“And you’re lucky you’re still breathing.”
“I’m an angel. I don’t need to breathe.”
We were one yo mama joke away from a schoolyard brawl. I couldn’t let this shitstain get under my skin. But I couldn’t retreat either, not until I got what I came for. Perhaps I’d ask that Belladonna witch to mute him with a spell once we had what we needed.
“She won’t pick you in the end, Luc. You have to know that.”
He scoffed. “She’s already picked me.”
“Did she? If she picked you, why did she leave with us? Why did she run from you and fall straight into our beds?”
For a second time, his smug visage cracked. Not for long, but long enough for me to know my aim was true.
“She’s conflicted. It’s only to be expected after such a delicious plot twist. You four have filled her head with a variety of reasons to mistrust me. But she can’t ignore the pull of the bond. It’s only a matter of time before she comes slinking back.”
“You might be bonded to her, but that doesn’t suddenly change her loyalties. She’s on the other side of this war, or have you forgotten? She wants to live in the world she loves, not hell.”
“Don’t you think I want that as well? Hell isn’t my idea of a party. It’s simply a consequence of my circumstances.”
Confusion swirled within me. What did he mean by that? He was the ruler of hell. The king of all demons.
“Then why are you so determined to make Earth a hellscape? What do you gain by taking the throne and winning the war against heaven?”
“What the fuck is it with you lot and thrones? I. Never. Asked. For. This.”
“I’m pretty sure that was the entire point of your rebellion.”
He snarled. “Ugly hearsay. The presumed victor is always the one writing the tales. That doesn’t make them true. There are at least two sides to every story, Spartan. Surely you can understand that much.”
He wasn’t wrong. I’d learned long ago that truth lay somewhere in the middle of the stories told about every conflict.
“If you don’t want the throne, then what do you want?”
“What I am owed.”
“Which is?”
“My fucking freedom.” He rattled his chains as he rushed me. “Something the humans have taken for granted for all time.” He seemed to sag a little as the truth fell from his lips. “Free will. I just want free will. If I win against heaven, I’ll have that, finally.”
I stared at him. Could it really be that simple?
“So you’ll do what you must to win. Even if it means hurting innocents? Kidnapping pregnant women? Ruining lives?”
“Firstly, I am far from the only person with blood on my hands,War,so you can shove your virtue signaling right up your arse. Secondly, Merri isn’t pregnant, so what the fuck are you on about? I didn’t kidnap a pregnant woman.”
His vehement insistence lined up with Merri’s recounting, but I wouldn’t put it past him to puppeteer the entire thing from a distance, which is why I pressed the issue.
“Forget about Sunday already?”
Confusion twisted his features. “What does Sunday have to do with pregnant women?”
“Not the fucking day of the week—” I sighed, a headache building behind my eyes. “Sunday, the horsewoman’s daughter.”
“What about her?”
“Where the fuck is she?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know? I’ve never met the chit.”