by Jill Cooper
I took it and kissed his ring.
“May our rule be eternal. Go now.” Lucifer dismissed me and I couldn’t wait another moment to hurry down the stairs. I gazed back at the curtain to make sure it was really closed and when I saw the proof that it was, I breathed a deep sigh of relief.
For a few moments, I would be on my own. So lost in my own relief, when Magenta grabbed my hand, I screamed. “Oh, Magenta,” I sighed and my eyes fluttered closed. “You scared me.”
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, girl. A ghost. Is it him?” Magenta huffed. “That angel? Are you…worried about him?” As always, she glanced around, paranoid. Her voice hushed up like she’d said something horrible. Something crazy.
It was true. I was worried about him. “I’m responsible for him. He put himself in this position for me. A barter, but am I really worth the price?”
Magenta grabbed my elbow and with a quick glance around, pulled me between two buildings. “Pull yourself together.” Her words were sharp. “You’re Amara. Lucifer’s child! You’ve slain more angels than almost anyone. Ruthless and cunning, your whispers have damned human souls to the underworld with a simple suggestion. And now look at you.”
She looked me up and down like I didn’t quite fit the bill. I didn’t understand my feelings for Cathal, but it was clear Magenta was ashamed of me.
“You will stop this cowering, Amara,” Magenta ordered me with a hard edge in her voice. “If you don’t, I fear…” she glimpsed around. “I fear what Lucifer will do to you. He can’t know how you feel about the angel.”
How could she know when even I couldn’t? “I don’t even know why I feel this way about him.”
She snorted. “You’re a fool. Come now, we’ll take you to your room. Before the guards become suspicious. Hurry, hurry!” Magenta checked again, to make sure no guards lingered around. I followed after her and when we approached the palace, I whispered,
“You will check on him, won’t you? Make sure he’s okay. Maybe you can even find a way to let me in to see him?”
“Hell, child,” Magenta muttered and shook her head. “Why I stick my neck out for you time and time again…?”
“You raised me,” I said as I stepped into my room. “I’m practically yours.”
Sadly, she touched my cheek. “I wish that was true, but we can’t speak of such things in your father’s palace. Take a nap. Rest. I’ll be back to change your headdress.” Magenta closed the door behind me and the key locked it shut.
With a laboring sigh, I walked across the room. It took great patience to take my headdress off. There were dozens upon dozens of bobby pins securing it in place. I had little patience left to undress and I pulled the laces fast to loosen my dress. Grunting, I yanked it over my head with a flourish and tossed it to the floor.
Grumbling, I grabbed my purple robe and cinched it around my waist. My hair fell around my shoulders and finally, I relaxed. Be myself, whoever that might be. Since I’d met Cathal, that vision had gotten cloudier and cloudier. Would I have been better off if I’d never met him in the first place?
Possibly. Yes, I’m sure that was true, but did I wish it? No. No matter what, I couldn’t believe that. I was glad we’d met, and glad I took him to hell, but I was ever changed. How could I continue to live with myself?
Gazing out the window, I was surprised to notice my flower’s shimmer was dried up. The outer petals were curled and the tips grew gray. It was dying, but that didn’t make any sense. I was going along with Lucifer’s plan, so why would that be happening?
A sound. A whisper caught my attention. “Who’s there?” My voice boomed into an authorize echo, but if someone was there they didn’t answer. Maybe too afraid to do so.
I strolled to my vanity and picked an angel’s blade without thinking. “Show yourself,” I ordered and swept the blade across the room.
The voice only grew louder and I could make out a woman’s voice. Feminine, but loud, it was equal parts strong.
“Amara…Amara…Amara!” It screamed and my head felt pulsed with a lightening of pain.
I dropped the sword; not surprised to see it had been Cathal’s. What was so special about that blade? There was no way to know, but I couldn’t touch it again. Not without talking to Cathal first. I ran to the other side of the room and pushed my wardrobe slightly to the side.
To reveal a secret passage that I hadn’t used since I was a child. Bending over, I pushed a small door opened. It used to be a hatch I’d used to play hide and seek with dear Magenta. If I could squeeze through, I could find a way to talk to Cathal. See how he was.
It was foolish and stupid, but it was my plan. I needed to see him and I had a feeling he needed to see me too.
****
I waited behind a red pillar for the guards to move on. My hiding spot overlooked the gladiator's arena. Magenta made her way out of their sleeping quarters. I tucked back and pulled the hood over my head. Ducked down, I sank backward into the shadows—obscuring myself from her view.
Magenta strolled with purpose in her quick little steps. Always a step behind and a day late, she always said. Where was she going? Soon, my question was answered as she addressed a guard.
He was beyond the doors and hidden from my view. I could make out his murmur and that was about it, but Magenta's voice rumbled as if she wanted someone else to hear her.
“The angel Cathal is hurt. If attacked tonight he won't survive.” A gap in the conversation went on for a minute as the guard answered.
“He is Amara's choice and if he is not treated fairly, she will fight marrying whomever the chosen champion is! Move him. Allow him to sleep undisturbed in the private guesthouse on Harkening Blvd. I work in Lucifer's court. If my wishes aren't heeded, I'll summon him directly!”
I sighed with relief, but the danger that Magenta was putting herself in, how would I ever thank her?
“Good. I'll see that it's done and observe the transfer. It's only then, that I'll leave you alone for the rest of the night.”
Their footsteps shuffled close and I retreated farther back. Peering out from my hood, I saw the guard walk into the gladiator quarters and Magenta not far behind.
She stopped at the entry way and peered back. My breath caught in my throat.
Magenta shuffled inside, leaving me to wait, holding my breath and praying that Magenta would be successful. If I was patient, I'd get in to see him. Patience was no one's virtue in hell, but I had no choice but to linger.
And to wait.
***
I waited for Magenta to leave the secluded quarters on Harkening Blvd. It was a retreat her family used that only a few closest to her knew about. Would Lucifer? It was a gamble.
A risky gamble.
While she talked to the guard, I snuck around the perimeter and found an open window.
In the stillness of the eve, I climbed inside and fell silently to the ground. Crouched like a tiger, the low lights of flame danced across the candle wicks, surrounding a simple plain bed.
Cathal lay beneath its simple red sheet. He moaned and turned his head, struggling with sleep. He whimpered and his forehead creased. He had a laceration over one eye, and a thick white bandage covered a wound on his side.
I glided my hand across his damp forehead. He had a fever, and it was a bad one. Cathal had not only injuries but an infection. His survival through the night wasn’t guaranteed if he didn’t heal himself.
Why wouldn’t he heal himself? Then it struck me, down here, he couldn’t. He couldn’t, but I…
Could I let him in on my secret? Maybe, if I was fast enough. Quick enough, Cathal would never know. The need to speak with him again flamed, to see the intensity of his eyes, but I was ashamed of this in more than one way.
I rested my palms against his chest. It rose and fell—the sound of each breath, a harmonic symphony. A melody that could melt a heart. The candle threw a shadow at his sleeping face. Confident I could move without him noticing me, I fanned my black
wings and gave them a soft flap.
Stroking the longest black tip along the top, thick gold dust stuck to my hands. I applied it to his brow and to the wound on his side after I peeled back his bandage.
No one knew and no one had ever heard, but in the stillness that existed between us, I hummed. Didn’t mean to, and it didn’t leave my lips so much as it left my soul. A simple tune that went up and down—cresting in harmony, unlike anything I had ever heard in hell.
Cathal’s blue eyes opened, they were dazed but full of splendor. “It is you. I knew from the moment I touched you. I knew.”
He’d seen what I could do.
The blood drained from my face and I tried to move away. Embarrassed. Ashamed. I didn’t want to see the look in his eye for the freak I was.
Demons weren’t supposed to heal. If I could, what did that make me?
But he touched my hand. The caress was soft, there was no malice in his eyes…they were forgiving. I could get lost in those eyes. Drowning in their beauty.
The lacerations on his face faded and his skin tightened as it was lit in a golden glow. Cathal sucked in a breath and arched his back ever so slight as his abdomen shined with a healing aura.
The aura I shouldn’t have. I was demon. Not some sort of…angel. Even the word was dirty and it clawed at my insides.
“I have to go…” I tried to tear myself away from him, but his soft grip tightened.
“There’s so much about you I don’t know, but I know this. You’re not the horror you’ve been forced to become. Who you pretend to be.”
“Who I pretend to be?” My temper increased and I felt a swell of anger I tried to control. “I’m a demon, Cathal. There is no pretending here.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you, but I see your kindness. And I reap its benefits. A tender, sweet soul who, at the hands of Lucifer for one-thousand years, has been hardened. Through fear and threat. The love he wields for you, it has a price, Amara, a horrible one at that.”
I took a shaking breath, but couldn’t admit the truth behind his words. Truly, I saw it. I always knew, he’s Lucifer.
“It’s a burden when it should be an honor, and what I can do…” I swallowed hard. “He can never know. To know would mean…I’ve worked hard to earn his acceptance. I’m better, faster, more deadly than any demon.”
“Yet, he still makes you feel undeserving. Why do you think that is?” Cathal asked.
I couldn’t answer.
Cathal stroked my cheek. “You’ll know the answer soon, Amara. You’ll look on him without his mask. I just hope I’m alive to see it.”
“Be careful in the next gladiator game.” I stood quickly, unable be so close to him again. “You will keep my secret safe?”
Cathal nodded. “With my dying breath and even after that. But Amara, there’s a reason you came.”
I nodded and felt the hot sting of tears in my eyes. “To see you. I needed to. Stupid as it sounds.”
“Not stupid. I wanted to see you too.” Cathal offered me a smile and it was light. It seemed to glow around the edges. He lifted his hands and with delicacy, his fingertips danced across the back of my hand.
Such tenderness, I had never known.
My breath quaked for him.
“Tomorrow. Be careful of Markus. He…He favors his right shoulder after a fight a millennium ago. We regenerate, but a piece of an angel’s blade embedded that spot so deep, it never healed.”
Cathal nodded. “I feel better already. Tomorrow, I’m sure I’ll be okay. Either way, I fight for your honor, Amara. Maybe once it was a game, but now…I want to set you free. I need to.”
I wanted to ask him why, but the words froze in my throat. I made my way over to the window and escaped the same way I’d come.
The guards were making their rounds but didn’t see me. I kept close to the pillars and made it through the entrance by sheer luck. Back at Lucifer’s palace, I snuck in through my secret passage and crept into my room.
Sitting on my bed waiting for me, was Magenta. I guess I wasn’t as off the hook as I thought.
As I took off my robe, she rose. “You have any idea the lies I had to concoct tonight to keep Lucifer at bay? And his guards?” Her shrill voice rose and her hands splayed at her side. When Magenta was mad, my insides tingled.
Right then, I was practically vibrating.
“I’m sorry.” I hung my robe in my wardrobe. My words were true. I was sorry I made her so mad, but I had to do what I had to do.
“Sorry?” Magenta stomped her foot. “The banquet started an hour ago. I had to devise a story to keep Lucifer from checking on you. You have any idea what would happen to either of us if you found out?”
I did and that knowledge made me tremble. For one, I didn’t want to be burned alive or watch Magenta suffer the same fate. “You have no idea how sorry, but I did my part. Did what I had to do.”
“You brought him water?” She cast a suspicious eye at me.
“I healed him.” I bit my lip and watched as Magenta’s face fell.
“You’re a fool Amara if you think he’ll keep our secret! You can’t…”
“I couldn’t watch him die!” I hissed at her and Magenta’s face scrunched up tight. “He’s in the arena because of me.”
Gritting her teeth Magenta struck my cheek. It stung, but I took the abuse. I had never been able to strike her back. “Fools, the both of you. An angel I expect, but you? Be smart, Amara. Imagine what you could do seated by the throne!”
“I’d be his prisoner, more than I am now. My movements would always be under his control. I can’t take that, Magenta. If I’m not free, I rather be dead.”
Magenta huffed and crossed her arms. “You may get your wish before the games are through. The crowds loved a crowned princess, but do you know what they love more?”
I shook my head, unable to look away from the cross look in Magenta’s eye.
“A hanging. Her hanging. Your death might be the biggest party of all in hell.” Magenta handed me a dress. Her voice fell, a cloud of despair filled the space. “Hurry up and get ready, or I might be joining you.”
14: Cathal
In the morning, I slid my armor on without even the slightest twinge. The cut above my eye was gone, except for a red smudge. By all accounts, it was a miraculous healing and that's exactly what it was.
But was Amara ready to hear the truth?
The guards came and ushered me into the gladiator’s quarters where the demons were getting fitted for battle. All eyes turned, but then everyone looked away, except for Vasper.
What a strange little demon. I couldn't wrap my head around him. His eyes were kind and a small smile graced his lips. He knew what I was as surely as I knew him, so why the kindness? If he was nominated for Amara's hand in battle, he must be fierce, but I didn't see it.
After his assistant finished cinching his red and gold armor in the back, he made his way over. “Well,” Vasper looked me up and down, “you look to have made a full recovery.”
I shrugged. “Angel, what can I say?”
Vasper smirked. “But your powers are diminished down here. Even if I wasn’t a friend of the library, I’d know that.”
Library, in hell? So he was a scholar. Well, that explained at least a few things about him.
“I'll let you keep your secret, but—”
But? My eyebrow arched. What could the pretty blond demon want?
Vasper peeked over his shoulder to check and dropped his voice down to a whisper. “We should form an alliance. I watch your back in the arena, you watch mine. If we're going to survive...”
His suggestion made sense, but I found myself awestruck that a demon could be so level headed. “And if we make it to the final two?”
Vasper smirked. “We do what we must, but first we must get there.”
I nodded. It seemed like a good arrangement, even if I did know very little about him. “Forgive me, but you look more like you belong in a human boyband rather than in
the arena.”
Vasper laughed. “You wouldn't be wrong. I'm a softball. An easy target. In hell, everything I am is a disgrace. My own mother would give me up and in fact, she has. But my love of the written word and everything it has to offer…well, some things are worth the price. Does that make sense?”
Solemnly I nodded. “It does. And thank you.”
“I fight because I have to. I learned to defend myself and even launch an offensive attack because if I didn’t, I would have been killed a long time ago. But I learned by studying techniques I read about in books and observing rather than in the arena I fight in now.”
I nodded. “You will be a powerful ally. Thank you.”
He bowed with respect at me and retreated to his corner of the room. He kept to himself even as the eyes of the others followed him. Markus threw a dark scowl at me as if I had corrupted the likes of Vasper.
I raised my eyebrows at Markus and he turned away from me. I made my way past him to my bunk, keeping my vision squarely on the ground.
But Markus grabbed me. He pushed me up against the bunk on the opposite side of the room and gripped my side.
I didn't yelp in pain like he expected because there was no pain. His jaw slacked as I slipped my hand around his throat and squeezed.
The other demons gathered and formed a semi-circle around us. Markus's eyes burrowed a hole through mine and I returned the stare ten-fold.
“Let's wait and keep this for the arena.” I squeezed his throat for emphasis. “What do you think? Can you wait ten minutes?”
He whipped his throat out of my hand and I let him go. “Hmm...you won't make it three minutes in what they have planned for us. I hope you’re not afraid of getting your wings a little singed.”
He laughed and a few others joined in. He was the bully beyond bully of the group and it was evident where the demons' allegiances fell. Except for Vasper who didn't laugh, but he did turn away. Head ducked down, wings folded, I had to wonder what was coming.
What game I was walking into next.
