Page 104 of All's Hell That Ends Well

“A summons.” His thundercloud eyes met mine. “Lucifer wants to see us.”

CHAPTER 31

Azazel and I sat next to each other on a sofa across from Lucifer, a low table laden with delicacies and drinks between us. He’d received us in yet another cozy parlor-type room, the walls covered with tapestries depicting the first war against Heaven, light and darkness meeting in violent storms.

As I noticed with not a small amount of relief, Lucifer had seemingly recovered from whatever bout of eldritch horror had taken hold of him the last time we’d spoken. The version of him facing us now was the familiar one—emo-goth style and all, but his power didn’t taste so otherworldly anymore, his expression as human as a demon could get.

The smallest niggling at the back of my neck remained, just a faint whisper of otherness that still lingered in the air around him. He looked amiable enough, though.

In fact, suspiciously so.

Narrowing my eyes, I asked, “What’s up?”

Azazel made a small noise beside me, probably in response to my utter disregard for proper address and appropriate manner of speaking to the supreme ruler of Hell. I couldn’t be botheredto care. I’d been on this level with Lucifer for a while now, and I wasn’t going to revert back to kowtowing.

Ignoring my question—and my flouting of propriety, as I’d expected—Lucifer glanced at Azazel. “You enjoy being archdemon, don’t you?”

If Azazel was stumped by that random question, he didn’t show it. With remarkable calm and poise, he replied, “Of course.”

Lucifer hummed in agreement. “That position suits you.” His fingers slowly drummed on the armrest of his chair, his black eyes fixed on Azazel. “As would the one even higher.”

Next to me, Azazel tensed, his energy becoming whip-sharp but held in check with utmost control. I glanced between the two, not understanding the undercurrents.

“As I told you,” Azazel said with that same calm from before, though I sensed the storm behind the facade through our bond, “I do not wish to take your throne.”

Huh?What was he talking about? My widening eyes kept flicking from one to the other.

“I know.” Lucifer stared at him with the kind of attention that would make me squirm. “But I do.”

“Pardon?” Azazel asked at the same time as I gasped, “What?”

“I am abdicating,” Lucifer said in the casual tone one would use to announce going to the store. “And I have chosen you as my successor.”

Both Azazel and I gaped at Lucifer, struck mute for a moment.

“This is a joke, right?” I whispered when my brain could form words again.

Azazel leaned forward, his power buzzing in the air, his gaze fastened on Lucifer. “Why?”

Lucifer heaved a sigh and picked up a glass of amrit from the table. Staring into the amber liquid, he quietly said, “I will not wait ten years to see her.”

I blinked and shook my head. “This is about Lilith?”

His fathomless gaze of primordial darkness slammed into mine. “Everything I do is for her. Every breath I take is in her name. Of course, this is about her.”

“But you promised you’d leave her alone while she grows up!”

“And I will.” He swirled the amrit in the glass, his expression thoughtful. “She won’t know I’m there. But I shall watch her from the shadows and guard her myself. I want to know firsthand that she is safe…and to feel her presence, her energy.” In a whisper, he added, “To know that she is real.”

My heart pinched a little at how forlorn he looked, at the longing for the love he’d lost that was carved into every line of his ethereally beautiful face.

“But the truce forbids you to step foot on Earth,” I said softly. “So, how?—”

“That’s why he wants to abdicate,” Azazel cut in, his calculating gaze on Lucifer. “To renegotiate the truce. Or is it that the terms of the truce would be transferred to your successor, and then you’d be free to visit Earth?”

It wasn’t quite a smile that softened Lucifer’s features, but his eyes warmed noticeably. “Proving my choice right with that astute mind of yours.”

“But—but!” I flailed my hands as if to ward off a swarm of mosquitoes. “You can’t just abdicate!”

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