Page 119 of Not Today, Satan
After landing beside the throne room, Nate hops out of the vehicle and offers to help me down. My legs shake, but I nudge him away and step onto the granite floors of my home.
Nate winces as we enter the throne room and he takes in the blue blood on the stairs and floor. Luckily, Diripo’s body has already been moved by the souldiers. I clench my stomach. I’m not sure I could bring myself to look at it again.
Nate gives a low whistle. “You said you were ready to fight for your place, and you meant it. You’ve earned this.”
The gem blinks under the lights as I slide it off my finger and take a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
He plants a kiss on my cheek. “Go get ’em, Dev.”
I drag the elastic from my hair and shake the locks free around my shoulders before heading up the aisle.
Since my blood hasn’t quite dried on the stairs yet, I stoop to coat the ring with it before standing beside the throne. It only takes me a moment of inspecting the chair to find the small, empty, heart-shaped spot on the underside of the armrest. My mother’s ring slides in effortlessly. I stand back, unsure what will happen.
The throne hums and buzzes.
A light breaks from the center.
When it dissipates, the chair’s shrunk to my size. It glitters the same colors as the ring when it had been coated in my blood. The colors that make up who I am. Blue as the deepest seas that curve against the sand, red as a river of blood pulsing from a heart that beats for another, golden like the halo my mother once wore and gave up so I could live.
I face Nate, who nods before folding into a low bow. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes, and everything that’s brought me here washes over me like the ocean I’ve come to love instead of fear.
I’m not sure if I’ll ever see my father again, but I know I’ll see my mom soon.
And Nate, since he’s too stubborn to stay away too long. They’ll keep me humble and remind me of the person I want to be. They’ll be my salvation from all this damnation.
In the meantime, there’s work to be done and a broken system to repair. And I’m the being to fix it. I know that now.
I open my eyes, release my breath, and lower myself onto my throne.
Epilogue
It takes months to clean up Ferus’s mess.
I barely sleep as I split my time between correcting judgments and visiting L.A.
Nate’s doing well as a film major in college, according to my mom, who also insists on handing me textbooks from her school I’ll never read. Down here, I use them for kindling when I’m out rebuilding Father’s ice castle.
I’ve finished my last judgment of the day and am ready to go back to my quarters to enjoy a bloodwine and another Sherlock Holmes book my mother gifted me when Attero barges in.
“Sorry, Devica,” he says, almost stooping to a bow before seeing my raised eyebrows and straightening himself. “I know it’s end of day, but you have one last visitor, and he seems kind of frantic. He almost crashed one of your chariots getting here.”
I stand and stretch my wings behind me. Well, one wing and one stump with a handful of feathers that only started growing recently. “Atty, I’m really tired. Can’t this reckless driver wait till tomorrow?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Fine. Show him in. But this better be quick.” I slouch in my chair, already calculating how many pages I’m missing out on reading now.
I straighten when Nate charges into the room.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, glancing at the newly empty gem slot in my chair and the scar on my hand from slicing it open to coat the ruby in blood. “I told you that ring is only for emergencies. Don’t make me regret giving it to you.”
He runs up the aisle, panting. “This is an emergency, Dev. It’s… It’s not good.”
I stand and make my way down the stairs before taking his hands in mine. My heart thumps as I take in the worried look on his face. Nate’s not a worried-face kind of guy. “What happened?”
“It’s your mom.” His eyes are darker than usual, whirlpools of trouble in the ocean. His body visibly trembles, and his hands are damp in mine.
I take in a shaky breath. “Is she okay?”
