“You… you’re…” Cass sputtered.
Yah smiled. “Yes. I am still an angel, so you were never wrong in your assumption of me,” Yah said to Cass. He then turned to Luce, explaining, “I usually visit all oracles when they’re young to get them used to my presence. Cassius was a pleasure to work with, and I admit to chatting with him far more than most oracles. But then, he is the soulmate of Kushiel, so it really does make sense. What I have to wonder is why he doesn’t seem surprised by your presence,” Yah asked, raising an eyebrow.
Luce merely chuckled. “Caught red handed, my love. I might have paid Cassius a little visit of my own.”
“Well, the two of you can do something for Kushiel then,” Cass demanded, ignoring for now the fact that the devil had justcalled god “my love.” He’d unpack that later when Kushiel was okay.
“He’ll be fine,” Luce reassured Cass, waving his hand. “He’s exhausted, and he’s undergone a lot, but he’ll recover fully. You can sense it through your bond, I’m sure, and you can see his light is still strong as well.”
Cass could, but it helped to hear reassurance. Still, he wasn’t quite sure he trusted Luce.
“Mammon got the idea from you,” Cass accused, pointing the spear at Lucifer.
“Perhaps I should take that,” Yah murmured, and suddenly the spear was gone from Cass’s hands and sitting on the table in front of Yah. “Best not to be brandishing divine weapons about when we’re angry,” Yah added.
Cass huffed, then looked accusingly at Luce again.
The devil had the gall to chuckle. “So feisty! I do love it! Our Kushiel really did need someone just like you!”
Cass stamped his foot, even though he felt immediately stupid after doing it. Banging a spear on the ground had been much more satisfying. “Don’t call him ‘our Kushiel’ when you’re the one who gave Mammon the idea to steal all his souls in the first place!”
Yah looked over at Luce, raising an eyebrow at him.
Luce tilted his head and moved his hands out in a ‘Who, me?’ gesture that only made Cass even angrier.
“Mammon told us all about his plans, and how he’d gone to you andyougave him knowledge of ghosts and holding them on the mortal plane,” Cass declared.
Luce sighed. “Yes. Mammon was getting above himself, which has been an ongoing problem for him in the last few decades. He does have a large legion, and when they see what has become of him… Well, I think the next leader won’t becoming up with any grandiose plans of disrupting the order of the universe. It was a lesson that needed to be learned.”
“I don’t really care about your internal politics,” Cass snapped. “You hurt Kushiel.”
“I did,” Luce affirmed, looking sad at the notion. “But as I said, it was a great hurt, and now Kushiel need not hurt anymore. Redeeming souls from hell was taking a toll on him, and now that has been solved. He need never enter hell again if he chooses not to, although of course he will always be welcome there. He will also find things have improved for him now that he has a soulmate.”
Kushiel moaned lightly, and Cass fell to his knees beside his angel.
“Kushiel?” Cass murmured.
Kushiel blinked up at him and smiled. “We did it?” he asked.
“We did,” Cass agreed, and he couldn’t help the quick peck he gave his angel.
Kushiel kissed him back, and then Cass sat back and helped him into a sitting position on the floor. Kushiel seemed to realize where they were, then, because he gasped when he saw god and the devil, immediately bowing his head.
“Where are we?” he murmured to Cass, his head still bowed.
“Heaven, I think,” Cass answered.
Kushiel lifted his head and stared at Cass. “That can’t be right. We aren’t in heaven.”
“You are,” Luce corrected.
Kushiel looked up at him then. “But… You can’t be here. And I… I feel… I’m fine,” he sputtered.
“Yes, the discomfort should be gone now,” Yah affirmed, smiling softly at Kushiel.
Kushiel finally looked up at Yah, and tears sprang to his eyes.
“Yes, Kushiel. It has been so long since we have seen one another. I have missed you, my child,” Yah said, and Cass thought Yah’s eyes looked a little watery too.
