Given what Jude is saying, he clearly thinks everything Lucifer says is utter bullshit, not looking for the hints of truth.
“I certainly had no idea he was Harold the Balance Elder I was wrongly accused of attempting to kill. Though now I can see how I looked so guilty, since I really want to kill him at present,” Lamar confesses.
I look back at the guys, seeing them all about as exhausted and overwhelmed as I feel.
“Not now,” I say as I stand. “I’m still healing from my test, and I feel regret over hurting Lucifer’s feelings and making him crazy while I fixed the five of us.”
I pause, glancing at all of them.
“I suppose I wronged you worse than—”
When my nose drips black blood, Kai rolls his eyes, and I swallow the words as the next pulse of pain in my head starts up.
“At this point, it’s safe to assume there’s no way in fucking hell you’d have done any of this if there was any other option,” Kai tells me pointedly.
“Unbelievable,” I mutter. “Saving your lives didn’t earn me trust, but finding out I’m the catalyst to your demise makes things just peachy. You really are psychos.”
They don’t bat an eye.
“Either way, you were going to die, and us along with you,” Gage says with a shrug. “Only makes sense you’d choose the most balanced option.”
Before I can ask what that means, Ezekiel chimes in. “If you’d died facing Jahl, everyone would have died eventually.”
“Dying an unbalanced death gave you the loophole you needed to come back and bring us all with you,” Jude says quietly, eyes fixed to mine. “Stronger and better.”
“Those nightmares used to be memories,” Gage says with a shudder.
“They are certainly stronger,” Lamar affirms with a nod. “We witnessed that much just in the trials. Even without hell’s power bleeding through their veins…it shouldn’t have been so easy for them.”
“Imagine the power boost we’ll get from visiting Hell’s Black Heart,” Kai says over to Gage. “Could be enough to help her end Jahl.”
Lamar looks confused, but I grin over at Kai.
“You’ll wear your skirts, right? It’ll help keep things from getting so serious,” I add with a grin, my eyes dipping to said skirts that they’re still wearing.
“It’s growing on me,” Gage says as Jude stands and goes digging through my drawers.
They can’t materialize clothing the way I can…
“Could they materialize clothing one time?” I ask Lamar.
“They could do a lot of frivolous things they can’t seem to do anymore,” he states like he’s already observed as much.
Jude curses as he closes the drawer.
“Unless you want to wear something purple, you’re not going to find anything in there. All of Paca’s purple wardrobe has been moved here,” Lamar tells them.
Gage curses the very purple closet across from me. “If we keep walking around in these…whatever we’re wearing—”
“Skirts,” I supply. “Fringed skirts is what I’m actually calling them.”
He gives me a look that borders on hostile exasperation, and I grin. They’re now cute when they’re mad. I’m sure that’s exactly the look they’re going for too, being the Four Horsemen and all; cute is a given.
“I don’t even know what you’re thinking, but I can tell by your smile that it’s ridiculous,” Ezekiel says pointedly at me.
I grin bigger. “Yeah, but now I have an excuse.”
His brow furrows as my eye twitches, the subtle hints of the lingering pain still there in my mind as I try to piece together everything from the overwhelming day, week, month…however long it’s been.
“How long have we been down here?” I ask Lamar.
Ezekiel comes to turn my head to face him, crouching in front of me as he inspects my eyes and wipes away some of the evil blood.
It fortunately doesn’t burn him. I don’t think any part of me is capable of harming them.
Well, unless they wake me from one of those terrible nightmares.
“Fifty-two hours is how long you’ve been down here,” Lamar tells me, causing my attention to quickly shift back to him.
“Fucking purple. Just purple. I’m not wearing purple,” I hear Jude griping as another drawer slams shut.
Rolling my eyes, I stand, even as Ezekiel’s lips tighten in silent protest. I’m not sure why he looks worried about me right now. This is the least I’ve hurt in hours.
“How did we even end up in this shit?” Kai asks as he starts trying to figure out how to take his level-up skirt off.
“You’re the Four Horsemen. You were defending the castle. There’s a dress code. Paca’s rules,” Lamar says with a shrug. “I guess you found a missing piece of yourselves during the battle.”
I grin, simply because now I’m utterly fascinated.
Everyone else in the room, sans Lamar, is glaring at me right now.
“So the Spartans?” I ask, feeling a little unexplainably giddy at the fact people are still doing something I put into effect.
“That dress code was certainly implemented by you,” Lamar confirms. “If your siblings had something pretty to look at, it drew them out to watch you fight as you led your armies to face off with whatever new, naïve group of rebels thought they could overthrow the castle. Sometimes you even gave people power boosts just so they’d get greedy and attempt such a thing. You do love your destruction.”
He releases a wistful sigh, as though he’s taking a moment to be nostalgic right now.
I go phantom, fashion some baggy dude clothes on me, and turn whole. I’ve had so many level-ups, but making clothes I can shed without them disintegrating is a cool tool to have in my arsenal.
The sweatpants drop to my ankles, and I kick out of them. Ezekiel swipes them before anyone else can, and I start pulling off my new shirt as he quickly undresses.
“You’re gay, right? Not into girls too?” Gage asks as Lamar glances over my bare body.
Ezekiel snatches me at my waist and drags me against his bare body when Lamar takes too long to answer.
I grin, because they’re totally jealous…of a guy in love with my brother.
Doesn’t get much better than this. I will so give them hell. Later. After I finish making new clothes and dealing with the current crisis of a hugely consequential decision.
My nose drips another drop of blood as I go phantom again, fashioning more clothes.
Lamar gives them all a lazy grin. “I’m gay,” he assures them. “Just curious if she gave up anything physical. Clearly not.”
I turn whole again in more clothes, and I act like I’m going to hand the pants to Jude. I pull them back just as he reaches for them and toss them to Gage.
Jude gives me an exhausted look, standing naked in the room. Gage laughs under his breath as he starts removing his skirt.
Lamar doesn’t look. Possibly because he knows I’m very territorial. Possibly because he’s dedicated to Manella and it would be disrespectful.
The latter of the two seems less likely, since it’s still hell. Fear is the only effective motivator for most actions.
The shirt drops to the ground when I go phantom and do it all over again.
I turn whole, standing on top of the shirt, just as Jude goes to pull it out, and he curses as he stumbles forward, his gentle tug not giving him the necessary purchase. I quickly kick it back to Kai behind me, and laugh when Jude stalks off.
“Perfect fit,” Gage says from across from me.
“I spent over five years studying your bodies,” I remind him as I kick the new pants to Kai.
Ezekiel catches the next shirt and makes a gesture like he’s about to toss the shirt to Jude. When Jude puts his hands up to catch, Ezekiel throws it to Gage instead.
I choke back a laugh when Jude just stares in confounding disbelief for a second. Ezekiel and Gage both release a rumble of laughter as Kai snorts.
Jude’s lips twitch, and he quickly scrubs a hand over his face and turns so I don’t see him accidentally smile. He hates it when he finds me amusing. He’s stubborn that way.
I go phantom for the final time and quickly fashion his new attire.
“I was really expecting something ridiculous at this point,” he grumbles when I finally let him have the clothes. Then I quickly change into my own wardrobe.
It’s not an angel.
It’s not a devil.
It’s—
“What are you wearing?” Ezekiel asks on a long breath, even as his own grin grows.
The shirt has a picture of my missing crown on it, with a promise of a reward if found and returned to me in perfect condition.
Have to be careful with the wording in hell. Even if I didn’t just know that, I’d still know it.
Jude is muttering curses as he struggles into the too-tight sweatpants that have a leather lining on the inside.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Why is there wet leather in here?” Jude asks, hopping around on one foot as he tries to work his leg all the way in.
“Because I’m evil,” I remind him, drawing a laughing groan from Gage, who is shaking his head. “Literally,” I add with a dark smile.
“Make me something different, for fuck’s sake,” Jude says when he finally gets one leg all the way in, eyes swinging to mine.
“This is for the beetle.”
He huffs a frustrated sound, but I’m surprised when he actually resumes the task of pulling the pants on. And it is definitely a task.
I finally get bored and look away from the train wreck. He’s really going to hate me once he starts pulling on that super tight shirt.
“Fuck,” I hear him groan from behind me, which just renews my smile as I let my eyes drift over the room, taking in all the things I haven’t yet noticed.
“Oh! Jewelry!” I say on a gasp as I dart to the shiny diamond necklace.
“Someone reel her the fuck in before she cuts her face nuzzling that rock,” Kai says like he’s amused.
But there are so many gems that I can’t look at all of them at once when I pull out a drawer.
I fall back as the lights go out, my brain short-circuiting over all the shiny things.
Chapter 14
“We’ve gone through this fifty times in the past hour. If we have to fight this thing, we need to know what we’re going up against. This thing beat a blessed champion. Rafael is just an archangel and he tossed her around like a rag,” Jude is snapping. “She fucking fainted because she saw a bunch of gems!”
Why’s he gotta bring that shit up?
“My vanity just decided you’re on probation from being my favorite for no less than three days just for that comment,” I state, feeling dizzy.
And no, it’s not because of my short, embarrassing faint.
My nose just keeps dripping blood. I’ve stained the floor, and I’m hiding it.