The last bits of magic down, he burst through the doors. A nearly finished bottle of alcohol sat on the table. An empty glass on another surface.
A setup.
If she’d drunk all of that, in the mood she should have been in, she would’ve carved out another hole in the ceiling. She’d missed an important ingredient in her tableau—passion. She carried it about her person like a birthright, and this scene was sorely lacking in it.
He strode to the closed doors of her room and kicked them open. As expected, her bed was made. Not slept in. Her window was open.
He ran at it, looked out, then turned back to run…before pausing.
“No,” he said softly, and chuckled a little to himself as his heart broke. He backed up and stepped out of the window, hovering around the corner of the castle, and to the druid’s wing. So easy to reach this way. So hard to get there through the castle.
She’d orchestrated even that, and he’d bought it. He’d relished the thought that she was casting the druid out.
Not so. She’d tucked him away somewhere he could be easily reached when the time came to escape. The brilliance of her ruse made him chuckle, even as pain lanced his heart. She’d ordered them to let Cahal starve for a couple of days, ensuring no one would check on him.
The druid’s window was unlatched, slightly ajar. Within, utterly empty.
Lucifer stopped in the middle of the sitting room for one solid moment, staring at nothing, feeling the pain of deception. Of trickery. Of regret.
Then, all action again, he leapt out of the window and changed to his other form. She’d left with the druid, obviously. There was only one place she would go.
He didn’t drop down to Tatsu. He couldn’t stomach her telling him, I told you so. He flew past, and she followed, blessedly silent.
How long had Reagan been planning this? Since day one? When had she cultivated such a plan, playing him at every turn?
Fire kindled in his gut.
Cahal fucking Druer.
The druid must’ve helped her in this, just like he’d hastened the other heir to ruin. That cursed druid, favorite of the angels, had never stopped being her safety blanket. His daughter had only wanted Lucifer to think that.
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He didn’t know whether the pounding in his chest was love or hate, pride or sorrow. Which was fitting, because she was a blend of everything the Underworld had to offer, even though she hadn’t been raised here. She was him when he was younger. She was him as he wished he were now.
Damn it. He’d played this all wrong, content because she’d tricked him into complacency.
Fire followed him as he flew, pushing his limits, aiming for the sect that housed the vampire Darius. He couldn’t let his daughter escape. She was his more than any other offspring he’d had in history. Wasn’t that ironic, that the one who was most like him, worthiest of the title “heir,” was also partly made from those cursed angels? Bastards.
She would not leave this place. He’d make sure of it.
Twenty
Here we go, Archion. Finally! I pointed down at the violence sect. Darius’s light and energy pulsed below, waiting for me.
Light was creeping into the sky. We’d lost precious time helping Ja and her vampires escape the inner kingdom. She hadn’t accounted for a patrol, something that wasn’t there when she’d come in. It made me wonder just how long Ja had been spying on the castle.
We’d had to kill the border patrol. We couldn’t afford them running back to the castle and tattling on us. It had thrown our plans all to hell.
Thankfully, Ja’s team was incredibly vicious and effective. It had been a little unnerving to watch, actually. Even Archion had gotten squeamish. Saphira had been altogether useless. Hopefully she’d just been shell-shocked and would redeem herself with future carnage. The vampires were still headed to meet us at the violence sect, but they might be a bit delayed. We’d need to get Darius and the others out while the dragons burned everyone in the perimeter. When Ja finally showed up, she’d join the fray.
What’s our plan? Archion asked.
Don’t have one. I figure…we just dive down and scorch them all.
What if they don’t scorch?
Then I flatten them with air.
Good plan.
My kinda dragon. No plan was a good plan.
Cahal flew right behind us, Saphira behind him.
What about Saphira? I asked, taking stock of the minimal activity going on around the squat stone building. There was an expansive courtyard, but the building itself was only a couple of stories high. Either most of it was built below ground or it simply wasn’t that big. Hopefully it was the latter.
This is new to her and she is on the timid side. She’ll follow our lead.