But that wasn’t totally true. He’d been too puffed up with pride in her to notice. She’d used her resources to strip away his protections and gain the upper hand. She could’ve killed him, most likely. He’d half wondered if she planned to try. But then she’d helped him recover.
His hands shook as he looked at her face, her eyes drooping and her pupils dilated.
The whole time, she had been mortally wounded. Even now, she did not want to leave her friends—her people—preferring dying beside them to escape.
But why hadn’t she known she was this close?
“The vampire,” he said softly, remembering how their kind bonded. They drained their intended nearly dry and then filled them up again. And if that huge gap in her thigh wasn’t gushing blood, that might yet work. She had allowed herself to ignore the warning signs in order to stay with the battle, though. She’d ignored the pain, too, having survived worse.
He wondered if the human mages down on the battlefield, surrounded by the unicorns to keep them from harm, would have field dressings. He knew humans used such things in battle. Or maybe he could find someone who had a snake…
It would take too long to find any of those things with the battle raging.
Make sure her people are not touched, he told Tatsu. Get Archion here. He needs to fly her to the Underworld. She’ll be stronger there.
She won’t make it.
She will.
She won’t be able to hold on, Lucifer. Feel her magic—it is seeping from her. Her light is going out. Have you forgotten the feeling of an immortal slipping into eternal darkness?
No…
His eyes stung, covered in moisture now. His heart ached in a way he’d never felt before. A way that dug down into the very middle of him and bled pain. He hadn’t known her long, but she was his flesh and blood. His perfect heir. A joy to know and a pleasure to have around. In such a short time, he had grown to love her like no other heir before her. He’d grown to love her as his daughter. He could not lose her.
She needs to be healed immediately, Tatsu thought. You know there is a way.
Lucifer’s jaw ached with how hard he was suddenly clenching it.
No, he thought. Anything but that. There was no way he’d go to those kinds of extremes. He’d promised himself he would never again ask for anything from them.
Then say goodbye, Tatsu thought with great sadness. It pulled at her, and him with her.
He screamed, pushing higher into the sky. Archion flew closer, seeing Reagan in his arms. The dragon roared, the sound cutting through Lucifer, filled with misery. Lucifer knew how he felt.
How could he have let this happen? How could he have let her so close to the battle—actually into the battle? He’d planned to keep her at arm’s length, letting her get her feet wet in safety while he clinched their victory. He’d intended to compromise so she didn’t resent him. But he’d let her go too far, and look what had happened now.
He’d done this. He had caused this. The blame could rest at no one else’s feet.
Her breathing turned shallow, and her lips curved into a smile, her eyes mostly closed. “My bad. I think you might be right.” She let out a small sigh. “Please save my friends. Please save their people. The worlds need balance, Dad. The Realm needs their own leadership, just like the Underworld needs you. That leadership needs to be expanded to include representation for all who live here, but the people who are of this place need to rule it. You know that is right. Please do what is right.” She sucked in breath, one arm dangling lifelessly over his forearm. “Can you bring Darius up here, please? I’d like to say goodbye.”
Misery tore through his chest and filled every inch of his person. She had planned to marry that vampire. Sire offspring, like a traditional sort of family. Lucifer had never had that sort of nuclear arrangement, but he’d be damned, again, before he let anyone take it from her.
He couldn’t let this be the end. He would do what needed to be done, no matter what it cost him.
He tilted his head back and looked into the sky. Drawing on the age-old magic that he’d been born with, blessed with, he summoned them. The healers. The bringers of light and goodness.
The cursed angels.
Twenty-One
Magic sang through my blood and crackled through my heavy limbs. Desperate cold crowded every inch of my being, warning me that death was right around the corner. I had ignored the signs, trying to struggle on, and I’d screwed myself. Whoops.
Light blossomed all around us, filling the burnt-orange sky. Glowing orbs, it seemed like, sifting down from above.