“But it’s not a job,” Wick said. “It’s more than a job. You become something else.”

They’d reached the edge of the Necrosilvam, at the Weeping Waters. Lux stared out at the murky water, more quicksand than true liquid. It bubbled and oozed, and he knew the kind of monsters that lived inside of it, ones that weren’t threatened by mere peccati.

“Maybe you don’t,” Lux said finally, still staring out at the swamp. “Maybe Valefor only wants you to think you lose your heart and your humanity.”

“I know you’d like to believe that,” Wick said quietly, and he turned back to her. What he saw in her eyes surprised him, because she looked genuinely sad. “But you sold your soul to a demon. You have no heart. You can’t love.”

Lux didn’t want to think about that or what it meant, so he did the only thing he could think to do. He headed into the Weeping Waters, prepared to kill any creature that crossed him.

14

Valefor didn’t look Lily would’ve pictured a demon, but then again, she didn’t realize that’s what Valefor was yet. He was tall and muscular, making Ira look puny in comparison. Beyond that, Valefor was gorgeous. Breathtakingly so. It was as if he was chiseled out of marble, completely flawless and perfect.

He came into the room shirtless, which seemed fitting because of the heat. His hair was a golden brown that shimmered like satin and grew just past his ears.

For a moment, Lily just gaped at him, completely forgetting all her senses. In her whole life, she’d never really lusted after anything, not the way she did when she saw him.

But it was his eyes that threw her off, his eyes that revealed to her that he was evil. They were an amber red, and in them, she could see how vile he was. It sent a shiver down her spine, and she had to look away.

“Do I frighten you?” Valefor asked in a voice that sounded like a lullaby.

“No,” Lily lied and forced herself to look back up at him.

“Good.” He walked toward her, and she fought the urge to cringe or scoot away. “I’ll untie you so we can talk like civil people.”

His hands brushed up against her as he untied her, and his skin felt like flames. She pulled away from his touch instinctively, and he chuckled under his breath.

“I thought you said you weren’t afraid of me,” he said, his voice low and right in her ear. It rumbled through her, reminding her of thunder.

“Just because I’m not afraid of you doesn’t mean I want you to touch me,” Lily said, and she looked back over her shoulder at him. He lifted his head, so his burning eyes met hers, and she gulped back the scream inside her. “Fear and being repulsed are two separate things.”

“I repulse you?” Valefor raised an eyebrow as he undid the ropes. Her hands were free, and she pulled them away quickly, rubbing the scrapes on her wrists.

“You killed the man I love,” Lily told him.

Her heart broke as she remembered the last time she’d seen Lux, lying on the ground. His shirt was torn open, his chest scorched. His body was bloodied and mangled, and Lily didn’t think anyone could survive that, though she hoped against hope that he was alive.

“Have I?” Valefor smirked and stepped away from Lily, leaving her to untie the ropes around her ankles. “This must have been a very long time ago, since it’s been quite a while since I’ve killed a man.”

“You ordered his death, then.” Lily pulled frantically at the knots, trying to keep Valefor in her sights as he walked away from her. He had his back to her, but she refused to take her eyes off him.

“Perhaps,” Valefor admitted. He pulled out a chair and sat down in it, resting his arm on the table. “Who is this man I allegedly harmed?”

“Lux.” She swallowed hard when she said his name, and Valefor burst out laughing. “Why is that so funny?”

“Well, to begin with, Lux works for me,” he grinned.

Lily said nothing to that. Her stomach dropped, but she merely continued working on undoing the knot in the rope that bound her ankles. In her heart, she’d always known that Lux had been hiding something. But everything he’d done since he met her had been to protect her, and she couldn’t forget that.

“You don’t believe me?” Valefor asked when Lily didn’t respond.

“I believe you,” she sighed. “It just doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t matter?”

“No. I love him, and he loves me.” She finally freed her ankles, and she quickly got to her feet. “And you took him from me.”

“You are so naïve.” Valefor tried for an expression that looked sympathetic, but that was an emotion he’d never been able to master. “He doesn’t love you. It was his job to fool you, to trick you into coming back with him. And he does it so well. I know. That’s why I chose him.”

“That’s not true,” Lily shook her head. “Maybe you did choose him. Maybe he was supposed to bring me to you. But he didn’t. He decided he cared for me more than he cared for serving you. That’s why you sent Ira to stop him and take me away.”

His face hardened, appearing even more like marble, but he remained seated. Lily stood her ground. She’d do whatever it took to escape his grasp, and she was preparing herself for a battle.

“You don’t know who he is,” Valefor said simply. “If you did, you wouldn’t speak with such conviction.”

“I love him, and nothing you can say will change that.”

“Have you heard of the peccati?” Valefor asked carefully.

“Yes,” Lily swallowed. “They’re minions in the service of daemons.”

“Quite right.” He slowly stood up, trailing his fingers along the table as he walked towards her. “There are seven peccati on Earth, each one meant to spread the good of a particular sin.”

“The good of a sin?” Lily asked. “Don’t you mean evil?”

“In my line of work, sin is good.” He smiled at his own joke. “Lux happens to be short for Luxuria. Do you know what that means?”

“No.” She stared up at him, watching as he stepped closer, but she refused to move back.

“Lust.” His smile widened. “Your love, your one and only, is the minion for lust. He was created to make women fall in love with him, to corrupt the pure.” He stopped right in front of her, so close that the heat from his body felt like flames on her skin.