6. Lucian

CHAPTER SIX

LUCIAN

"Call him again," I tell Jace.

Jace lifts his phone to his ear without delay, but there's still no answer.

Where is he? Has he changed his mind? Has something happened…?

No. I refuse to believe that. He can't possibly be in danger again, but then again, Lilith did threaten him. What if she…? What if…?

Shit !

"Perhaps the groom changed his mind," says the man next to me, and I glare at him.

I don't care if he's here to perform the ceremony. I will punch his teeth in if he says that again. Even if I'm thinking the same thing.

But no. Yu-jin loves me. Yu-jin feels the same way about me as I do about him. He's my soulmate. He wants me. I know he does.

So it must be Lilith.

She's done something to him.

I shove the bouquet of blue roses at the officiant and run as fast as I can, barely holding back my wings until I get outside.

I reach for the ring handle of the old wooden door, the breeze already combing through my hair, when Yu-jin stumbles in, his hand attached to the ring handle on the other side of the door.

"You're here!" I pull him into my arms and hold him there until I can make sure he's okay.

"I. Am. Here. Can't. Breathe."

"I don't care."

And I really don't. He nearly gave me a heart attack with his lateness. He deserves a little choking.

"You want…to marry…a corpse?"

He has a point, so I let him go and cup his face with both hands.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

Yu-jin laughs, shaking his head, and slaps his hand on my face gently several times.

"Nothing happened, silly. Just hit a bit of traffic. Relax."

"Why aren't you answering your phone. Jace has been?—"

"It ran out of juice, so I left it at home. My gods, Lucian. Calm down. Nothing happened to me. I'm here, aren't I?"

He is. He is here.

"Don't ever do this to me again," I growl and pull him back into me for another hug.

He's okay. He truly is okay.

I take a deep breath, a breath I didn't realize I needed until now, and sink into his strong embrace as his yuzu perfume floods my sense of smell and warms my body back into a state of safety.

I can't believe I panicked so much. But then again, who could blame me after what we've been through. After what Yu-jin has been through. It's like the whole world has something against us, and it's our job to swat threats left, right, and center wherever we go.

"Come on, honey. Let's go get married!" He grabs me by the hand and drags me back to the altar, where the officiant is still standing, watching us.

His eyebrows are raised and his forehead is creased, but if he has anything to say about our relationship and how we look next to each other, he doesn't share it. Yu-jin did warn me some humans have a problem with same-sex relationships, but I've never faced such issues in all my years of existence. Perhaps because anyone who summoned me to Earth wouldn't have done so if they believed they were dealing with the devil and actual hell. More often than not, it's the people who believe this shit that are against anything they perceive as different.

"Problem?" I ask the officiant, and he seems startled.

He blinks at me, shakes his head, and passes the bouquet back to me.

"No. No problem," he says.

"Good," I tell him. "Now, you may start."

The officiant clears his throat, looks toward Jace, and starts.

"We are gathered here today to witness the sacred union between Yu-jin Jung." He completely butchers his last name, but Yu-jin doesn't flinch as the officiant addresses him and then turns to me. "And Lucian…"

His eyes narrow, and I straighten my face.

"What?" I ask him.

"I don't believe I have your last name?"

I open my mouth and close it. That's because I don't have one. But how do I explain that to a human, a mortal no less?

"It's just Lucian," I tell him.

The officiant narrows his eyes and purses his lips.

"Fine. But I will need a little more detail for the certificate," he says.

"Can we move on?" Yu-jin says, and when I turn to look at him, he's rolling his eyes.

Strange.

I've never seen him be this…forward with people before. But then again, he has changed since bonding with that eldritch creature. It's probably one of those new changes.

"Right," the officiant says and glances at Jace again.

I don't know if he finds it strange that we only have one guest, but he doesn't say anything. Instead, he starts from scratch.

"As I was saying, we are gathered here today to witness the sacred union of Yu-jin Jung and Lucian. We're here to celebrate the love between two people and their commit?—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get to the good stuff, padre," Yu-jin says, and I don't know why, but the way he moves his hand to urge the officiant forward and the way his face tenses up reminds me of someone else.

"Yu-jin!" I say. I don't particularly care if he's polite, but he does, so I don't know why he's suddenly acting like he doesn't have any manners.

"What?" he asks. "I just want to be married to you already. Is that so bad?"

No, it isn't, but…the way he says it leaves a…different taste in my mouth.

Yu-jin turns to the officiant and stares.

"So?" he says.

The officiant clears his throat again and looks at me.

"Right. Okay. There…um…no vows are more meaningful than those shared by two people who love each other very much and promise to do so for?—"

"Oh, for crying out loud. Get on with the ‘I do' already," Yu-jin interrupts once more, and I glare at him.

What is he doing?

This can't be an eldritch influence. Even when they merely possess him and take over his voice, they never make him act like this, despite their primal moral compass.

What is going on?

"Do…do you, Yu-jin, take Lucian to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health?—"

"I do," he says and looks at me with big manic eyes and a wide smile.

"Oh…okay. Do you, Lucian, take Yu-jin to be your lawfully wedded husband in?—"

"He does too. Come on. Can we kiss now?"

The officiant lets out a loud sigh and stares at Yu-jin.

"Are we being chased? What's the rush? I have to do things right."

Yu-jin rolls his eyes. "Come on, padre. So many words. We just need the ceremony to be done, not a whole speech about love?—"

The officiant shakes his head.

"No. I'm sorry. I can't perform under these conditions. This isn't normal."

"Perform? Bloody hell, padre. No one asked you to fuck us."

I glare at him now.

What is wrong with him? Why is he acting so strange? What is up with him?

"You are a crude, disrespectful, young?—"

He never finishes he sentence.

Instead, Yu-jin snaps. He grabs him by the chest and balls and throws him across the altar, where he lands on his head with a crack.

There's no question he could've possibly survived that kind of fall.

"Fucking hell. When did the help get so chatty?" Yu-jin says with an air of nonchalance as his hair grows longer and his features change to those of…

"Lilith!"

Fuck.

I should have known it was her. Why didn't I recognize her sooner? I know her magic signature like the back of my hand.

"Hello, dear husband. You like my new trick? I picked it up since the last time our paths crossed."

I don't know how a demoness, or any creature for that matter, picks up a new power, but I do know that I can't let her walk around wreaking havoc as anyone else but her.

If she can shapeshift, who knows how long she's been around us, in our lives, without us noticing. Without me noticing.

"Husband?" Jace mutters, and Lilith turns her attention to him.

"Are you still here? Shoo, little boy. Before I make you join the padre over there." She flicks her head toward the dead officiant, and I huff.

I grab her by the throat and squeeze.

"What have you done to Yu-jin?"

She struggles, bringing her hands up to pry my fingers free of her throat, but that makes me even angrier, so I squeeze harder.

"Speak now, you pathetic little demoness!" I yell in her face.

She stops fighting me and instead smiles and shifts into Yu-jin again. My hold wavers for a second, but it's long enough for her to get the upper hand and set me on fire.

I stumble back and put the fire out with just a thought. She knows she can't hurt me with fire. We're both hell-demons. We're made of the stuff.

"What do you want?"

She shifts back into herself and crosses her arms.

"You."

I shake my head.

"You can't have me. I don't belong to you anymore. It's been centuries. Why can't you just accept that? I met my soulmate, and you're not it."

She laughs.

"You made a vow to me, Lucian. Do you think because you scorched our handfasting rope those vows are no longer valid? You think we're done?"

The day I took the rope from our wedding ceremony, the rope that bound us together in sickness and health till death do us part, and burned it to ashes was one of the best days of my life. Second only to the day I met Yu-jin.

"Yes, Lilith. That's how this works. I don't love you anymore. I haven't loved you in a very long time."

"You're lying."

"Watch my lips. Look into my eyes. I. Don't. Love. You."

Her face contorts, and she growls.

"You will love me again."

"Never."

She smirks. "You will if you want to see Yu-jin ever again."

I bite my tongue. I want to tell her where to go or what I'll do to her, but I need to find Yu-jin first. I need her to guide me to him because if she doesn't, I may never find him. Hell is so vast it would take me hundreds if not thousands of years to get to him.

"If you hurt him, you hurt me. He's my mate, Lilith. He dies, I die."

She shrugs.

"Then I guess I won't kill him."

"Where is he?" I shout.

She closes the distance between us, grabs me by the tie, and hovers her lips near mine.

"Kiss me, and I'll take you to him."

"No."

"Then I guess you'll have to live the rest of your life apart from him. It's your choice, really."

I look deep into her blue eyes, and my whole body fills with so much rage, so much hatred. I don't think I've ever hated her more. Not even when she fucked every demon and demoness she set her eyes on.

"Fine."

I hate her, but I love Yu-jin more. And if there's a chance she takes me to him, what choice do I have.

So I kiss her.

Her black lips taste bitter, which seems fitting considering the bile sitting at my throat just from looking at her.

"But I swear to your life and mine, if you don't take me to him, I'll kill you anyway and enjoy every single moment."

"Ah, I missed you so much, my dear Lucian." She sighs, and my world goes dark. As dark as my soul feels without Yu-jin.