Xera slowly turns her head to look at me, her eyes are blown out and staring right at me.
I swallow, and smirk.
Her lips part in the center just before they curl into a smile.
As her fist collides with Tali’s cheek, she sends her flying across the street, slamming into a car and leaving an imprint in it.
“You will never command me again, and the only one dying today, isyou.”
Chapter 58
Xeraphine
“One last promise, Alaric,” I say, staring up at him. “You’ll take care of Sydni if something ever happens to me.”
He takes a deep breath. “Nothing is going to happen to you.”
“If… I said, and you have to do that stupid Divine swear bullshit. She deserves the world, and I feel I’ve taken that from her. See to it that she gets it.”
It doesn’t take more than a second for him to nod. “I swear on the binds of my wing, I’ll protect her.”
I have no idea what that does, but I’ll hunt his ass from the Beyond if he doesn’t fulfil his promise to me.
The moment I reach out for his hand, ready for him to take us back to the mortal world, my shoulder is gently tugged. I turn my head, and when I do, I see Proserpina standing there, her fingers holding me steady.
I narrow my eyes. “Yes?”
“Before you go…” Proserpina turns her head to Alaric. “I’d like to speak with Xeraphine in private for a moment.”
I look to the Fallen, and with a weary nod, he steps back into the lobby we had just exited. My eyes lock onto hers, and she takes in a deep, longing breath before speaking.
“I love him, my husband.”
People don’t realize how hard it is for me not to make a snarky remark every time someone says some dumb-ass shit. It takes everything for me to keep from saying ‘You mean you love your father?’, it physically makes me sick. I want to say it, pull that thread of being an asshole, but I steady myself. Proserpina has seemingly been on my side, and I don’t want to jeopardize what she’s already promised me.
“But…” she continues. “I don’t agree with how our kind is handled. To me, what your mother is doing is unforgivable.”
“Why can’t you just take her? Since she’s doing ‘unforgivable’ things.” I look at the door behind her. “Belial did it with Lucifer, took him…” Honestly, I don’t know that to be the case, but I’m playing a role here. “And he wasn’t doing shit up there but living.”
“That is vastly different. Lucifer is our direct son, and when he was summoned, it was…” She sighs. “Xeraphine, this is different. Balance and control. If we, just like the Gods themselves, snatched back our creations because they did what we do not deem as moral or aligned with what we want, that world would not exist.”
I choose to argue. “But she would destroy that world if left unchecked. If I didn’t want to fight…”
That gets a smile out of her. “Exactly. Balance. You think you were created with the heart of a fighter for nothing?”
“I don’t want to fight,” I murmur. “Ihaveto. There is a difference. I had no choice.”
“Most don’t. Mal didn’t want to fight his son in the war nearly two thousand years ago.” I release a ‘pfft’, not really wanting a history lesson. “He killed him because if he hadn’t, your world would be worse than what it is.”
I don’t say anything, because it doesn’t matter the number of times I have to hear it, I didn’t deserve this. Fuck whoever decided this to be my fate.
“That being said… while I can’t take Tali without her damnation or by her own willingness to come to the Beyond, I will give you something.”
My brows furrow as she steps into my space. Her hand reaches for my neck, and I instinctively jerk away. But she cradles it gently, her other arm snaking around my waist to pull me close. This is far too intimate, and once again, the reminder that she’s some distant relative lingers in my mind, making me feel sick.
“W-What are you doing?”
“Did you know that your damnation is attached to your Amoro?” Her fingers grip the back of my neck. My hands raise to her chest, attempting to push her away, but it’s as if my own power is holding me back from actually fighting this.
