“Was?” The question left my lips before I could temper it.
The hair at Lucifer’s temples began to darken, and Seraphine shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Bedlam, Ruin, and Tumult took larger bites as if now rushing through their meals.
“Dinner first.” Lucifer cut into the meat, tightening his grip on the knife, his movements growing aggressive.
Cinder tensed beside me, obviously aware of the shift, and she rested her hand on my thigh, tapping her index finger against my pants. I laid my hand atop hers, silently acknowledging the imminent danger.
Lucifer took a deep breath, and the darkness spreading through his hair stilled, leaving it dappled with black and blond. We ate in silence, though my appetite had diminished greatly, and the final course, a sweet blood pudding with a raspberry and turnip reduction, sat heavy in my stomach like a lump of basalt.
With the dishes cleared from the table, Lucifer leaned forward, folding his arms on the surface. “Tell me, Discord, how this situation came to be.”
I straightened, casting Cinder a warning look to remain quiet before I began. “A powerful witch summoned Chaos, Mayhem, and me over four centuries ago. She promised her soul and that of her firstborn in exchange for cursing the Holland bloodline. We agreed, but her power was greater than we could have imagined.”
Tumult chuckled, and Ruin rolled his eyes. Seraphine narrowed hers, clearly unamused by their dismissal of a witch’s magic.
“She stole Hecate’s amulet from me and vanquished us all to the dark prison,” I continued. “There I remained until Cinder located my skull and summoned me.”
He cut his gaze between the two of us, his silence making my muscles crawl beneath my skin. “Hecate left my court because of your misdeed.” His hair turned solid black, taking all hope of parting as friends with it. “She left me.”
“It was never my intention to?—”
He held up his hand, stopping my apology. “No one has seen nor heard from her in centuries. I fished through the pool of damned souls for a witch strong enough to fill her shoes, but Hecate isn’t only a witch. She’s a goddess. Seraphine was the best I could find.” He waved at her dismissively, and she tensed.
Leaning back in his chair, he rested his hands on the arms, his jaw moving slightly from side to side as he chose his words. “I helped Hecate forge that amulet. It was a symbol of our partnership, our union. I was in the doghouse for a decade when I lost it to you in that ill-fated bet. She saw it as a betrayal, and she never fully forgave me. Then, you lost it to a mortal witch.”
I remained silent, staring straight ahead at Ruin’s smug expression. Lucifer spoke the truth, and no amount of groveling would change the outcome of what I’d done.
“Tell me, Cinder,” he said. “When you presented your bargain—a prince in exchange for three witches—were you aware of the shame he has brought to my court?”
She swallowed hard. “I knew why he was imprisoned. He didn’t mention the part about Hecate or the amulet.”
“I see.” His jaw tensed. “So you believed I would be overjoyed at his return and would grant you and your parents safe passage to return to the earthly realm, despite the fact your parents sold their souls to the entity they summoned.”
“Something like that.” She forced a dry laugh. “To be fair, the demon they summoned didn’t hold up his end of the bargain. He was supposed to deliver the princes before he dragged them to Hell.”
Lucifer steepled his fingers. “I’m afraid my sense of fairness ran out when Hecate left me.”
He studied her for a moment before shifting his attention to me. “Cinder didn’t sell you her soul.”
I ground my teeth. “She did not.”
“It baffles me, truly, why you would bring an unclaimed mortal soul into our realm while leaving your brothers and the amulet behind. Unless…” He held up a finger. “Unless you’ve brought her to me as an offering. I sense her power is great, and with fire as her element… Well, you know how I love it when things get heated.”
“She is not an offering.” My hands curled into fists, and I leaned toward him, fighting to remain in my seat. The blood bond Cinder had created grew stronger with each passing second, making me more and more possessive of her. The thought of Lucifer…of anyone…touching her filled me with murderous rage.
“If you allow her safe passage home, she will find Chaos, Mayhem, and your precious amulet and return them to you.”
Lucifer chuckled. Then he laughed heartily. “Your brothers are nearly as imprudent as you. They deserve their fate.”
He drummed his fingers together. “Tell me, Discord. Do you take me for a fool?”
The bitter taste of bile crept up the back of my throat. “Of course not.”
“Nor did I you.” He folded his arms on the table, leaning forward once more, his voice growing deeper, more menacing. “You didn’t bring her here willingly to bargain with me. She forged a blood bond and forced you to. Did you truly think you could hide that from me with a strip of fabric? I felt it the moment I summoned you.”
Lucifer shot to his feet, his chair scraping across the stone floor as he stood. “You, Discord, have brought shame upon my palace yet again.”
Cinder gripped my thigh, her nails digging into my muscles as my heart sprinted in my chest. I pried from her grasp and rose to look him in the eyes.
