Lucifer took hold of the edge of the window and lifted it so he could see her face. Her eye makeup had run, and she wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. Felix sat beside her, an arm around her shoulders as she cried. Lucifer noticed with interest that her room wasn’t stark like his. The walls were clean and painted white. The bed against the wall wasn’t a straw pallet, and it had pillows and blankets. There were books and a quill with paper at a pretty white desk. It was far less formidable than Lucifer’s cell.
He was relieved she hadn’t been thrown in a room with shackles and mold. There was no way she could have handled his cell if the room where they’d confined her already intimidated her that much. He hated seeing her so miserable. She was crying so hard she hiccupped.
Felix patted Abigail’s shoulder, his gesture fatherly and consoling. “Take a couple deep breaths. You can talk when you’re ready.”
Lucifer didn’t think he’d ever seen his brother behave this kindly to anyone before. But then, he hardly knew his brother or any of his siblings. It surprised him he would treat Abigail with such consideration.
Abigail said something unintelligible through her tears.
Felix handed her a handkerchief. “I told you that you weren’t to use that spell unless it was a matter of life or death. Getting a young man to kiss you isn’t life or death. If you can’t use discretion—”
“You don’t understand. It was life or death!” She hastily wiped at her eyes, smearing her makeup more. “I have to convince him to love me. If I don’t, he’ll erase me.”
Lucifer leaned in, uncertain he’d heard her correctly.
“What do you mean?” Felix asked.
“Those books I asked Izzy to steal for me. They explain how soul magic works. We were reading them together. Before Clarissa confiscated them.”
Lucifer’s eyes went wide. She had been the one to steal the books, not Clarissa?
Abigail sniffled and blew her nose. “Lucy will replace my soul with the old Abigail’s because he loves her more than he loves me. But if he just gave me a chance, he might change his mind. He might decide he loves me more.”
The weight of her words pressed in on Lucifer’s shoulders, and he curled in on himself. Her grief broke his heart. Didn’t she know how much he loved her? He wasn’t going to erase her.
“I see.” Felix was silent. “And what if it doesn’t change his mind? What will you try next?”
“I don’t know. I guess then I’ll know he loves her more. I haven’t decided if I’ll let him kill me so he can have the old Abigail.”
Lucifer’s heart clenched in his chest. He wasn’t going to kill her. Did she truly think he would do such a thing to her?
“Abby, don’t you think you’re being a bit melodramatic?” Felix frowned at her. “Lucifer cares about you very much. He isn’t going to kill you.”
“That’s the way it works, though, isn’t it?” She searched Felix’s eyes as if she might see the truth there. “If he puts someone else’s soul inside, it will push out my soul? This body will have these memories, but I won’t be the same person anymore.”
“There are no modern accounts of soul magic,” Felix said, his voice as monotone as a history teacher’s. “Witchkin haven’t practiced this art form for hundreds of years because it’s dangerous. It’s forbidden. Odette and I are the only people who can share our accounts of what the Raven Queen did to us. And our experience is different from yours.”
“Am I wrong? Do you think I won’t die so that she can live?” Abigail asked.
Lucifer regretted not starting this process of planting her soul sooner. If he hadn’t sent Abigail away where time passed more quickly, she wouldn’t have aged as much. Her soul would have remained stunted and unaware of what was happening. She was mature enough that this would be hard for her. Baba had warned him that if he put too much of the missing soul inside her body, and she was already full, he wouldn’t know which would spill out, the new Abigail or the old one.
He didn’t know how to choose one soul over the other or if he even could.
“I don’t know if it works that way.” Felix cleared his throat. “Have you told my brother you don’t want him to replace your soul?”
She wiped at her eyes with the handkerchief. “I told him I didn’t like the old Abigail. I told him I want to be me. I don’t know if he understands.”
She had told him, but Lucifer hadn’t listened. He was listening now.
“It isn’t really his decision. It’s yours. Tell him no.” Felix stroked her back.
Lucifer wished he was the one sitting beside her, listening to her tell him the truth instead of her confiding in his brother. He wanted to be the one hugging her and consoling her.
“I can’t tell him. Not if he wants to be with her. I want him to be happy.” She started to tremble again. “Even if it isn’t with me.”
“Do you think he cares enough about you that he wants you to be happy too?” Felix’s expression remained grim. “If he doesn’t, I hope you will think long and hard about whether he deserves you.”
Lucifer hung his head in shame. He despised himself for his selfishness. He wanted to love this imperfect half-formed version of Abigail, but he didn’t know if he could. She wasn’t the one he had shared all those years with in the Morty Realm, or their past as apprentices.
She leaned her head on Felix’s shoulder. “I just can’t decide what to do. I don’t want to become her, but I know I’ll have to.”
“No. You don’t have to.” He patted her shoulder. “Tonight was an eventful night. You’ve overtaxed yourself. You should rest and have a good think about it in the morning.”
“Are you going to tell Clarissa about what I did?” Abigail asked. “She told me I won’t get to help in the kitchen anymore if I keep making mischief. But I wasn’t making mischief. I only enchanted Lucy’s cake for a good reason.”
“I understand your intentions, but that doesn’t mean Trevor will be sympathetic, nor any of the other cooks.” His voice was surprisingly gentle. “Think how much worse it’s going to be if your mentors tell Clarissa. Would you rather they were the first to inform her about your behavior?”
She groaned. “You’re going to tell me I should confess, aren’t you?”
Felix stood. “You know me too well.” He left Abigail and strode closer to the window Lucifer was using to spy.
Lucifer flinched back, afraid he’d been caught. He attempted to withdraw his hold on the spell, but the window didn’t close.
Felix waved a hand in front of Lucifer’s window. The disk of space for viewing expanded. He grimaced at Lucifer, reached through the space between them, and seized Lucifer by the collar. He yanked Lucifer to his feet and pulled him through the window.
Magic tingled across Lucifer’s skin as he stumbled into Abigail’s cell. Lucifer hadn’t known the scrying spell could be transformed into a portal.
“Come along.” Felix shook his head at his brother. “You both will reap the rewards of your actions tonight.”
Felix escorted them out of the dungeon up to Abigail’s room, the guards trailing behind.
The hallway was familiar, mirrors and decadent paintings lining the walls. Lucifer recognized it from before when he’d gone to intercept Godric. Felix knocked softly on a door and opened it without waiting for a reply.
Lucifer followed, surprised to find himself in a nursery. The room was dim, whimsical shapes of animals cast onto the wall from glowing lanterns tucked into corners. A dozen babies sleeping in cribs and bassinets lined the wall, an adult bed on the far side.
Izzy sat in a cushioned rocking chair in the corner, holding her baby. She was seated on Godric’s lap, his arms wrapped around her waist. Her eyes went wide as she saw Felix. She attempted to slide off Godric’s lap, but he was seated on her skirt. The smile on Godric’s face faded as he took in the sight of them.
Lucifer stared in surprise. Abigail had said Izzy was the reason Godric h
ad wanted Abby to show him to her room, but he hadn’t imagined a romantic involvement between them.
“Mr. Tinaalto,” Felix said with a long-suffering sigh.
“Your Majesty.” Godric’s voice came out a squeak. The top three buttons of his doublet were unfastened.
Lucifer tried not to laugh at the other man’s mortification. Godric fumbled to his feet, holding on to Izzy as he evacuated her from his lap. He stepped to the side and attempted a belated bow. A blush crept over his face.
Izzy curtsied, looking noble and dignified despite her plain attire.
Lucifer suspected from the way they’d been cuddled up close they’d made up. It didn’t surprise him that Godric, with all his rakish charm and aristocratic manners, had wheedled Izzy into his embrace. Lucifer didn’t mind finding Godric having successfully infiltrated the room, so long as it wasn’t Abigail he was interested in embracing.
Felix crossed his arms, surveying the room. “Where is the other nurse?”
Izzy’s voice was small, nervous. “I sent her away to get a piece of cake from the party.”
“Did you? How convenient. For you.” Felix’s quiet monotone made him seem more formidable than a man who might have blustered. “There is a reason we have a rule set in place that this room should be attended by no less than two nurses at once. Perhaps you would disregard this rule for your safety, but I am disappointed you would put your charges’ welfare in jeopardy.”
“Godric was here.” She stared imploringly into Felix’s face. “I thought it would be all right. He wouldn’t let anything bad happen to the children.” She bit her lip. A question in her eyes. “Or me.”
Godric lifted his gaze from the floor to stare into her face. Lucifer felt the connection between them, pain like a stitch in each of their hearts drawing them together. Yet there was anguish in that thread as it pulled them apart, the distance between them more than physical. Godric gazed at Izzy with such tenderness in his eyes, Lucifer didn’t know how he had mistaken it before.
Godric had grinned and laughed with Abigail earlier, but he hadn’t looked at her like this. He’d been friendly, but that was apparently all there was between them. All those times he’d come calling had nothing to do with Abigail—except perhaps as a friend.
Godric was in love with Izzy. From the way she returned his adoring gaze with her own, she was in love as well. Lucifer didn’t know if the Fae who ruled Godric’s family knew Izzy had been offered amnesty at the Raven Court’s castle—or what they might do if she left the Raven Court’s keeping.
“Perhaps you forget yourself, Isibeal,” Felix said in a cool monotone. “The Tinaaltos are under the rule of the Verde Court. You put Godric in a precarious position to expect him to protect you from his sovereign.” Felix turned his formidable stare on Godric. “And you put this young woman, her baby, and all these children in jeopardy by coming to this room tonight. Should a member of your family seek out where you have gone off to, should your lord and sovereign deign to use magic to find you, Prince Mixcoatl will find you with his former mistress.”
Izzy’s former lover was here at the party? The man who had beaten her nearly to death, thinking she had cheated on him? Why had they invited that monster? This party was supposed to be for allies, not enemies.
“Your actions disappoint me,” Felix said with the authority of a king. “I can only hope you realize the foolishness of your choices.”
Izzy hung her head in shame. Lucifer had forgotten how young she was, not much older than Abigail in body. She was bound to make errors of judgment.
Tears filled Godric’s eyes. “I do understand my mistakes. I’m sorry.”
Lucifer turned away, unable to watch his brother shame them. Even if they both deserved it for their foolishness.
One of the baby’s murmured. Abigail went over to the cradle and placed her hand on the baby’s back, stroking a girl no older than a year old. Lucifer edged closer to her, pretending not to listen to his brother.
Felix lowered his voice. “Mr. Tinaalto, go to the party and join your family. Your presence here is not needed. Do not return again tonight. Do not write to Izzy, and do not attempt to contact her until King Elric has forged an alliance with the Verde Court. Am I clear?”
Godric bowed. “Yes, Your Majesty.” He silently slipped out of the room.
Izzy held her baby, bouncing Lucille as she avoided her king’s gaze.
Felix rounded on Lucifer, his expression just as grim. “As for you, dear brother, you’re under house arrest.”
“What does that mean?” Lucifer asked. He supposed he wasn’t out of trouble for his treasonous behavior yet. Felix hadn’t told him what his punishment would be or when they would try him for plotting against a guest and the queen.
Felix exchanged his somber expression for a forced smile. “You are not to leave Abigail’s room until you have sorted out your affairs between the two of you, or I’ve come to fetch you to deal with you myself. Do I make myself clear?”
Defiance swelled in Lucifer. He didn’t need to listen to his older brother. Just because he was king. And had guards. And was probably right that they needed to sort things out.
“Baba expects me to be back before dawn,” Lucifer said. “She has a patient I’m supposed to assist with.”
“Very well,” Felix said. “I’ll send you home in a carriage at dawn. Stay here until that time or when I fetch you.”
Lucifer waited for a verdict on his treason.
Felix turned to Abigail, some of the harshness in his eyes leaving. “Would you like me to send a maid up to assist you in undressing?”
“I’m fine. Lucy can help me.” She smiled brightly. “He’s helped me undress before.”
Lucifer’s face flushed with embarrassment that she would speak so openly about his apparent readiness to assist her out of her clothes. He’d only done so before when Kelsie hadn’t been available to help her.
Izzy looked as though she was trying not to smile.
Felix tilted his head to the side, eyeing Lucifer with disapproval. “Be that as it may, perhaps Izzy would be a more adequate choice.”
Felix left, but guards remained posted outside the door. Lucifer supposed he was under arrest. Not that he thought guards could keep him locked in with the spells Baba had taught him for transportation. Then again, that would take energy he didn’t have at the moment.
Izzy placed the baby in Lucifer’s arms and showed him to the rocking chair in the corner. Abigail glanced over her shoulder at him as Izzy dragged her into an adjoining room. It had been months since he’d seen Izzy’s baby, but he could tell this was Lucille from her dark hair and gray-green eyes like her mother’s.
The baby slept against Lucifer’s shoulder, comfortable and content. The enjoyment of holding a creature so fragile and trusting warmed Lucifer’s affinity. This pleasure wasn’t like the smoldering passion that refueled his affinity quickly. It was closer to the same level of recharging that came from taking a hot bath. The simple comfort of cuddling with a baby filled him slowly, like raindrops falling on his skin rather than being submerged in a river. Lucifer closed his eyes and sank into the sensation, absorbing what he could.
His awareness was so attuned to every living creature nearby he sensed the contentment in the other babies while they slept. He felt Abigail’s relief as Izzy removed her corset. Part of him wished he’d been the one to free her of its confines. Another part of him was glad he wasn’t.
A baby stirred in his bassinet, drawing Lucifer’s attention. He shifted Lucille onto one shoulder and picked up the boy about to wake. He stroked the baby boy’s back and rocked them both. If holding one baby had started to ease away the emptiness of his depleted affinity, two doubled the joyful warmth suffusing him.
He hadn’t known babies had such an effect on him. Lucifer had powered himself with the pleasure of a hot bath, massage, and physical gratification earlier that day. If he’d known cuddling cute babies could have
worked, he would have tried it sooner.
When Izzy returned, she found him holding three babies. Abigail leaned down to kiss one on the cheek. He smelled soap on her, fresh and clean. Her freckles were less hidden under the powders of makeup. She looked more like herself this way.
She was dressed in a simple white nightgown, not so different from the old-fashioned style she’d worn at Baba’s, though she wore a long-sleeved housecoat over it with enough layers of lace and ruffles that it would be impractical anywhere but a castle. The pink rose blossoms on the fabric suited her complexion.
Izzy shook her head at him, trying not to laugh as she eyed the babies Lucifer had piled himself under. “Are you going to tell me babies are your affinity?”
“I might,” he said with a wink. If he hadn’t known his affinity was pleasure—if he had never experienced carnal ecstasy—he might have thought cuddling with babies would be enough.
Izzy took Lucille from him and set her in a cradle. Abigail took another. Lucifer reluctantly gave up the last baby, the comfortable warmth leaving him. He wanted to draw someone—anyone—back into his arms to replace the emptiness of his hungry affinity, but he supposed that was less than appropriate.
It was even less appropriate that Izzy and Abigail started on the buttons of his fitted sleeves.
“Ladies. . . .” He tried to keep his voice quiet, neutral, before every fantasy that was starting to fill his brain leaked into his voice. “What are you doing?”
“If you aren’t going to have a valet assist you, it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to free yourself of these clothes.” Izzy grinned at him. “I bet you’d rip your trousers bending over to unlace those boots.”
“Probably.” He hadn’t been able to remove any of his attire even to nap.
Abigail left his sleeve and started at the laces of his boot. It was such a relief for the tight leather to loosen that he sighed. He wiggled his foot free, welcoming the cool air as he kicked off his stockings. Abigail rubbed his foot, and he sank into the chair, a purr sounding low in his throat. She giggled.
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