“Yes,” she said without bashfulness. “I didn’t mean to the first time. I did mean to the second.”
“Of course. As I said earlier—you have mighty magic.”
“Emery is over there on the countertop,” I said. “He’s her dual-mage partner. You might’ve heard of him as the Rogue Natural.”
“Ah.” Lucifer nodded at Emery. “A rare treat. Yes, I have heard of you. You caused some disturbance with the elves, correct? Reagan thought you would enjoy my castle. Didn’t you say that, Reagan?”
“Yeah. They wouldn’t mind if you did an illusion to mess with them,” I told Emery.
“Mind? We’d welcome it.” Lucifer laughed. “I do so enjoy getting visitors lost in the castle. It’s been too long.”
Emery nodded but didn’t say hello.
“This is Callie”—I motioned to her—“and Dizzy.”
“We’ve met,” Callie said with a hard expression.
Surprise flitted across Lucifer’s face. He studied her. “Remind me, if you would. I don’t recall.”
“When you were involved with Amorette,” she replied. “We were her friends.”
“Yes, I remember now! Forgive me.” He smiled at her. It wasn’t returned. “A grave loss for everyone, but no one so much as Reagan.” His eyes turned apologetic as his gaze flicked back to me. “I apologize for my actions in your mother’s garden. I overstepped and used your pain abominably. I hope you can forgive me.”
“It’s possible,” I said, warmth budding in me because he’d realized his error without being told. “This is Darius. I believe you planned to kill him and my mage friends.”
“I did, indeed, yes. That would have been a mistake, hmm? You would not have forgiven me for that.” He turned and inclined his head at Darius. “Your reputation precedes you. You have made short work of learning my kingdom. You know it quite well in a short period of time.”
“Not well enough, or I wouldn’t have found myself in a cell, waiting for death,” Darius replied smoothly.
Lucifer laughed. “This is true. You are the child of Vlad, is that correct?”
“Yes,” Darius answered.
Lucifer took a sip of his whiskey, and his face pinched. “This is quite a bit different than what we can offer in the Underworld. I can see what you mean, Reagan.” He blew out a breath.
“It’s like a punch in the face,” Penny said, clearly fond of that comparison, and leaned forward and looked at Lucifer closely. “You are incredibly nonchalant about almost killing us. You don’t seem sorry at all.”
Lucifer spread his hands. “You tore down my magical walls, snuck into my kingdom, and intended to deceive me. Death was justified. It’s for the best it didn’t happen, but that doesn’t change the offense. You have not apologized because you had good reasons for your actions, and I will not apologize because I did too.” He shrugged. “And here we are. My hope is that Reagan can forgive me, and we can put it behind us.” He met my gaze. “I wondered if I might have a few moments of your time?”
“Not on your life,” Callie said immediately as Penny started shaking her head.
“It’s fine.” I pushed back my chair and stood, Darius with me. Emery hopped down from the counter. “You guys, it’s fine. He didn’t come all this way to kill me, and he won’t be able to kidnap me out from under your noses.”
“Very true. I mean Reagan no harm.” Lucifer pushed his chair back and stood with me. “Not now, and not ever. It was a bad judgment call to try to force someone like her to stay in my kingdom. Tatsu has made that abundantly clear to me.” Tatsu was his dragon, and I was surprised to hear that she didn’t agree with Lucifer. “We have things to discuss, though. Things that have nothing to do with the coming war.”
I grabbed my glass and used my free hand to gesture to the living room. “We can sit in there.”
Emotion rolled through Darius, but he made no move to stop me when I left the room. He also made no move to sit back down. Neither did Emery.
“Your friends are very protective,” Lucifer said as he sat on the couch. I took the armchair on his right. “That speaks highly of your connection with them. Your neighbors are the same way. I can see why you were eager to get back here.” He moved his hand through the air. “Your home is beautiful. It suits you perfectly. The location is interesting as well. This is a very vibrant city that speaks to me. I’m glad to be here.”
I bent my head in acknowledgment, pushing down a smile and trying to ignore the weird glow of pride in my chest. I’d wanted his approval for reasons I couldn’t explain.
He paused for a moment to sip his drink. His face pinched again. “I’m not sure I like whiskey. It is, indeed, like a punch in the face.” He smiled and put it on the coffee table. “I owe you an apology, Reagan. I read the situation with you very badly. Those antics would’ve worked on a great many people, but I am a proud parent to know that they will not work on you. I do think of you as my daughter, I hope you know that. You are my blood. You proved that in so many ways in the Underworld. I hope I don’t make you uncomfortable when I say that you belong there. You were meant to rule, and I hope you’ll choose to come back someday.” He leaned back and crossed an ankle over his knee. “I have made it clear to my subjects that you are royalty, whether you live there or not. You are my daughter, and you will be treated as such. It is your birthright.”