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  Surely.

  But I couldn’t help noticing that unlike most of the other entities in the room, Lucifer hadn’t feigned indifference when Zeus indelicately reminded everyone that the Greek gods had we three Erinyes in their corner. Instead, the Light Bringer had simply waited for Zeus to finish making his point.

  That impressed me far more than Lucifer’s lovely face. He didn’t mind that we Furies were Zeus’ personal enforcers. Everyone knew we were powerful enough to erase even a god’s existence with only a thought … and Lucifer didn’t seem to care.

  What would it be like to have a lover who was truly as strong as I was, one who didn’t want to use me other than for a night of pleasure? I wondered, and I imagined, and I felt my smile broaden.

  A small eternity passed, and Zeus finally ended his speech. He sat heavily in his chair and murmured, “Wine.”

  My sisters and I had drawn lots before the gathering, and I had been the loser. So I offered Zeus an empty smile and an equally meaningless bow, and off I went to fill his goblet.

  As I sought a cupbearer, Lucifer spoke. “Our brother the Greek lord has given us much to consider.” His voice was deep, and richly musical, and it danced along my skin. “There will be an intermission before the next speaker has the floor.” With those words, the King of Hell rose and strode out of the room.

  His exit prompted a flurry of godly voices. Would Lucifer cast his allegiance with Zeus, or was he firmly committed to Jehovah? And what of this mad call for a treaty between pantheons – was that by Lucifer’s design, or was this all the manipulation of Jehovah to cast himself as the one above all others? And so on.

  None of them, from what I could hear, considered the possibility that Lucifer was tired of listening to gods scheme, and simply needed to escape the room.

  While the deities murmured their suspicions, I approached one of the many cupbearers in the room and nearly gave her a heart attack before she understood what I wanted. She bowed and scraped as she poured wine into the goblet in my hands, without spilling a drop. I’d have to commend her to her master.

  The thought of speaking with her master sent a tingle through my belly.

  Hurry up, Meg, Alecto snapped. Zeus is thirsty.

  Of course. Once I’m done playing fetch, maybe I should roll over and beg.

  Pushing aside such thoughts, I returned to my liege lord and offered him the full goblet. His thick fingers stroked mine as he took the cup, and he said, “My thanks, Tisiphone.”

  Anger bubbled in my stomach. Blandly, oh so blandly, I smiled, and I thought of carving my name on Zeus’ chest so that he would finally remember who I was.

  He took a sip of his wine, declared it fit for Dionysus, then patted my bottom to dismiss me.

  White-hot rage seared me, and blood roared in my ears. By my sides, my hands curled into fists.

  I could remove him from the fabric of Creation with hardly a blink, and he dares to treat me like a human serving girl? Me?

  Meg, Tisiphone whispered, be calm.

  Oh, I was calm. I didn’t destroy my liege lord, nor did I tear down the black walls of Hell’s castle to show my rage. That proved I was calm.

  Grinding my teeth as I smiled, smiled, smiled, I said, “By your leave, sire.” I spun on my heel and marched out of the room before Zeus could say otherwise. My sisters immediately buzzed in my mind, but I pushed them out and created a shield, one that would keep my thoughts and actions private.

  I am a Fury; it is my right to seethe in my rage alone.

  I stormed down the hallway, not knowing or caring where it led. Various denizens of Hell scampered out of my way, all of them touching their heads to the ground as I passed. They, at least, gave me the respect I deserved. What did it say that Hell acknowledged what my own liege lord did not?

  Why could even the basest of demons see my worth, where my own patron god was blind?

  I paraded through the corridors of the palace, turning corners and rounding bends, until I came to a set of doors, slightly ajar. Red-tinted light poured through the crack, and odd sounds clamoured from beyond, as if trying to claw their way inside.

  Curious, I nudged the doors apart … to find Lucifer Morningstar standing on a balcony, overlooking his dread kingdom as the sky bled fire and the land belched flame.

  Even from behind, he was magnificent to behold – broad-backed and long of leg. One sandalled foot was planted on the balcony railing, and his arms rested over his bent knee as he peered into the distance. A hot breeze ruffled Lucifer’s black hair, sending it crashing about his shoulders … and toying with the hem of his tunic.

  “Lady Fury,” he said in a deep baritone, without turning around.

  “Lord Archangel,” I replied, bowing my head. “I did not mean to interrupt.”

  “You haven’t.” He turned to regard me over his shoulder, a cautious look on his face. No surprise there – I was one of three weapons in Zeus’ arsenal. As he appraised me, I listened to the strange music of Hell: the cries of the damned mixed with the chortles of the nefarious, blending to form a discordant tune that pierced my heart. Pain and pleasure. Agony and ecstasy. Fear and rapture. I hadn’t realized that Hell embodied extremes.

  It was oddly appealing to me … as was Hell’s king.

  His expression guarded, Lucifer asked, “What may I do for you?”

  You may take me any way you wish.

  I quashed that thought as I bowed again. “Nothing, my lord. I simply wished to take some air.” Straightening, I added, “It was a little … stuffy in the meeting room.”

  “Stuffy.” A smile quirked his lips, a flash and then gone, like heat lightning. “That’s one way to describe a roomful of gods and their sycophants.”

  “A diplomatic way,” I agreed, pleased by his frankness. “If I may be so bold, I don’t know how you’ve kept your patience.”

  His eyes gleamed in the heat of Hell, bright green with tints of amber – the glow of his power, swimming deep. But even deeper were flecks of emotion: pride, anger, curiosity … at least a dozen more, flashing too quickly for me to name. He looked at me, taking in my face as if to memorize my features.

  What do you see when you look at me, Lord Morningstar?

  “Gods can be petty,” he said, his gaze locked on mine. “I knew that well before Jehovah proposed his treaty and tasked me with leading negotiations.” Another smile, one that he allowed to linger. “But after listening to countless deities as they recklessly cast stones, I’m all but ready to smite the lot of them and have done with it.”

  I chuckled softly. “If only it were that easy.”

  “Oh, it could be. But in the end, it would be more trouble than it’s worth.” He paused. “Smiting gods makes quite the mess. I’d never get the ash out of my fingernails.”

  I couldn’t help myself – I threw back my head and laughed. The thought of my liege lord Zeus reduced to nothing but an annoyance beneath Lucifer’s nails made me giddy.

  When my laughter finally subsided to stray giggles, Lucifer murmured, “Lady Megaera, you have a delightful laugh.”

  My name on his lips stunned me, and not just because I enjoyed the sound. “Lord Lucifer,” I said, “you can tell me apart from my sisters?”

  He turned to face me fully. Slowly, he leaned against the railing, his arms back, his posture relaxed. His gaze, though, was not nearly as casual – it was both warm and wicked, brimming with humour.

  Hinting at passion.

  “Triplets you may be,” he said, his voice low and lush, “but only a fool could fail to see that you are indeed Megaera Erinys.”

  His words lightened my heart … and heated me lower down. Lucifer Morningstar was a flatterer, to be sure.

  It had been far too long since anyone had flattered me.

  “With a single compliment,” I said, marvelling, “you have scathingly insulted my liege lord.”

  “Did I? How very unintended.”

  Oh, I did so like this archangel, with his heated looks and laced w
ords. I stepped on to the balcony and went to the guard rail … close enough to Lucifer for him to wrap his arms around me, had he wished. “Your Hell is an interesting place.”

  Lucifer turned so that he, too, faced his kingdom. The humour bled from his features until he was once more the powerful monarch. “‘Interesting’. Do you know, in all my years, I have never before heard the Underworld described as such? Terrifying, certainly. Upsetting, naturally. A place of wretched wonder, according to one prophet. But never interesting.”

  “It is, especially compared with the cold order of Tartarus,” I said, gesturing to a cluster of demons below. “Hades would never allow his creatures to run amok as they tortured the damned.”

  A long pause before Lucifer replied: “I find the nefarious to be at their best when their leashes are long.”

  I arched a brow. “My lord?”

  “Demons are given their boundaries, they’re told what’s expected, and then they’re allowed to do their jobs as they see fit.” He cast me a measured look. “They never assume they can do anything else. And so, they serve.”

  Heat burned my cheeks. I didn’t know which embarrassed me more: Lucifer suggesting that I stayed with Zeus because I lacked imagination, or Lucifer comparing me to a demon. “Is that why you challenged your patron god?” I demanded. “Because you wanted to do something other than serve?”

  Lucifer smiled, and this time there was no trace of humour to be found. “That is the popular story, is it not? That I wished to replace Jehovah and rule Heaven?”

  I sniffed. “Indeed.”

  “Alas, Lady Fury, that is just a story. It was I who had suggested to Jehovah that he create Hell. And when he did, he appointed me its ruler.” Lucifer chuckled, a bittersweet sound caught between humour and anger – a sound that numbed my own indignation. He said, “And so, I rule. The demons do their jobs well. The damned suffer until they are redeemed. And so Jehovah’s will is done.”

  “Why would you suggest such a place as Hell?” I smiled wryly. “Were you bored in your god’s Heaven, Lord Archangel?”

  “I did so because it was better than the option. At the time, I had truly believed I was doing something important.” Something dark passed behind his eyes, leaving storms in their wake. “But I have long since come to realize that Jehovah had already decided on creating Hell. He merely allowed me to voice the idea.”

  My smile had faded with his words. Lucifer,longer relaxed, stood proudly outside of his palace, a look of raw pain in his eyes. “I don’t understand,” I said. “Was it your suggestion, or not?”

  “Oh, it was. Not that it mattered. It was my idea, but he had already known what I would suggest.” Lucifer’s teeth flashed in a humourless grin. “Whether demon or angel, the creatures in Jehovah’s pantheon know they’re leashed.”

  Ah.

  It was my turn to look away. “That is not unique to your pantheon,” I said quietly. I knew very well how difficult it was for a proud creature to come when called.

  Silence stretched between us, filled with the tension of Hell. My conversation with Lucifer was far more honest than my most intimate fantasies about him. And that honesty was painful. He was as angry with his patron god as I was with mine – no, more so. I, at least, had sisters to complain to. Who did Lucifer have to share his burden?

  Who could truly know the mind and heart of the King of Hell?

  “You and I, we are cut from the same cloth,” Lucifer said. “We see the truth of things, and yet we are powerless to change them.”

  I had never been called powerless before. No one had ever dared. I stammered, “What truth?”

  “Look at yourself. You are the sun, forced to dim your light so that a single bolt of lightning may outshine you.” He paused, allowing his words to sink in. And they did; they burrowed under my skin, sucked at me like leeches. Lucifer asked, “Why do you allow it?”

  Why indeed?

  Numb, I replied, “I do what must be done.”

  “As do I. And so I allow rival gods to tramp about my home and squabble like geese.” His eyes gleamed, reflecting the fires of Hell. “Don’t you see, Megaera? Everything has already been decided. The treaty is nothing more than a pretence to allow the gods their dignity.” Lucifer let out a bitter laugh. “Jehovah has got better at understanding pride.”

  I swallowed something thick and foul. “You are saying the negotiation is a sham?”

  “Why would Jehovah propose a treaty among all pantheons, one that sets himself up as the Almighty god of gods, if he hasn’t already decreed it to be so?” Anger heated Lucifer’s words, and he spat, “We have no choice in the matter, Lady Fury. Heaven and Hell will absorb all pantheons, whether sooner or later. Jehovah will be the one God.”

  My head spun from his declaration. “You’re insane.”

  “It will happen. It has already been decided.” Lucifer closed his eyes. “It’s not even the reasoning behind it that bothers me. I can understand Jehovah’s desire to bond the pantheons together, to unite those worshipped so that any belief would affect all of us. I can understand him declaring himself as the god of gods; only a bare handful of us are even close to his level of power. It’s the pretence of choice that I find so insulting.”

  “You make it sound as if the gods cannot make their own decisions.”

  “As I said before,” he said softly, “at least the creatures in Jehovah’s pantheon know they are leashed.”

  No.

  No, this was too big. Too overwhelming. I couldn’t accept that the gods themselves were nothing more than tools – that my own servitude, in the end, was nothing more than by some other deity’s design.

  Desperate and lost and needing things to make sense, I said, “Not everything has been decided.”

  “Everything,” Lucifer said, his voice grating. “From large things to small, everything has already been set in stone. We simply don’t know how to read the runes.”

  “You’re wrong,” I insisted. “Even ones such as you and I, beholden as we are to our deities, even we have choices!”

  He closed his eyes and, when he sighed, I felt my heart breaking. “But we don’t, Lady Fury. Humans have free will. You and I? We have only duty.”

  With those words, I suddenly knew how to prove him wrong.

  “Not everything has been previously planned,” I said firmly, reaching over to touch his hand. “Sometimes, things just happen.”

  “For a reason,” he whispered, his voice tight. “Always for a reason.”

  “You’re wrong, Lucifer. Let me show you.” And with that, I kissed him.

  At first, it was just my lips pressing against his, skin on skin, as I opened my mouth and swallowed the sound of his surprise. He stood there as I kissed him, unresponsive, unyielding … but neither did he push me away.

  So rigid, Lord Archangel. My kiss is not deadly, I swear. Loosen yourself to me. Allow my heat to thaw your heart, my body to soothe your mind.

  Let me in.

  As if he’d heard my plea, he opened his mouth to mine, and now it was Lucifer who was kissing me, teasing a soft moan from my lips. He kissed me, and my body hummed from his touch. He kissed me, and my eyes slipped closed as he wrapped his strong arms around my back and embraced me. Lucifer Morningstar kissed me, and the world held its breath.

  All too soon, he feathered smaller kisses on my mouth, then pulled away. I opened my eyes to see him searching my face, his green eyes darting, seeking answers to questions unasked. At that moment, he wasn’t an archangel with the power to destroy most of Creation, nor was he a king with the burden of ruling.

  He was a man, one who had lost his faith.

  “Why?” he said, his voice rough.

  “Because, as you said, we are cut from the same cloth.” I stroked his cheek, tracing the outline of his chiselled jaw. “Because you are lonely, here in your underworld kingdom, and I am trapped in my Greek prison.” I trailed my hand down his neck, softly brushing my fingertips over his skin. “Because I want to fee
l a connection to someone who understands me, who isn’t afraid of me. Someone who sees me as a woman, not a Fury.” Now both of my hands were on his shoulders, my fingers gently rubbing. “Do you?” I murmured. “See me as a woman?”

  “Oh yes,” he said. “By Sin and Salvation, yes.”

  And then he was kissing me again, and again, more passionate now, his mouth sealed on mine as he pulled me close. His tongue nudged between my lips, exploring, finding mine and coaxing it to dance. They rolled in slow circles as our mouths worked, and I delighted in the taste of him – heat and spice, as heady as mulled wine.

  Yes, Lucifer. Yes. Inebriate me.

  I trapped his head in my hands, threading my fingers through his hair, that glorious, thick hair. As we kissed I held him, pinned, even as his hands flowed down my back like water. More, I needed more of him. I sucked his lower lip, plumping it with my passion, then left his mouth to kiss the shape of his jaw, slowly, deliberately. I feasted on his ear lobe, using my lips and tongue and teeth to tell him without words how much I wanted him.

  No plan, Lucifer. No reason other than a man and a woman wanting one another.

  No reason other than because.

  His hands skimmed my sides, whispered over the outer curves of my breasts, up over my arms. And then, with an animal growl, he captured my hands and turned me around, crushing my back against his torso. My fingers laced in his, he moved our arms down until they crossed over my chest.

  His mouth by my ear; his voice playing along my skin. “Shall we love each other before all of Hell? Or does my lady prefer privacy?”

  My voice husky, I said, “Whatn amy lord desires.”

  “I desire you.” He kissed my neck, the slope of my shoulder, darting his tongue to lap at my skin. Dizzy with need, I closed my eyes and leaned against him. “Tell me where we should go,” he said between kisses. “The sky? The earth? The moon? Tell me what you want, and it shall be.”