Revelations (Bloodline Series) (42 page)

“I
can’t watch this, tell me when it’s over,” she breathed.

The
soul of every person left standing was pulled from its host, the now empty
vessels falling to the ground before finally disappearing. The souls then faded
away. So many lives taken, so many others affected by it, but now it seemed
everything had come to an end.

Keira
walked a few feet in front of us before turning to face us.

“Go
home,” she told us. “It’s over.” Then she vanished.

Chapter 56

A
Well-Kept Secret

Keira

I
teleported straight to the palace and into the room with the viewing pool. Lilith
spun around quickly and instantly looked nervous. Lucifer was standing by the
window, staring at me.

“Lucifer,
please, please don’t hurt her; look at what she’s done for us!” she begged.

He
walked over to me, and Lilith’s anxiety seemed to increase until he placed his
hand over my ribs, healing me. He then wrapped his arms around me and hugged
me.

“Are
you okay?” he asked tentatively.

“Not
really,” I sighed. “But in time I will be.”

“I
warned you not to get close to Ballantine.”

“I
know, but I couldn’t help it.”

“I’m
sorry for your pain Keira, I wish I could take it away.”

“Hang
on!” Lilith shouted. “Just hang on a minute! Lucifer, you...you knew...you let
me believe...you had this planned, didn’t you? Both of you!”

“Yes
my dear wife, this was planned. No, I didn’t tell you, just as Keira never told
her friends. Only she and I knew about all this. No, I don’t regret keeping it
from you. We had to be extra careful. Emotions had to be real. Any of us could
have been watched, and we couldn’t risk being found out. This was the only way
forward, the only way to bring Ballantine and all his followers together at the
same time so we could deal with them accordingly. Does that answer all your
questions, my dear?”

“When
did you plan this?”

“Not
long after Keira’s first encounter with him. She came to see me, and we devised
a plan.”

“But
I watched you two argue...you fought,” she said, utterly bewildered.

“Parlor
tricks, smoke and mirrors. Neither one of us hurt the other, not
really.”

“Do
you have any idea what you put us all through?”

“Yes,
and do you have any idea how hard it’s been for us?” he scolded. “Especially
for Keira. I had to lie to you, make you believe I wanted to kill your
daughter. Do you know how difficult it was to look my wife in the eyes and tell
her I was going to destroy her one and only child? Do you understand how Keira
felt, leaving her friends, leaving
Eligos
? She had to convince them she
no longer cared. She had to attack them. It damn near broke her heart in two.
So yes, we lied, but you’ve had it easy compared to her and me.”

“Lucifer,
you’d better keep me trapped in here for the next hundred years at least
because I swear if you release me any sooner, whether I love you or not, I
will
kill you!”

“I’m
sure you’ll try, my dear,” he scoffed before returning his attention to me.

“God
intervened, just like we’d hoped. They’re all gone,” I told him. “Every single
one of them.”

“I
know…I watched it happen. I know everything.”

“What
do I do now?”

“What
do you
want
to do?”

“I
want—”

I
was interrupted by the door bursting open. Eligos walked into the room, but
stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he laid eyes on me.

“Eligos,”
Lucifer began. “I’m sure you have many questions, all of which will be answered—”

“You’re
damn right I do,” he said in a rather off tone.

“Keira,
would you like to explain or should I?” Lucifer asked.

“
She
can do it!” Eligos answered before I got the chance.

“Erm…hang
on. Where—?” Lilith began but didn’t finish.

Lucifer
quickly interrupted. “Keira, I have a very unstable wife to deal with now, and
I’m sure you will want to spend some time with Eligos. I know he definitely
wants time with you. We can talk later, what do you say?”

I
nodded and turned to face Eligos. Lucifer muttered a few words, and a split
second later Eligos and I were in his living room. We stood staring at each
other in silence. The atmosphere was tense, to say the least. I didn’t know
what to say, where to even start. I couldn’t make out the look on his face, so I
began with the only thing I could think of.

“I’m
sorry Eligos.” Tears filled my eyes once more. “I really am sorry. I couldn’t
tell you any of this. I was sworn to secrecy. I never wanted to hurt you, I—”

Before
I was able to finish my sentence, he walked over to me and kissed me
forcefully, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist. I felt as though every
nerve ending throughout my body had suddenly rushed to my lips. I pushed myself
against him, melting into him and putting my arms around the back of his neck.
I can’t explain how I felt; there just aren’t words to describe how amazing it was
to be back in his arms. He took the kiss from my lips, across my cheek, and
buried his head in my neck.

“You
have no idea how much I’ve missed you. I thought I’d lost you forever,” he breathed.
“Don’t ever leave me again.”

“I’m
so sorry. It almost killed me being away from you. I wanted nothing more than
to come back and just hold you.”

“I
wish you had,” he said, moving so he could look me in my eyes.

“Eligos...why
didn’t you move when that demon tried to...to kill you? You could have taken
him; I know you could. Why didn’t you even try?”

“You
left me, said some horrible things to me. I’d been ordered to kill you. I
couldn’t do it, and even if I could have, I wouldn’t have been able to live
without you regardless of what you’d said. I told Hecate I had no intentions of
living through the fight. The demon I was fighting was a worthy opponent. I
didn’t mind dying by his sword.”

“Well
I minded!”

“I
realized that when you ripped his heart out of his chest.” He led me to the
sofa and sat me on his knee. “I didn’t think you cared at first,” he continued.
“I looked over at you after I’d thrown my sword away. I knew you were watching,
but your expression was so cold.”

“My
heart was in my mouth; I wondered what the hell you were doing. When I saw him
raise his weapon…well, it got ugly. Please don’t ever do that again,” I said,
blinking away more tears. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

“Then
don’t ever leave me again.”

“I
won’t. Eligos, I know what I said to you in Ohio must have hurt terribly. I don’t
know how I’d have handled it if I had been on the receiving end of those words.
It killed me to say it to you, but I had to make you believe I no longer cared.”

“The
guys saw you first. They said you were looking for me.”

“I
was…I just wanted to see you. After what happened...I didn’t think you’d ever
forgive me.”

“Keira,
I can’t say I’m not still hurting, but I can tell you that I
am
happy
you’re back,” he said, taking my hand in his. He smiled when he saw I was still
wearing his engagement ring.

“I
never took it off.”

“Wasn’t
Ballantine mad about that?”

“No,
he knew how much I loved you that I’d always love you. He knows…
knew
... what
it’s like to feel that way about someone.” I took the time to explain fully about
Ballantine. I told him how he’d help me to unlock more of my power, about the
incident involving using my imagination. I explained how I felt after
destroying Ohio and attacking them so viciously. When I told him about the deal
I’d made with Ballantine should anything have happened to him, he squeezed my
hands tightly and winced. I finished where Ballantine had given me the
necklace.

“I
have a couple of questions,” he frowned. “Firstly, how the hell did you manage
to keep up so many lies? Secondly, I understand how upset you must have been
when the time came to take Ballantine down, but seriously, just how much of an
effect has it had on you? Also, how did you feel when you first devised this
plan with Lucifer, and how do you feel now?”

“Okay,
well, keeping up the lies wasn’t easy, I can tell you. It helped that I had
contact with Lucifer. I was worried, because after Marley tried to contact me,
Ballantine put some kind of barrier up so nobody would be able to invade my
mind. Luckily, Lucifer was still able to get through. We couldn’t speak very
often, but he did keep me going.

“When
I first met Ballantine and reported back to Lucifer, we decided it would be
best for me to try and get close to him. I could have fought him there and
then, but we knew if I took him out we would never have been able to track down
all the people following him, and if we didn’t kill them, we’d have deeply
regretted it. There would have been unimaginable repercussions, and even more
lives would have been lost. When Lucifer realized Ballantine was after
recruiting me, he decided that was the best idea. It meant we had a person on
the inside and I could report back. Who do you think tipped you off about the
group hiding in Diversia? I overheard Ballantine having a conversation with another
being. I instantly reported it to Lucifer.”

“He
told us he had a man on the inside but we had no idea it was you, not after
what we’d been through with you.”

“That
was the idea…you had to be clueless. Ballantine is...
was…
a smart man. If
you had all been aware of what was going on your emotions would have been
false. He would have seen straight through you, and everything would have fallen
through. I had to wait and pretend to debate Ballantine’s offer. I couldn’t
just go with him straight away. I had to appear to be torn between you and his
cause. Then, when I joined him, I had to prove myself…hence, Ohio. Lucifer told
me I had to carry out the attack. If I didn’t, again, we risked losing. I
couldn’t believe what he was asking me to do.
That
really affected me,
even though I personally didn’t kill anyone, and especially after facing you
too. It really played on my mind and made me feel ill. I didn’t know if any of
you had been seriously hurt, and Lucifer wouldn’t tell me,” I explained.

“What?
Why?”

“Because
my
worry and emotions also had to be real.”

“We
lost Marshall. Olivia and Jared are devastated.”

“I
know, but I’ve been told that it won’t be a permanent loss. He will be coming
back.”

“What?”

“He
never actually died. Lucifer had someone snatch him. He was taken away and put
in a comatose state. They’ll get him back very soon.”

Eligos’s
eyes widened. “I can’t believe all this was going on and none of us had a clue.”

“I
found out what had happened to Marshall the day you attacked Diversia. That was
also the day I was told Ballantine would be bringing everyone together, and
that it was almost over.”

“I
have to admit, I’m having a slight problem digesting all this.”

“I’m
not surprised. But, it’s all over now. I’m just hoping and praying everything
will be able to return to normal; although, to be honest, I’m not expecting
everyone to give me the warm welcome that you have.”

“Are
you going to be able to put all this behind you?”

“Again,
I’ll be honest with you. Killing Ballantine has really upset me,” I said, touching
the dove necklace he’d given to me. “He really believed I was on his side. I
betrayed him and killed him. It’s going to take me a long time to move on from
that. While I was with him, I genuinely did agree with what he was saying. I
wanted it to happen...but I knew it couldn’t.” I sighed. “I spoke to Lucifer,
and he understood why I would agree to an extent. He talked to me about it a
few times and kept me level headed. He always kept me on the right track and
told me it would be over soon. I don’t think I’d have gotten through it without
him.”

“So
you developed a sort of bond with Ballantine?” he asked, a hint of jealousy in
his eyes. “I mean—”

“He
was like a big brother, nothing more.”

“Oh…oh,
that’s okay then.”

“Eligos,
I know this is a lot to take in, and I have a lot more to tell you and the guys
if they’ll even give me the time of day. But, are we...me and you...we’re still
going to be together, right? You understand I had to do the things I did to
bring this to an end? I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me you’re
still mine.”

He
wrapped his arms around me tightly. “There are still things I want to ask you,
things I need to get straight in my head...but, at the moment, I’m just glad to
have you back. I want us to be together forever. So yes, I’m still yours...and
I always will be.”

I
breathed a sigh of relief, and then hugged and kissed him.