t already. You didn’t see his face?”

“His hair covered most of it.”

Lucifer tapped his fingers against his lips, staring unseeing at the frozen flowers.

“But if he is a demon, how is he here?”

Lucifer considered me. He knew something—or at least had a theory. But would he tell me? Another moment passed.

“We think one of Lilith’s new creations has somehow infiltrated the Seven Circles and is spreading this demon infection.”

Lilith?

I sat back, staring out the frosted glass windows.

“But why? If Lilith is behind this, why would she want me in the Immolation Circle if she thinks I’m the key to her cage?” Something wasn’t adding up. If I were burning up in Hell, that wouldn’t help her. If she wanted me dead, I’m sure she would’ve put that command in Aspen’s Hell Rune.

“That’s why she wanted you?”

“You didn’t know that?” I thought he had eyes and ears everywhere.

His expression tightened. I’d kept my snark in check, so I knew it wasn’t my tone that irritated him—more likely, it resulted from the fact that I had questioned him.

Lucifer held up his hand, showing me a black ring on his finger. “This is what locks her in the Tenebrous Kingdom—a binding ring. As long as I remain in my lands, she is a prisoner to hers.”

If that bound Lilith to her lands, then why did she see me as the key to her cage?

“It looks like a wedding ring.”

“Yes. It’s a similar ceremony to what humans do when they wed. But with some tweaking and powerful runes, it can bind two people and control their movements. After our battle with Lilith and her demons, this is what the council decided to do.”

“You couldn’t kill her?”

Lucifer had been a Seraphim, after all, and they made up the council—the most powerful angels.

The temperature dropped, my breath coming out in white puffs.

“Do not question me or the past when you have not lived through it,” he said, a dangerous edge to his tone.

“Fine,” I muttered, dropping it. “But if that ring is what keeps her caged, then why isn’t she after that?”

“It’s possible she is. Only, it can’t be forced from my finger.” He pulled on the dull black metal, and it didn’t budge.

“How does it come off, then?”

“My blood and death,” he replied, a haughty challenge ringing in his voice.

“Does she know that?”

“Regardless of whether she knows or not, it’ll never happen.”

“But say she did—and she created the demon infection—why wouldn’t she use me as leverage against you to get the ring? How does killing me do anything? ”

His silence served as my answer. After another minute, I realized he wasn’t about to admit he didn’t know. I sighed. Maybe Aspen would.

“Have you ever considered she’s the one behind Hell’s lockdown?” I asked. “Maybe she’s using Hell as leverage and is waiting for you to realize that to strike up a deal.”

Lucifer raised a brow. “I see you’re improving on your studies.”

I lowered my chin, hiding my smile.

“But you’re missing the finer details to make that theory work.”

Of course I was. “What details?”

“Why would Lilith seal Hell for the first four years without any correspondence or gloating? It’s only leverage if we know . And if she sought to hold power over us, she would never open Hell.”

He had a point.

“I do not want to discuss this any longer. It’s time for your lesson.”

A cool presence entered my mind.

“I’m disappointed to find your shields are not already up, daughter. Have I not instructed you to hold them daily?”

I gritted my teeth and swarmed my mind with flames, his presence receding for a moment. Then a blast of ice shredded my efforts.

He grunted. “That’s tolerable. Now, I’m going to create a hallucination, and I want you to twist the events without me knowing.”

“How do I do that without you knowing, if it’s your hallucination?”

“Listen to the whispers of your Infernus. They will tell you.”

“The whispers of my Infernus are random sounds.” They told me nothing .

“What did I say about doubting yourself?” His cold presence expanded, twisting the colorful, icy greenhouse into… nothing.

It stayed the same.

“Are we starting?” But he was looking over my shoulder, ignoring me.

The door to the greenhouse squeaked, pulling my attention to the general in his full armor, dual swords strapped to his back.

“Lucifer, we need you in the dungeons. We found another infected.” He walked down the path to stand in front of us.

Lucifer nodded, rising to his feet. “We’ll have to pick this up later, Lucille. In the meantime, I’ll have the general step in, and you can attempt to hold your shield against him.”

General Ronen straightened. “And the infected?”

“I will question them first. You can join me in a half hour,” Lucifer said, raising his chin and walking out without another word.

“I guess our training starts now,” I mumbled, having nothing else to say.

He sighed, removing his swords and leaning them against the bench as he sat. “I guess so.”

I pulled at the flames of my Infernus, surrounding my mind, feeling a sudden cold before warmth replaced it. I glanced at the general. “Was that you?”

He reclined back, throwing his arms along the back of the bench, his hand brushing my ponytail. “Was what me?”

I frowned. “Did you enter my mind?”

“No, Lucille,” he said, tugging playfully on my hair. “When I enter you, you’ll know.” His tone sounded serious, but his hand traveled to my neck and grazed down across my shoulder .

My stomach did weird things, fluttering and twisting in equal degrees. Swallowing, I leaned away. “What are you doing?”

He moved in, curling his hand into my hair, and tilted my head back. His lips were inches away from mine, his warm breath fanning across my face. “What do you want me to do, Princess?”

The fluttering in my stomach died. Something wasn’t right. The word princess coming out of his mouth sounded wrong.

I stared into his golden irises, finding them dull and ordinary—no pull, no warmth. I inhaled, smelling nothing. The spicy balsam was absent. Even the distinctive winter smell of the greenhouse wasn’t present.

This was Lucifer’s hallucination—an odd choice to use the general in this way.

But now what? I figured out he was playing with my mind. How did I twist this?

I shut my eyes, acting as if the general’s proximity moved me, and dove into my Infernus. Their icy hot tendrils coiled around me in welcome, whispering contradictory sounds. Out of all the noise, I picked up on the three I was familiar with. The rest, I didn’t recognize.

How did I pull on the sound of the Hallucination Circle if I didn’t know which one it was?

I was wasting time.

The general shifted closer, his nose grazing the line of my neck, startling me.

Focus, Lucy. The whispers.

Lucifer said to trust myself. To trust my Infernus.

Okay. I settled into the sounds, letting them swirl around my mind in a cacophony, mentally seeking the hallucination whisper .

The sound that came to me bounced and dived, grew in volume, then softened, almost like it couldn’t make up its mind. Trusting my Infernus, I focused on the changing melody, wrapping it around myself. But what did I do next?

He wanted me to twist it so he wouldn’t know. But this was his hallucination. I didn’t understand how he wouldn’t notice if I tampered with it, if I even could .

Unless I didn’t. Or acted like I didn’t.

Not knowing what I was doing, I sent an image to the melody of me in the general’s arms, like I was. Then came the hard part—removing myself from the bench without my father seeing.

But maybe I was overthinking. This was a mental construct. None of it was physically real.

I pulled my consciousness from the illusion of myself and sank it into the shadows of the greenhouse. Physically, I sat there in the form of my doppelg?nger, but mentally, I hid in the darkness of the illusion, watching Lucifer’s scene unfold.

If I had a face in this incorporeal form, I would’ve frowned as the general pressed his lips to my doppelg?nger.

Why was my father giving me this hallucination?

I shouldn’t like the look of us together. I shouldn’t want his lips on mine. And I didn’t—I wanted Aspen’s. But why didn’t I stop the kiss? And why couldn’t I rip my eyes away from the general cradling my head and devouring my mouth like he was?

Focus!

This wouldn’t be a success until I entirely removed myself. I could do that with a shield, but my father would know. That must’ve been what the shock of cold was—Lucifer.

Could I follow his presence in my mind to his mind?

I felt around for his cold touch. It took me a few seconds, but eventually, once I pushed away the imagined warmth, he was there. I reached out a hand and grabbed hold of the cold. Then everything dissolved, and I was sitting next to my father.

“Close. But next time, touch my presence with your song, not your hand.”

I nodded, feeling warmth from his almost praise. That was probably as close to a compliment as he’d get.

“Let’s continue.”

The next few hallucinations, fortunately, didn’t include the fake general kissing me again. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to twist a single one without him knowing. It was a wonder that I almost succeeded the first time.

“You have to subtly remove yourself from the hallucination by continuing the actions I would expect from you using your illusioned self,” he said, bringing me back to the here and now after another failed attempt.

“The moment you do something out of character for the scene, I know. You must know your opponent’s thoughts and expectations to trap them in their mind.

That being said, crafting an illusion is more difficult than directing your power to an emotion and allowing your opponent to craft the illusion based on their subconscious. ”

I leaned my elbows on my knees and rested my pounding forehead in my hands. “And why didn’t we start with the easy version first? You think I know your thoughts and expectations?”

“You did in the first hallucination,” he said in a pointed tone .

I twisted my head to the side. “You think something’s going on between me and the general?” But my question was redundant. Of course he did. That was why I was able to almost succeed on my first try. He expected us to kiss.

He raised a critical brow. “Is there?”

“Not at all. Why would you think that?”

Did he think I was lying? The general barely tolerated me, and I only had eyes for Aspen.

“Our lesson is concluded for the day,” he said, standing. “How’s your energy?”

“Good.” My head might be pounding, but I didn’t feel drained after using my Infernus. Odd, but nice.

He nodded, like he knew that’d be my answer, then walked toward the doors. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning for our next lesson. Remember to continue shielding every day.”

I groaned the moment he closed the doors behind him, dropping my head back into my hands.

The day was only beginning.