Page 155 of The Bonds of Indigo

“I know, girl…” She drops her head and turns it slightly toward me. “I know.”

I stroke the top of her head, earning a soft purr. “Damn him.”

I’m about to comfort her further when a groan breaks through the clearing and a bright white light floods the space. My attention snaps to Amarah just as her knees slam into the ground. A soft cry of pain escapes her.

I rush toward her, but the tree creature blocks my path. It doesn’t speak, just shakes its head.

“Generally, opening a portal to another realm is… difficult,” Zuhara says, stepping between me and the creature. Her growl rumbles, prompting an equally deep one from the guardian. “Not many of her kind can do this, Lucifer. It may kill her.”

“It will do no such thing,” the beast shouts. “The moment it opens, you will step through. Do not touch her.”

“Proserpina may get her mirror back sooner than expected.”

“Do not speak ill of our conduit. She is stronger than even your handler.”

Zuhara hisses, her hackles rising. “Overgrown weed.”

“Whipped pussy cat.”

I’m ready to end this pointless back-and-forth when the night suddenly turns to day—like someone flipped a switch. Shoving past both my Familiar and the tree, I see golden gates stretching open to a sunlit valley. It’s honestly hideous to look at but it’s exactly where I need to go.

As for Amarah… her arms shake violently, but her eyes are fixed on me.

“Go.” Her voice trembles. “Good luck, Lucifer.”

I hesitate. I can’t leave her like this.

“Go!” the creature roars at the back of my head, and I see the truth of it; every second she holds this rift open drains more from her. My instincts scream at me to stay, but I force myself forward, sprinting past her and hurling myself into the blistering warmth of the Valley of the Vayl.

Immediately, I turn back.

For a few seconds, I can still see the mortal world, and in that sliver of time, she collapses.

I hope you’ll be okay, dollface.

Unfortunately for me, I’ve got things to do. Starting with finding a certain Angel.

Present

I’m in a living nightmare.

How is it possible that the two people I’ve constantly thought about over the past several years and months are now standing in my room?

My room… in the fucking Beyond.

Kayn looks flabbergasted, and Amarah looks pissed.

I want to know who she is to him, and why every time he looks at her, it’s with the same eyes he gives me.

There’s no way, in my father’s name, that they’re together.

A pit forms in my stomach. Why is that so far-fetched? I mean, aside from the fact that she was supposed to be in prison.

I’d come back from the Vayl and immediately went looking for her. It had been years in the mortal world, only to find out she was being punished for what happened in a small town several miles north of where I met her. It wasn’t my business, but I knew down to my core it wasn’t her.

I returned here, to the Beyond, leaving the mortal world behind for good. I haven’t stepped foot back there since, because guilt, fear, and anger kept me from it.

She has every right to give me that confused look. Those eyes that want to hate me deserve to. They’re unfamiliar, and I definitely preferred the sunfire over the indigo ones that nearly mirror my own.