Page 78 of All's Hell That Ends Well

Without a word, I swiped the screen, showing him the next picture. Lilith yet again, caught in the moment when she clapped her hands, a delighted expression on her face. I’d just shown her the selfie mode on the camera.

Another swipe, and a video played. Lilith smiled widely, her eyes sparkling with joy.

“This is most marvelous,” she said. “Such magic, made by humans. Who would have thought that one day you would be able to capture a moment in moving pictures, to be replayed over and over? And with sound!”

She laughed then, like a lovely tinkling of bells, and before me, Lucifer trembled as if shaken by fever.

“There are more,” I softly said and handed him the phone. “More photos, and videos, too. I took them during one of her visits, and I just recently remembered. You can keep the phone for a while. Look through them all. The passcode to unlock the phone is 1-8-7-2-3-0.”

His power seeming as fragile as glass one touch away from shattering, he carefully swiped through the pictures, his expression ravaged. After a moment, he raised his gaze to me, bewilderment bleeding into his mien. “Why would you do this?”

“Take her pictures? Well, she seemed so interested in the technology, and I thought it would be cool?—”

“No,” he interrupted me roughly. “Why would you give me this?”

Oh shit, had I overstepped? Did this have the opposite effect of what I’d intended? My stomach fell to the floor.

But before I could utter the apology that sat on the tip of my tongue, he added, “Why give me this gift?”

I let out a relieved breath, then shrugged and bit my lip. “Because it’s the kind thing to do. You were so sad, talking about how you didn’t have much to remember her by, and I realized I had these images and videos, and so I thought it’d be nice for you to see them.”

His throat worked as he swallowed, his energy hovering around him like an invisible cloud of agitation, and he lowered his gaze back to the device in his hand.

“Anyway,” I said, taking a step back, “the phone is yours for now. I mean, at some point I might like to look at my mom’s pictures again, but until then, you can have it. Oh, and maybe don’t look at the pics before hers. There are some…um…private things Azazel left me in there.” I grimaced, realizing that I should have pulled those images into a separate album to avoid them being seen by unsuspecting eyes.

Better yet, I should have gotten a whole new phone and transferred Lilith’s images and videos over. That way, I wouldn’t have had to hand my own phone over. Ugh, hindsight was twenty-twenty. I’d been so taken with my idea that I hadn’t thought this through.

I was already halfway to the door when Lucifer’s voice stilled my steps.

“She spoke of you, you know.”

I turned around, raising my brows. “Oh?”

Sure, yeah, it would have been logical to assume that Lilith would have talked about me with her boo, what with how fascinated she’d evidently been with me. On the other hand, I’d figured she might not have, quite simply because the topic ofmoihad seemed to be a tad controversial with Lucifer, which was why it wouldn’t have surprised me if she’d skirted the subject altogether, apart from telling him to leave me the fuck alone.

The black of his eyes was unfathomably deep as he caught my gaze. “She held you in high regard. Spoke of you with a fondness she hadn’t expressed in a long time. She truly valued you.”

I swallowed past the knot in my throat, my eyes yet again damningly hot and wet.

So low I almost didn’t hear him, Lucifer added, “I’m beginning to see why.”

CHAPTER 23

Azazel

This time, Naamah and I met on one of the upper floors of a building towering high above New York City. Some architect’s office, apparently. The floor-to-ceiling windows allowed a stunning view of Manhattan sprawling out from the financial district toward Central Park.

When I entered the room, having used telekinesis to open locked doors to get in, Naamah was standing in front of the wall of windows looking outside, dressed in a magenta pantsuit, her auburn hair braided into an elaborate updo. The office was currently empty, the digital clock on the wall showing it to be Sunday.

Upon hearing me, Naamah half turned to glance my way, her turquoise eyes glowing from within, her throat working as she swallowed hard. “You came.”

I joined her at the window, slipping my hands into my pockets. Gaze fastened on the bustling streets below, I quietly said, “I’m sorry.”

She twitched slightly, the involuntary movement betraying her surprise.

Before she could pose any questions, I continued, “I reacted rashly. I wasn’t hearing you. I should have taken the time to think about what you were telling me, instead of letting myself be governed by my anger and pain. That is not who I am, and I know better than to explode without thinking.” I took a deep breath, my chest aching with it. “Therefore, I apologize. I treated you harshly and unfairly. My parting words to you were cruel, and I hereby rescind them.”

At her silence, I glanced at her. Her eyes shone wetly, her lips curving into the softest smile.

---