Lucifer Damned (Morningstar Book 3), Percival Constantine [electric book reader .txt] 📗

them open. They revealed a balcony door, which she went through and then leaned on the edge of the railing.

It was indeed Lilith’s realm, so Kragmor hadn’t been lying about that. Mara had no way of knowing if Lilith had been informed yet that she was here, but she knew her mistress would have a lot of questions. And Mara wasn’t yet sure what answers she should give.

Lilith eventually did return and requested for Mara to join her for dinner. With the aid of magic, it was a simple matter to weave together a suit for herself that was more appropriate for dinner than pajamas. Kragmor came to fetch Mara just before dinner and escorted her to the dining hall. The little demon hovered a few feet in front of Mara, kept aloft by his wings.

“I’ve never seen you here before,” Mara said to the servant.

“I joined the mistress’s staff shortly after you were dispatched to Earth,” said Kragmor.

“I was here not too long ago to report to Lilith. Don’t recall seeing you here during that time,” said Mara.

“Perhaps I was simply attending to other duties at the time,” said Kragmor.

Mara didn’t know why she felt so nervous and suspicious. Especially since she was in the one place in all of Hell where she should have felt completely at ease. She didn’t say another word and just followed Kragmor in silence.

They finally arrived at the dining hall. Kragmor hovered ahead and opened both doors, then moved to the side and gestured for her to enter. Mara stepped through the entrance and saw a table laid out with two place settings and a bottle of wine in the center of the table. Kragmor hovered over to the bottle and picked it up, then went to one of the place settings and retrieved a stem glass.

“Would you care for a drink?” he asked.

“Sure,” said Mara.

Kragmor poured the red wine into the glass, returned the bottle to its proper setting, and then carried the drink over to Mara. She took the glass from him and sniffed the wine first before taking a tiny sip. Her suspicions rising again.

Mara heard the sound of a door and turned to the source. There was another entrance on the opposite side of the room from where her and Kragmor entered. And it was through these doors that Lilith appeared. Her red hair was expertly weaved and set on top of her head and she wore a tight black dress that clung to her curves. Her lips curled into a friendly smile when she saw Mara and her yellow eyes brightened.

“So, it is you,” said Lilith as she approached Mara. “When they told me what had happened, I was more than a little surprised. Certainly wasn’t expecting to see you back here again so soon.”

“I wasn’t expecting it, either,” said Mara as she sipped her wine.

“Well come on and sit down, let’s talk about it.” Lilith then turned to Kragmor and said, “You can start bringing out the food.”

Kragmor passed Lilith her own glass of wine, then bowed before his wings carried him off to carry out his orders. Lilith sat at her place at the table and Mara took her own seat.

“I was told that you were found in the Badlands. The sole survivor of a battle between raiders and Beelzebub’s men,” said Lilith. “How exactly did you find yourself in the midst of that?”

Mara sighed and set her glass on the table. She glanced at the door and waited for some sign of Kragmor or any other servants. Telling Lilith the truth was a necessity, but she didn’t want anyone else to hear.

“Mara?” said Lilith. “I asked you a question.”

The doors opened and Kragmor led a few servants in who carried metal trays of food. They set the dishes in front of both Lilith and Mara, then removed the covers to reveal steaming cuts of roasted dragon meat. Mara waited until the servants left and her and Lilith were alone again.

“I’ll tell you everything,” she said. “But it’s a very sensitive matter. And I’m more than a little concerned about prying ears.”

Lilith’s head flinched back. “Are you saying you don’t trust my people?”

“I trust you, my mistress,” said Mara. “Everyone else is a question mark.”

“Very well.” Lilith picked up her knife and fork and started cutting into the dragon meat. “I’m listening.”

“The reason I didn’t come directly to your realm is because I’m not here to see you. I came here on a mission,” said Mara. “And I didn’t come alone.”

“Who did you come with?”

Mara hesitated and looked around just to be certain they were truly alone. Then she said in a softer tone, “The Morningstar.“

Lilith’s knife stopped cutting through the meat. She set both her utensils down and reached for the wine, taking a long sip this time. “I thought Lucifer abdicated the throne for a life on Earth.”

“He did, and it was his intention to stay there. Still is. But he’s run into some complications.”

“What kind of complications?”

Mara paused again before giving voice to this next revelation. “Lucifer’s become mortal. No senses, no powers, nothing celestial exists in him any more.”

“I see…” said Lilith. “But if he wanted to live on Earth, what should it matter if he’s human or not?”

“For one thing, he still has enemies out there. In fact, it was just such an attack that prompted his decision to return.”

“And he assumes returning to Hell can somehow restore his powers?” asked Lilith.

Mara nodded. “That’s the theory.”

“So why Beelzebub? Why not come to me or go directly to the new king?”

“Lucifer felt Beelzebub could be trusted and he thought going to Cross might risk being seen as trying to undermine his rule.”

“And me?”

Mara took a sip and shifted in her chair. “You’re…not exactly his biggest fan.”

“That’s a fair characterization,” said Lilith. “So where is Lucifer then?”

Mara looked down. “I don’t know.”

“What?”

“Beelzebub provided us transportation and an escort to reach Cocytus, but we were attacked en route by raiders. Beelzebub’s men