Page 104 of An Unexpected Ascension
Not wasting another second, I blink us back to Lucifer’s manor. Time and space transform around us in a whirl of chaos before we’re righted again.
“Lucifer!”
My shout echoes down the hall from Briar’s room as I snap, igniting a fire in the hearth and laying the angel in bed. Layering blankets upon her, the pink in her lips gradually starts to return.
The God of Hell stands in the doorway, watching.
“What’s happened? Did you retrieve the Mortifier?”
“No,” I growl. “Didn’t get the chance. Briar’s been... infected.”
Striding towards us, he assesses her, then me. His brown eyes cloud with a million questions – one of which I will not answer truthfully. No, I have no truth for why my heart ceases in worry for a dead girl.
“With what?”
“Fear. Can you pull her out of it?”
Lucifer places his palm to her forehead. As if her skin is made of ice, he quickly withdraws, shaking his hand in shock.
“She’s nearly frozen,” he murmurs.
Taking a deep breath, he cradles her face with both of his hands. Eyes closed, brows dipped in focus, a power surges through her. The aftershock pulses in waves off her body, quelling the quiver in her lips and the tremors wracking her body.
I suck in a breath of relief as I watch the flush work its way beneath her skin again and drag a finger down the side of her face, relishing the heat that emanates.
“Lynx.”
“I know.”
He doesn’t need to say it aloud. Doesn’t need to warn me that this girl will only break me to pieces and shatter my sanity. She’s everything I’ve always loathed, my sole purpose for wrathful revenge and it’s all ending with her. With a pretty smile and green eyes.
“Let her rest.”
Reluctantly, I listen, snuffing the fire. Hell is hot enough as it is and with her temperature already returning to normal – for the dead – there is no need for it. With a quiet resignation, I trail Lucifer to the war room, in desperate need of a drink.
Before I can plant myself in a chair at the lengthy metal table, Lucifer has a tumbler of that amber liquor sitting in front of me. I toss it back without so much as a single thought to chase it.
He stands there on the other side of the table, hands tucked into his pocket. His eyes say too much, more than I want to hear.
“What happened?”
“She fell into fear’s trap. Lured by a demon haunting the forest.”
“We’re running short of time, Lynx. Perhaps you make this journey alone.”
“I would, only she had a vision.”
Curiosity sparks his gaze, his shoulders pulling back and spine straightening.
“Oh?”
“Of the tree.”
“Do we know where the Mortifier is?”
“No, but I have a feeling we will once we find the tree.”
He rubs at the shadow coating his chin while his coffee eyes glimmer with thought.
