Page 85 of Forged in Twilight: The Complete Series

He wouldn’t put it past Lucifer to discover the identity of the angels’ soulmates long before they did, then orchestrated it so that both Becca and Cinder were manipulated into signing a contract with him.

Lucifer did this. Micah doubted that he expected to find the youngest angel prince there when he accepted the key from Cinder, but the lord of Hell was nothing if not opportunistic. To twist the knife a little, he made his offer to Micah.

His soulmate or his talisman? Raze chose Becca. Of course Micah would choose Cinder.

He never got the chance.

Cinder looked at Lucifer, then Micah. She might not know exactly what was going on, but the Phoenix he knew hated having her back up against the wall.

This new version of his soulmate wasn’t that different.

Tugging on the string on the velvet bag, Cinder opened it up. The celestial magic contained inside of it flowed out, distracting both Lucifer and Micah. His offer momentarily forgotten, both celestial beings locked on the golden key that she’d pulled out of the bag.

“Make your deal with the angel later. I was here first.”

Lucifer gave her a mocking bow. “As you wish, my witch.”

Micah stiffened. She was his witch.

Cinder gave her head a royal shake. “The deal we had was that I get the key, you let me stay on Earth.” She held up the key. “I have it. Deal’s complete. You can’t touch me now.”

With a scoff, Lucifer said, “I will always be your master. Now give me the key.”

“No. The amount of magic in this baby… it’ll help me start my new life since I’m not going back to Hell anytime soon.”

Lucifer held out his hand. A scroll appeared between his fingers. “Then we make another deal. Give me the key now and you can have whatever you want.”

Cinder pretended to think it over for a second.

Her fingers closed over the key. “No, thanks. Maybe if I didn’t know how you screwed me over with the first deal, I might’ve been dumb enough to say yes since the second worked out. But, yeah… not this time.”

Lucifer’s face twisted, his handsome face turning beastly. “You wouldn’t dare defy me!”

Micah was sure Lucifer was wrong about that. His Phoenix would—and so, it seemed, would Cinder.

She whistled.

Crow suddenly appeared as if conjured into existence. One second the bird was nowhere to be seen, then he was swooping down, right at her hand. The crow snatched the key in his beak, just like he had when he stole it from Polly. Flapping his wings twice, he disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Lucifer roared.

Cinder crossed her arms over her chest. Already in tune with his soulmate, Micah could sense that she was bluffing. No one else would’ve been able to tell, but he knew.

“If you want it,” she dared, “take it.”

Micah held his breath. Would Lucifer be able to? He hadn’t snatched it back from Polly yesterday, leaving the dirty work to Cinder and Crow.

Was there a reason for it? Or was she right when she said that he couldn’t touch her?

Lucifer pointed one long finger at her.

“I might not be able to touch you right now, but I still own you,” he sneered. “Once your life is over again, you’re mine.”

It was the possessiveness in his tone that had Micah reacting.

He shifted in front of Cinder, taking the brunt of Lucifer’s rage. “She isn’t. She never was. Phoenix is mine.”

From behind him, he heard her scoff. “I belong to one. And my name is Cinder, jackass.”

Micah whirled around. The force of her sudden anger was more potent than Lucifer’s. It slammed into his wings, and he spun to face her before realizing that he was turning his back on the lord of Hell.

“Phoenix?”

There was a circle of melded sand where she had been standing a split second ago. She was gone, leaving the scent of heavy smoke lingering in the air.

Lucifer laughed. The dark sound sent shivers down Micah’s spine. He curled his wings around him as he turned to face Lucifer again.

But he, too, was gone.

And, once again, Micah was all alone.

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