Page 53 of To Crave Truly

“Rae managed to save a witch from being stolen by the mages and she said that witches and their magic were disappearing. Just vanishing into thin air.”

The frown above Lucifer’s eyes deepened. “And you think Mordecai is somehow behind this?”

“It would make sense,” I said, starting to pace the floor, adrenaline flooding my system as I worked out the rest of Mordecai’s plan. “Think about it. He’s the one that wants revenge on you, he needs a Hell of a lot of power to accomplish it. He has to be the one behind it all.”

“Except you’re forgetting one thing,” Lucifer said, his mouth turned down at the corners.

I came to a halt. “What?”

“That Mordecai doesn’t have the power to sever a person from their power.”

“Motherfucker,” Iver said as he shook his head in disbelief.

What was I missing here?

Lucifer’s face contorted with a rage I felt travel through our bond. It was visceral and burnt hot. “Only someone imbued with the power of righteousness can do that. And that means—”

I gasped, the penny finally dropping. “Someone Celestial.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Iver

Iwatched the pair of them curiously. There was a familiarity that I sensed towards Lori, even though I’d never met her, and I felt drawn to her, even though I knew she wasn’t Iveri. There was a part of her that was, and I ached for it. It was like a constant pull, a pain that couldn’t be dulled and, no matter how often I said it to myself, the woman in front of me wasn’t the woman I loved. I just had to keep reminding myself whenever I felt Lori’s demon surface. Hopefully the pain would lessen at some point. I doubted it, but my heart seemed to be a fickle thing where Iveri and her demon were concerned.

Not that the demon belonged to Iveri anymore. I could sense the shift in her allegiance. She belonged to Lori, was part of Lori. Intricately woven into her being in a way that would soon make them completely inseparable. I’d never seen anything like it before. Never, in all of demon history – and I knew a fair bit – had I ever come across a demon changing bodies. I was created a demon. Demons were born as demons. Lori and her demon were unique, and I wasn’t sure I liked it. That was probably only because I didn’t understand them, though.

“So, what do we do know?” I asked, interrupting the lovebirds and their little chitchat. Lucifer was so sweet with her, it kind of made me feel queasy. Where was the wrathful dark angel I was used to? And ew. Never thought I’d see the day where I actually missed that guy.

“I guess we jump through the portal,” Lori said, eyeing the glowing circle ominously. She might fear jumping into it, but there was an excited energy pouring from her demon.

“Guess we better had,” I said with a grin before jumping straight into the unknown. I had no idea what I was going to find when I emerged the other side, but I was confident in my own abilities that I would pretty much survive anything.

My feet hit a solid surface, the thud echoing in the space. Flames burst to life along the perimeter of the room and rows upon rows of shelves appeared in every direction.

Another thud followed by a smack sounded behind me and I turned to see Lori face down on the ground. I failed miserably at holding back my laugh. “How do you never land on your feet?”

“Urgh, it’s clearly a skill,” she groaned as she pulled herself up. “Fucking hate portals.”

Lucifer appeared a moment later, landing elegantly on his feet, much to Lori’s dismay. She gave a little huff in his direction before heading off down the centre avenue of shelves. I trailed behind her, looking down the rows of shelves as we passed. There were all sorts of things down here, wonderful and magical things that I would love to play with. Something shiny caught my eye and I stepped towards it.

“Iver,” Lori shouted. “We aren’t on a shopping spree. We’re here for one thing and one thing only.”

There was a tone of no argument lacing her words and I found myself complying. The fuck? Since when did a prim little miss have any kind of power over me? I stepped back in line behind her and scowled. I didn’t miss the way her mouth turned up into a smug little smirk and I knew that it was her demon that was putting the power behind her words. But no way was she more powerful than me. Must have been a fluke and it definitely wasn’t going to happen again.

Even if I secretly kind of liked it.

“Here we are,” she said, pulling me from the worrying direction my thoughts had taken me.

“Row thirteen?” I asked.

“Yep,” she replied, popping the ‘p’. “We need shelf ‘M’ and location 1313.”

I gave her a flat look. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I think he’s concerned over all the number ‘13’ references,” Lucifer said as he came to stand by her side. God, were they ever inseparable?

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