This again. Mom had no problem bonding with them, but it doesn’t sit well with me. Not anymore. Not after everything I’ve been through.
“If I let you bond with me, you will become me. You’ll lose your independence.”
Just like it happened with my other bonded creature.
No, Master. We will become one. My thoughts will be yours and vice versa. Please, allow me the honor. But be quick. We don’t have much time before she becomes too hot even for me.
I close my eyes in the storm of her screams and take a deep breath.
“Okay.Do it. Bond with me.”
A wave ripples through me, like new life breathing into me and filling my lungs with more air, my muscles with more strength, my body with more heat.
“We are one.” I swing my tail back in front of me.
I don’t have time to test the theory. I just stab Lilith in the heart and watch as my sharp tail goes right through her.
Her screams come to a sharp stop. Her limbs relax around me and her wings stop beating. I put my hand on the small of her back and hold her before she falls.
I fly us down to Lucian, who collapses to his knees when I lay her down between us.
Of all the people who’ve stood between us, for some reason, this one hurts the most. She may be unhinged, delusional, but…she did it all for love.
“I’m sorry,” I say. I’m not sure to whom. Lucian or Lilith.
Lucian cups my cheek and swallows.
“My love,” he says. “She wouldn’t have stopped. Once we shed our disguise, once we reveal our true form, all reason abandons us.”
I blink.
“You…you mean this is not your true form?”
Lucian shakes his head.
Wow. Just when I think I know everything about him, I discover something new.
He drops his hand to his ex-wife, to that bare flesh and the lava that has turned to ash and stone.
“Oh, Lilith, you stupid woman.”
He looks at her with a hardened expression, the only sign of grief hiding in his dark eyes.
I know he said he hasn’t loved her for centuries, but it can’t be easy seeing someone you used to love perish in madness.
“I wish…I wish there was something we could do. Like, give her another chance.”
Lucian looks up at me and purses his lips.
“There isn’t, darling boy. Lilith chose this. She let this happen to her. There are no second chances for demons.”
I nod, but I’m still sad. Of all the lives I’ve taken, this is the only one I regret.
“Come on, Yu-jin. Let’s go home.” He lets go of Lilith and lifts his hands.
I crush the chains in my hands in my big hands, and when he’s free, he grabs my face.
“You’re so…big,” he says, having to move his entire head to look at all of my face.
