“While I interrogated the mortals, I also sent a prayer up to call in my own legions. Not knowing what happened to you, I feared it was up to me to find the villain slaughtering your soldiers.”
Diana harrumphed again, but otherwise kept her peace. Lucifer realized that the scenario was improbable, but could work. However, it was beyond convenient that someone had answered Olivier’s prayer so quickly.
Puck pushed Lucifer aside. The little cretin shoved him out of the way to stomp over to Olivier, his fists clenched. He didn’t stop until he was nose-to-nose with the archangel. “That’s not what I heard.”
Olivier smacked Puck in the chest repeatedly. Surprisingly, he didn’t strike back... yet. “Then what did you hear? And from whom? For I know what I said, did, and will do if you get in my face with false accusations again.”
The wiry little guy lashed out, but his hand was captured in a fierce grip a sliver away from Olivier’s nose. Who held him back was the surprise, for it was Diana’s slender hand wrapped around Puck’s wrist.
“That’s enough. Let the angel speak. He will dig his own hole, or he will vindicate himself.” Her gaze slid to Olivier. “And what is it that you learned from the mortals?”
With her nod, he continued, all the while jeering at her and her companion. “They had found a pile of severed angel wings near the entrance to the majestic mountain in the east, the one that rumbles and spews forth fire and ash.”
“And...” she prodded.
“That’s when I prayed for Elias to hear me, and he came. Just him. Because an official order had not been issued, the other generals were reluctant to venture troops this far on what could only be translated as a hunch from Elias. Once he was aware of the situation, he raced back to inform the others. I suspect they have arrived, or will be soon if Puck”—venom dripped from his lips on the name—“ran into one of my soldiers.”
“Bad news then, because there was only the one and I overheard him directing the mortals to hunt for us, and if found... to kill us on sight.” Puck cranked his head at an awkward angle to peer behind him at Lucifer. His beady eyes twinkled. “Now why would he do that?”
“Why don’t you ask him, because I do not know? I would never give that order.” Olivier growled.
“Oops!” Puck jumped, placing one hand over his mouth. “Too late. Elias, or whoever he was, is no longer with us.”
Like a bolt of lightning from Zeus himself, Olivier lunged for Puck but was restrained by Balfour. Damn that little weird creature! He wasn’t helping.
With no one to back up his story, Lucifer had no proof against Olivier. He would have to rule in favor of the archangel, angering Diana and potentially allowing the guilty to roam free if his brother was indeed lying.
“What about the others? The mortals?” Lucifer prayed someone had been left alive to corroborate the story, regardless of what was factual.
Puck shook his head and Diana heaved an exasperated sigh before rolling her eyes to the heavens. The soldier restraining Olivier released him, stepping away to avoid the carnage, should another fight erupt.
Swallowing his own frustrations, Lucifer stepped between the two men—if Puck could be called that. At this point, it was doubtful the red-eyed creature was anywhere close to being in that classification. His arms swung out to keep them as far apart as he could manage.
“Without further proof of wrongdoing, we can only guess at the truth without witnesses. Since Puck made that impossible, I will accept Olivier’s recounting. But”—he stared down Olivier with all the menace he could conjure as the other angel had made to lunge for Puck—“considering your implied slander against his mistress, we will forgo any retaliation and focus on our mission.”
“Fine.” Olivier scoffed. “But you and I, brother, will need to discuss things before this whole thing is over. Or I will be forced to do something that I—in the deepest depths of my soul—do not wish to do.” He stomped away.
Yes, Lucifer couldn’t hide from the truth of what had passed between him and Diana. At the time, he’d told himself whatever he needed to in order to justify his rebellion from angelic law. It was strange to realize how easy it was for him to justify his own behavior in the moment when in hindsight it was clear he’d been fooling himself. He’d have to pay the price.
But first, he had a demon prince to catch and crucify.
Chapter 31
Enemy Within
It took all of Diana’s willpower not to launch herself at the smug Olivier. He knew. Obviously, he knew the truth. It was hard to disguise at this point that something was indeed wrong with the Archangel of Light.
The change wasn’t just in his appearance, though. For an angel, he now exuded what she’d always been taught were not virtues of the divine—wrath being the most noticeable. But Lucifer’s brother in arms had chosen to make believe that whatever it was Olivier thought he knew should be a disgraceful secret.
With Lucifer’s face drawn down in a scowl and his inability to meet her stare, Olivier’s shaming had its intended effect.
Well, she was a damn goddess! She was not about to be looked down on as a simple harlot to be cast aside. None of her family would allow it. They actually glorified in all their illicit affairs and wore them like badges of honor.
You’re supposed to be the virgin goddess of the hunt and childbirth, you slut!
Diana shoved the little mean voice inside her head down until it was drowned out.
If the angels had a separate set of standards... then let the self-righteous bastards flog themselves, because that was their own problem. Not hers.
