Page 123 of All's Hell That Ends Well

“I remember,” he spoke in a voice that carried the echo of eons.

My breath escaped me on a shudder. Next to me, Azazel had grown still, his attention zeroed in on the primal force that had just unfolded its presence in front of us.

I swallowed and had to clear my throat to find my voice again. “And are you…still you?”

He took a moment to answer. “I am more.”

“But your identity as Lucifer isn’t gone, is it?”

A glint of light in those stygian eyes. “Miss me already?”

I huffed out a breath. “Okay, yeah, there’s enough of you left.”

“Who I was and who I became are one,” Lucifer said. “They always have been, but now I am aware of it. Remembering my beginnings does not change all that has shaped me since.”

“Well, great.” I clasped my hands and squeezed. “So, now that we’ve cleared this up, there’s still the matter of complication—you have two choices for how to move forward. Either you try to remove the power of death from yourself, whichmight, but will hopefullynot,result in you ripping yourself apart somehow, and then you’re able to go to Earth. Or you remain as you are…but you’ll never be able to see Lilith’s reincarnation.”

Looking at Lucifer in that moment was like staring into an abyss where darkness shrouded the bottom, threatening to pull you under.

“There is no choice,” he said tonelessly.

“Well, I mean, youcouldchoose to?—”

“Spend the excruciating length of eternity missing the other half of my soul?” he whispered harshly. “Drift through time yearning for that which I’ll never again have, with every passing moment chipping away at my mind until, at last, the final shreds of my sanity are all but worn out and I shall become naught but a shadow of myself and devour the world?”

I shivered, and not just from the frost that had spread out from Lucifer’s seat and now nipped at my toes.

“There is no choice,” Lucifer repeated. “If you think I would consider, even for one second, holding on to my power at the expense of the one chance to holdheragain, you have not understood me at all. I have already declared that I am willing to surrender my privilege and authority in order to be with her. What is this but one more power I am ready to give up for her sake?”

I nodded, my gaze on the floor. “I thought so. Just wanted to mention it for clarity’s sake.”

“So, it is decided?” Azazel asked, his eyes on Lucifer. “You will remove the power of death from yourself and pass it to me?”

Lucifer regarded him for a moment. “You understand that the limitations of this force will transfer to you? That you may never set foot on Earth again?”

I jolted, which in turn jiggled the hellcat, and that earned me a paw to the face. I barely noticed the pain from the scratch, though, all my attention on that fine but damning detail I’d completely overlooked in all of this.

Wide-eyed, I turned to Azazel, my heart in my throat. “I hadn’t even thought of that…”

He met my gaze, his expression calm and collected. “I have.”

“But—that’s?—”

“Okay.” He took my hand and kissed it. “It’s okay. I am two thousand five hundred years old. I’ve been to Earth more times than I can count. I have seen civilizations rise and fall, have looked upon the wonders of this world, both those arisen from nature and those created by mankind. I have seen my fill. It is all right if I now remain here. And it’s not as if modern technology doesn’t work in Hell.” He cast a side-eye at Lucifer. “I will have access to media that will allow me to sample some of what Earth and humanity have to offer.”

My brows drew together. “But…what about your mom? You won’t be able to meet with her anymore.”

He gave me a sly look. “You do know we don’t have to meeton Earth?”

“Huh?”

“Naamah and I can both fly.” He winked at me. “There isn’t much life at a thirty-thousand-foot altitude, is there?”

“Apart from the occasional airplane,” I muttered. “Will she be okay? Meeting with you, with the whole power of death thing, I mean. Since she’s an angel now.”

“I would reckon,” Lucifer cut in nonchalantly, “the fact that she is my blood would lend her enough protection. Angel or no, she is still my daughter.”

I blew out a breath, and Azazel squeezed my hand in reassurance.

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