“Ramuell was YOUR SON!” I said angrily. I’d had enough of the fallen to last me a lifetime. “Gabriel is your grandson. He’s closer in blood to you than I am. I’m separated from you by thousands of generations. He’s not. Do not even try to tell me that you’re going to let the Grigori haul him away and kill him.”
“No,” Lucifer said, looking troubled. “I am supposed to kill him myself.”
My magic roared up inside me, hot and angry. The parking lot was suddenly lit by the sun. I was vaguely aware of the massive insult I was doing Lucifer by showing him the full extent of my power, but I was exhausted and sick of angelic politics. Not even Lucifer could take Gabriel from me.
“I will not let you,” I said, and my voice did not sound like my own. The ground trembled, and everyone except Lucifer and Samiel covered their ears.
“Do not make the mistake of crossing me, granddaughter. In my kingdom, my word is law.”
His voice seemed to come from everywhere. Lucifer grew larger, his wings outspread, his eyes winking pools of starlight, until he looked much like he had in my vision of Evangeline, so long ago.
“You cannot frighten me,” I said, and to my surprise it seemed that my power grew to match his own. “You cannot intimidate me. I am not simply a child of your line. I am an Agent of Death, and Death is my dominion.”
“Even Death cannot defy the laws of the kingdom.”
My body was filling up with power, power that I hadn’t even known was inside me. There was too much of it. My skin felt stretched to bursting, and I knew with a sudden surety that if Lucifer tried to fight me in that moment, he would lose.
“I will defy whoever and whatever to keep Gabriel safe. You cannot have him. He belongs to me.”
“Belongs?” Lucifer asked, his voice full of innuendo.
“Not as a thrall, but as my equal. I claim him as such, and tell you that he will no longer be a slave of the fallen.”
“Very well,” Lucifer said suddenly, and shrank back to his normal self.
I was so taken aback that my power receded suddenly like a deflating balloon. I stared at the Morningstar. “Very well?”
“Very well,” he said, and the merriment was back in his eyes. “Gabriel, come forth.”
Gabriel walked warily to stand in front of Lucifer and beside me.
“Hold out your hands,” he instructed.
I held out my right hand, Gabriel his left. We both looked at each other in confusion. The snake on my palm wriggled in anticipation.
“As Madeline has claimed you as her equal, so you shall be,” Lucifer said to Gabriel.
He did a little finger wiggle and our hands were suddenly clasped together, palm to palm, bound by golden cord.
“By the laws of my kingdom and by the power of my will, so you, Madeline Black ap Azazel and Gabriel ap Ramuell, are joined now and forever in this life. Henceforth Gabriel will no longer be a thrall, but a husband. As I have proclaimed it, so it shall be.”
He clapped his hands together and looked around in delight at the lot of us and the varying expressions of shock on our faces.
“Married?” I said, looking down at the golden cord.
“Married,” Lucifer said.
Gabriel fell to his knees, and because we were bound together, so did I.
“My lord,” he said, and his voice was full of emotion.
I looked up at Lucifer, who had a surprising expression of tenderness on his face. It reminded me of something that the faerie queen, Amarantha, had said once—Everyone knows Lucifer is fanatical about his bloodline.
“Rise,” Lucifer said, “and go forth a free man.”
Gabriel bowed his head, and I saw one single tear fall to the pavement. Then he turned to me, and held out his other hand. I placed my free hand in his and we rose, facing each other, the reality and the wonder of it finally dawning on us.
“Kissing is traditional,” Lucifer said.
For the first time I felt hesitant. Gabriel and I had done a lot of kissing in secret, but never with everyone I cared about in attendance.
Gabriel, however, felt no hesitance at all. He bent his head to mine, and I had never felt such sweetness from him before, never felt so much love. After a few moments, however, Lucifer cleared his throat.
“Perhaps you want to, as they say in the vernacular, get a room,” Lucifer said.
I smiled at Gabriel, and then looked questioningly at the first of the fallen.
“Why? I thought that you, too, were bound by the laws of your own kingdom.”
“Nah.” Lucifer grinned. “I can pretty much do whatever I want.”
He winked, and then disappeared.
“I thought so,” I muttered.
The golden cord binding our hands together dissolved. In its place were two beautifully carved golden bands, one on Gabriel’s ring finger and one on the ring finger of my right hand (as I was lacking a ring finger on the left). I inspected the ring more closely and saw it was carved with the serpent, the symbol of the house of Lucifer.
“Well, that was a beautiful wedding,” Beezle said. “The bride has spider goo in her hair and the groom smells like sulfur. The parking-lot-in-front-of-the-burning-warehouse location leaves something to be desired, and there was a distinct lack of refreshments, but otherwise, just lovely.”
I looked down and realized my coat was slashed and covered in my own blood. I smelled like burned spider. There was the sound of sirens approaching.
“We should get out of here,” I said. “The firefighters are coming.”