Page 126 of Like Grim Death: Part One
I tilt my head to look up at him. He’s distracted by Rain, and a real, genuine smile spreads on his face as he looks at his son.
Rain coos, reaching his chubby hand out to my husband, and Lucifer lets him hook two little fingers around Luce’s own pale index finger.
My heart threatens to burst through my chest.
“Halloween?” I repeat, trying to stay focused. I glance at Sevryn. He’s still staring at the floor, silent. I’m doing my best to hold onto the wisps of my nightmare but the longer I’m awake, the more they fade. “Why? He’slivinghere?”
Lucifer cuts his eyes to me, still letting Rainy hold onto his finger. “I don’t want it either,” he growls. “I don’t have a choice.” His gaze searches mine.“Wedon’t have a choice.”
“Trust that he means that.” Maverick says those words.
I don’t look away from Lucifer as I arch a brow.
Luce reaches for Rainy, and I let him take him, missing the warmth instantly as Lucifer cuddles his son. “Come on,” he says to me, “let’s go downstairs, Lilith.” Then he looks up at Sevryn before he turns to go. “Don’t come out of this room unless you want to die inside this house.” He walks away, expecting I’ll follow.
Mav turns too, but he catches my eye, seeing me rooted to the spot. He shakes his head once. “Leave it the fuck alone, Sid.”
“If he’s in my goddamn house,” I say, my teeth gritted. Even Lucifer stops to listen at the top of the stairs. “I can say whatever the fuck I want to him.”
Lucifer is staring at me, holding Rainy close.
Maverick sighs. “Our father was a fucking whore,” he mutters. Then he glances back at me. “And not the good kind.”
I roll my eyes and fold my arms, then turn, taking a step toward the doorway of Sevryn’s temporary room.
“Lilith,” Lucifer warns me, and I feel Maverick’s eyes burning a hole in the back of my head. But I don’t look away from Sevryn, who is staring up at me, but his head is still bowed between his shoulders.
“Where have you been? All this time?” A brothel in Russia, Mav said he grew up in… but why is he herenow?
Something crosses his face. Something like… a slyness. It’s hard to explain, but he sits up a little straighter, and he’s suddenly staring at me with interest. I think the boys were asking the wrong questions. I think I’m asking the right one.
“You heardMayhem,”he whispers, enunciating our brother’s nickname carefully, but there’s something in his eyes. Something gleaming in the gray, the circle of brown around his irises. It’s as if his answer is laced with a secret. And why is he referring to Mav as “Mayhem”? Why would my brother introduce himself that way to someone who will be so close to us?
“Why are you out now?” I press, ignoring his subtle threat.
He curves a brow, smiling a little. It’s eerie, his smile. “Why not?”
It’s not an answer, and we both know it, but Lucifer calls my name again, at my back, and I think about all the placesIended up. Something softens inside my chest, but I don’t act on it. This man is a stranger. It doesn’t matter if we share blood, it doesn’t matter if we share a fucked-up childhood.
Don’t trust him.
“You fuck with my husband,” I tell him, my voice soft and steady, “or my son…”
Sevryn’s full lips press together and his eyes narrow, surprising me, but I’ve dealt with demons before.
“I promise, I’ll slit your throat.”
Neither of the boys behind me say another word, and Rainy is quiet too.
Sevryn stares at me, not blinking, his hands still clasped together. Then he lifts his head and he holds my gaze as he says, softly in his accented voice, low enough only I can hear, “I’m not interested in either ofthem.”He smiles, an eerie thing.“I’ll keep you safe, Lilith.”
My blood runs cold. My heart threatens to leap out of my chest. The words are so familiar. Were they in the dream?
Regardless, I hear the threat, but I don’t speak.I can play games too.
Maverick grabs my arm and pulls me back, and without taking my eyes off Sevryn, I let him.
When I’m finally forced to turn around, I see my husband staring at me with unadorned love in his eyes—they’re soft and shining and vulnerable—and I wonder if that’s the first time I have ever stood up for him where he could hear me.
