Page 67 of Shadow Fall: Part Two

“Fuck medals, rewards are my favourite. How much are we talking?”

The devil couldn’t suppress a smile, his crimson eyes glittering. He looked better than the last time I saw him—when we got back to the palace after the battle at the Damned Realm and found him covered in Cronus’s stomach goop and his own blood, running down a corridor to crash into Lili. I hadn’t been much better; I flowed in and out of consciousness, my arms cut up, blood smearing my hair to my scalp. Now, Lucifer looked healthy, powerful, and I hoped I did the same.

“Land,” he replied dryly. “A sizable plot of it on the edge of a forest whose name bears remarkable similarity to yours.”

I gasped, pain and emotion and something very close to happiness crushing my heart in my chest. “I swear, if you’re lying—”

“I wouldn’t lie about something so important to you. You’d own the land from the edge of the forest all the way to Moraena. You’re not free to overrun the town, but you can do anything with the undeveloped land.”

“You’re really serious,” I breathed, smiling so wide that it tugged a cut on my cheek.

“I really am. I—shit,” he hissed, his head snapping up when footsteps pounded down the hallway towards us. Lili was back to normal mode, her scary goddess mode turned off like mine now we weren’t under threat, but her mouth was in a flat line and there was something dangerous about the glimmer in her eye. She walked so fast that her pale lilac dress streamed out behind her, feathers rippling in her brown wings. Lili was one of the kindest, most understanding and generous people I’d ever met, but I would not fuck with her right now.

“I get the impression you’re in trouble, Lucy,” I said, eyeing the devil.

“You’re supposed to be resting in bed!” Lili hissed, close enough for me to see the panic amid the wrath in her expression.

“I found him in the dining hall,” I supplied helpfully, like he was a lost dog I’d returned to their owner.

Lili’s wrath softened, her brown eyes going so tender that I looked away, intruding on an intimate moment. “You were hungry,” she breathed, closing the distance between us and reaching out her hand. Lucifer linked their fingers without hesitation, a matching softness in his eyes that made me ache for my mates even though I’d left them mere minutes ago.

“Yes,” he agreed, walking between me and Lili down the hallway.

I shot him a dry look, a smirk curving my mouth as I told Lili, “He was organising a clean-up operation.”

Lili’s eyes narrowed on her man’s face. “That sounds dangerously like work, Luc.”

“I assure you, Lilia, there was nothing even remotely resembling work. Just a conversation on the merits of us using magic versus manual labour in removing the mess the rebellion made.”

That rebellion had ended swiftly. Lili had them all by the balls anyway, but the second word spread that Lucifer was back, alive, the whole coup fell apart. The spirits were still running amok though; Asta and Renna, both whole and unharmed and as fierce as ever, tried to pull him into a conversation about controlling them but he’d already ducked out the door after me.1

“Hm,” Lili said with a clear warning, eyeing him as we walked. “That better be true. You know what’ll happen if I find you working before you’re fully healed, Luc.”

“Oooh,” I teased, “someone’s getting his sex privileges revoked.”

Lucifer’s dark head whipped towards me, his eyes bright with outrage. “I am the devil!”

“And my friend’s the Queen of Hell. Cool, huh?”

His gaze flattened with exasperation.

“She’s a badass and I love her,” I told him. “Hurt her, and I’ll cut your balls off, dry them, grind them into a powder, and use them to season your dinner. You’ll never know,” I whispered.

He looked horrified. Lili snorted.

“I’m glad you’re both okay,” I added with a genuine smile, pausing when we came to the turn in the corridor that would take me to the huge, golden infirmary. “It got a little dicey there.”

“I knew you could do it,” Lili replied, nothing but warmth in her eyes when she met my gaze. “Not just because the prophecy said you could, but because you’re you. You fight hard for what you believe in.”

I wouldn’t have said that.

“You didn’t stop looking for your mates until you found them,” Lucifer pointed out, though his eyes never actually left Lili.

“And it’s obvious how much you love Hell,” Lili pointed out, returning his loving stare until I started to feel like a third wheel. “You’ve fought like crazy to keep it safe.”

“Crazy is a good choice of word,” I agreed with a faint smirk. “I appreciate the vote of confidence. Really. But if Hell goes to shit again and you need someone to save it, you don’t know me, we’ve never met, and there’s no such person as Halwen Vakhara.”

Lili’s answering grin was crooked. “Halwen Vakhara? It doesn’t ring a bell.”

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