Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Liv sat upright and stood. “Well, I guess I was bad at my job then. That’s why the moment was so forgettable. I’m going to find Casey. I’m bored here.”
She turned and walked out.
“I don’t think she remembers, Kelsey.” Evan was staring at the place where Liv had disappeared.
“What do you mean?”
“You know how the demons keep joking about Liv being confused? I think they’re right,” Evan replied.
“At one point in time today, Lucifer called her delusional. What do you think he meant by it?” I’d dealt with too many empaths today. I rather wished I’d dealt with the same aspect of Lucifer the queen had met years before. He wouldn’t have thought I was a threat at all. I worried this version of Lucifer saw me all too clearly. “He said something about finding her delusion amusing. I was really happy he only mentioned family when he talked about the dinner party. If he’d used another word, I might have to bring Liv.”
Evan’s jaw dropped. “There’s a party?”
“Yeah. After you left, Lucifer invited us all to his place, though he didn’t tell us a time. I get the feeling it’s going to be very formal and annoying.” I was still not wearing the meat jewelry. Though I was fond of the Eye of Night. It was beautiful, and it felt warm against my skin now. It felt right to wear it. I found myself touching it unconsciously.
Evan’s brows rose. “Seriously? I’m going to a party in Lucifer Morningstar’s actual realm?”
“Of course not.” I wasn’t about to let her go to Lucifer’s realm. Her parents hadn’t been happy about her coming to a realm where Gray ruled. They definitely wouldn’t want her in the heart of the Hell plane.
“Kelsey, of course, I’m going. This is exactly what we need. How else are we going to get onto Lucifer’s section of Hell? We won’t get another shot at this,” Evan pointed out. “This feels like luck. Lee luck. He’s always had it. My grandfather used to tell us that he could teach everything but luck. A true thief was simply born with it. This is proof of pure Lee luck. Does he know?”
“Yes, he does. He had the exact same reaction and might have pointed out that this was lucky for us. What isn’t lucky is that Lucifer knows something’s wrong with Dean. From what I understand, Lucifer himself could heal Dean, but for anyone else to they need the feather. Wouldn’t he know that?” I was worried that they were right, and this was our only real shot. But it felt so much like a trap.
“Would he?” Evan asked. “We still don’t know if it will work. I don’t think Lucifer knows every spell and counterspell. He works with witches, but he’s not one. Even if he did, would he honestly think we would be stupid enough to steal from him? Sometimes arrogance is a thief’s friend.”
I put a hand to my belly as though trying to calm my child. But I was the one who needed calming. If there was one thing I’d learned over the years, it was that if something seemed too good to be true, it usually turned out to be something that wanted to eat me. “We have some planning to do. We should be contacted in the next couple of days with the invitation. If Lucifer’s realm works the way ours does, then I don’t see how he won’t immediately know what we’ve done.”
“Unless we distract him,” Evan said quietly. “With something he really wants.”
Gray.
I’d promised I’d never put him in the line of fire again. It looked like I’d lied.
Chapter Ten
Liv
I didn’t bother to knock on the door to the lab. First of all, it’s weird to have a lab hanging around. Like autopsies happen so often down here there has to be a dedicated space for them. I understood that at the Council House. It’s big and kind of a contained community, but this was a mansion occupied by tenants who weren’t here most of the time. And honestly, I would think Hell lords wouldn’t be that concerned with cause of death.
Coven House. Not Council House.
I lived in the Coven House for years and years longer than I was at the Council House. Shouldn’t I refer to it in my head as Coven House? To even think something else is treasonous.
Of course, when it was a Council House, thought wasn’t treason. Critique wasn’t treason.
I stood in that cool, oddly modern hallway, questions running through my head.
How had we gone from electing our council members to not having a council at all? Donovan called himself the king, but he always took the advice of his elected representatives. There was no witches’ council. We were considered the strongest women in the supernatural world, but we had no say over our own government.