Page 49 of Oracle
Is he actually taking some of the blame for her death?
Swallowing harshly, I prayed that he couldn’t sense my inner turmoil or racing heartbeat. Weakly, I argued, “No, Master. It wasn’t your fault.”
His thumb began to stroke my jawline slightly. “She had white hair like you,” he admitted as he dropped his hand from my skin and moved to rub strands of my hair between his fingers. “Wavy and long enough that the tips brushed across the top of her ass. Of course her body was exquisite, a truly divine creature. But that wasn’t what I coveted about her.”
He must die, Kira.
I didn’t respond. I couldn’t have explained why I felt it so important to listen, other than the simple fact that I knew he had no one to speak like this so openly to. As Satan, there was an expectation of him to be this brutal demon king that had no weakness. I had expected it of him this entire time.
It was the opposite expectation of me, and yet I knew how heavy my own weighed on me. To do the right thing always, no matter the cost to myself.
Biting the tip of my tongue to stop myself from asking him questions, I focused on my steady breaths, waiting for him to continue. He didn’t leave me waiting for long, but I struggled to stay still as his hand found my neck and trailed down slowly to rest over my heart.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
“It was her gentle heart that was such an enigma to me that I became fascinated with understanding her. She was a beacon of light in the midst of all of the darkness that came with living in Hell,” he admitted softly, his voice cracking slightly as he continued. “And then…then her light was snuffed out. So what else was I to do? I had no reason, no guiding light, no love left to try to understand kindness and empathy like she carried in spades.”
He loved her as fiercely as my men love me.
Send him to the afterlife to be with her. It is the biggest gift you could give him.
Suddenly he pulled back and stood to his full height, reaching for his dagger in its sheath. The hiss of the metal as it was released from its encasing rang through the silent room.
I felt the intensity of his gaze upon me and the tears that threatened to come with the depth of his pain I felt. I couldn’t break. I couldn’t show even a small crack. I focused back on calling all of my light to me, knowing Lux was right. This was what he desperately was searching for this whole time, I think. A way to be with her again and to feel whole.
“I was ruthless and she was my salvation. But maybe demons like me don’t deserve salvation. Maybe all we are meant to be is the savage creatures that everyone else fears.” I saw the hard glint return to his eyes in the brief second I glanced at him as he pulled the dagger to press on the tip of his finger.
Black blood welled up before beginning to fall from his finger, splashing to the stone floor as he tucked his dagger back into its sheath. “Love made me blind and weak. It’s my fault I lost her. I should have never allowed her trips to Earth. But I lived to make her happy,” he admitted in a whispered breath before crouching back down before me.
He pressed his thumb to my lip, silently demanding entrance to drop his blood into my mouth. “Now I live to steal the happiness that was stolen from me.” His words lacked their usual malice, instead sounding tired, like he was failing in holding on to his wrath. His guard was down and the perfect opportunity presented itself, finally.
This ends now.
With a roar, I channeled all of my light and magic into my hand, not giving myself the time to be blinded by it, closing my eyes. I trusted in myself and my gifts. This would work. I would destroy him from the inside as he had done to all of the fallen shifters turned Daimona with his darkness.
“If you know how painful it is to live through the loss of your love, why would you want to put that on others?” I roared. “It’s exactly what your plight has done to me! I will be called away from this life with my mates, leaving them without me as you were, and yet I still fought for the just cause!”
I shoved my fingers straight through his stomach, then opened my eyes and saw his mouth popped open in shock as he blinked furiously, looking down.
Angry, hot tears rolled down my face as I seethed, “My love has allowed me to help change the world for the better. You wanted all of us to feel your misery and pain, despite none of us having been the one to kill her. Our death’s won’t bring her back.”
Spluttering as black blood dribbled from his mouth, he rebutted, pure rage blazing in his ruby eyes, “This was the only way to honor her death!”. He attempted to use his powers then, pushing it around my hand. It was a tangible feeling of dread and anger trying to overwhelm me, licking at my skin, but I doubled down on my own power.
It was as if my power was of the highest heat, allowing my fingers to sink through his flesh until they found the thumping organ within his stomach. Lux had been right. I didn’t need the sword as a weapon to do this. I was the weapon. My love was.
“There is no honor in needing others to suffer alongside you to feel better,” I challenged, eyes narrowing on him as he coughed, his blood splattering on my face.
I would infect him with everything pure in this world. I’d show him that it would always be stronger than hatred. I’d free him from this misconception that he needed others to hurt as he did, in order to bring her death some form of closure.
“That is weakness,” I whispered, “From your own recount of who she was, she stood for peace and love. The only way to honor her is to uphold her values.”
Feeling the thumping of his heart on the tips of my fingers, I latched onto the organ and closed my eyes, swaying as my power slammed through me and directly into him. It was fueled by my heart and everything that resided within it.
My pack.
My mates.
