Lucifer broke up through the thick layer of light like he was diving up through air that was as tangible as water. The warmer atmosphere that would normally have comforted him as he discontinued his upward drive, now felt like a blanket that clung to his perspiring skin and traveled into his mouth and down to his lungs like a thickening force to suffocate him. Wings fanning out to slow his plunging descent, Lucifer landed, one foot and one bent knee absorbing the film of light that was as hard as stone.

Head bent and eyes down, Lucifer did not need to glance up to know who awaited him. God’s almighty power radiated through every particle around him, adding to the suffocation that made his head swim and his insides clench. The glow that filled God’s throne was close to blinding, and its growing heat warned that his maker was already aware of Lucifer’s wrongdoings. But how much had been revealed?

As formidable as God’s presence was, another’s made his skin tighten and tempted him to ball his hands into fists.

Michael was here.

His self-righteous power stained the purity of all that existed in the perfect realm of Heaven as he stood tall beside their maker on his soaring, pearly throne. The smug look on the angel warrior’s face, Lucifer beheld as he lifted his bowed head, was like a dare to step out of place. “So you have come to confess your sins, Lucifer.”

Not a question, but a presumption from the holier-than-thou angel.

Lucifer tore his narrowed eyes away from his brother as the glowing orb that commanded the throne pulsed once with blinding severity. “Morningstar,” God’s commanding voice boomed with shattering power that, instead of being vocalized, was delivered telepathically with a shock of power that felt like being struck by lightning. Shielding his face from the intensifying light, Lucifer fought back the tears that stung his eyes as his head pulsed, slowly making out the shimmering fog that acted as a veil to conceal all of Heaven that awaited beyond their maker. “You have forsaken me and all that you are.”

Each syllable felt like a tiny implosion inside Lucifer, threatening to turn his insides to liquid. And then the light flared once more before it blinked out. Shocked at the reprieve, Lucifer’s head snapped up and he gasped. No longer was the brilliant orb of light taking up the huge shiny throne with its smooth iridescent curves that made up the towering back or the thick curls of pearl that made up the arms. What now occupied the throne was smaller than the light had been, though still a towering figure compared to him and even Michael—who for once looked as startled as Lucifer.

Now upon the throne was the true form of their God. A manlike being that was not a man at all. With long golden hair akin to Lucifer’s and bronzed skin, the face looking back at him was innocent, a boy of maybe thirteen that was draped in the most vibrant of blues, greens, and golds.

Lucifer dropped his head at once, bowing at the privilege of being shown God’s true form, forgetting momentarily why he was kneeling before his God in the first place.

“You have disappointed me, Morningstar.” The vocalization of God’s powerful voice surprised Lucifer, so deep and wise in contrast to his young appearance. “The most brilliant of Heaven and Below, you were the brightest of them all, exactly how I designed you to be. Yet you have scorned it.” Each word made Lucifer’s head throb like it wanted to explode, only intensifying the threat of having his brain burst from his skull as God’s voice grew louder and all the more harsh, sounding as all-powerful as ever and nothing like a boy’s. “You have disgraced yourself and your sister. Along with Gabriel, you have defied my laws and acted without the pure intentions I instilled in you all.” God’s brilliance reignited with a shock of exploding light, engulfing the form of a boy until it had completely vanished. “You have ignored my warnings and spat at my punishments! And now, you have forced my hand…”

Meeting the force that demanded his attention, Lucifer held an arm up to shield his eyes. Although he felt like his insides were on the verge of melting from the intense heat that radiated from God, he refused to shy away even as Michael gained a safer distance from his place beside the throne.

Fighting to keep his voice steady, Lucifer did not deny his actions. “It is true. From the day our bodies formed I have followed my own path, held in my heart desires that were not mine to feel.” Dropping his arm as his stinging eyes adjusted, he clasped his hands in front of him and dared to meet the place those young eyes had stared at him with such disappointment. The intensity probed his vision, forcing his eyes to release twin streams of silver. “Gabriel was my desire and all that I allowed to lead my heart and my soul. It was I that advanced on her, that worked on getting closer to her in a way that only humans are allowed. I wanted her. I did not care what the repercussions were. I did not care that it was forbidden. I only cared about what I wanted. So I took it.” Lucifer lifted from his knees and stood tall, ready to accept whatever fate God chose for him so long as it kept Gabriel from danger. From pain. From condemnation. “I seduced Gabriel. I targeted her. All that happened was my doing. My fault. Not hers. I wanted her and I seduced her.”

Alongside the throne, Michael was out of God’s eyeshot, and the look he sent Lucifer surprised him. Under all the disgust and wrathful anger was a tinge of something else. Something softer. Appreciation? He knew Lucifer was attempting to take the blame, and he was clearly going to let him.

Good.

“Is that so?”

Lucifer jolted as Michael stiffened with the boom of God’s voice that resonated simultaneously in both their minds. “It is…” Michael started to affirm the question while Lucifer nodded—

The ground fell out from beneath their feet, the hard light suddenly turning hollow. Michael’s wings flung out, but something kept Lucifer’s from reacting as they fell. He splashed down into the looking glass, feet diving into erupting water that greedily swallowed his legs then body as gasps rang out from all around. Reacting to keep his face above the surface, he saw the stunned faces of the nine surrounding archangels. Michael landed next with light feet, right at the spot around the looking glass that was his and his alone. Alongside him, each of the glowing brackets that led to long thick chains lay unlocked at the feet of his heavenly brothers and sisters—

And then he caught sight of Gabriel. Kneeling by the pool’s edge, her presence made his knees weak, almost causing his head to submerge until he stiffened his knees. He had left her chained, trapped in her ruined garden. And now she was here, exposed and vulnerable.

With tears in her eyes and silver tracks down her face, her hands were clasped high, blocking the rip in her robe right over her healing chest. The material was wet too—because she had attempted to cleanse it before escaping her garden to relocate here? To hide the proof of Lucifer’s murderous intent after he had almost killed her? To share the blame for his mistakes? The notion and her presence filled Lucifer with horror. His eyes begged for answers. Gabriel’s lips quivered with her sorrow and fear, but she did not dare to speak a word as she bowed her head and broke from Lucifer’s stare.

Feeling scorching heat growing above him as God’s blinding light glided down from above, Lucifer scrambled out of the water. Taking his spot beside Gabriel, he wanted to demand she leave—but then he saw the glowing loops that trailed the ground, ending in a manacle that trapped her ankle. None of the other angels were chained, but she was. Suddenly her unexpected presence made sense. She hadn’t escaped. God had brought her here.

Gulping down morbid dread, Lucifer pleaded with his eyes, hoping she felt his desperation somehow and would look at him. But she didn’t, and his words of apology and warning to let him take the blame never had a chance to leave his lips.

“We are all here to bear witness to a breach in our heavenly laws,” Michael blurted out as God’s light settled to hover above the water. Turning his attention to his brother, it was clear to Lucifer that the angel was now speaking under God’s unvoiced orders, and what his brother knew to be coming was not going to fare well. His skin had turned a ghastly shade of white that mimicked the color of his robe, and sweat sprouted across his forehead. “It is time to see the sins of your fellow archangels, sins that must carry a vote of punishment. Gabriel, do you deny your involvement in breaking our angelic laws?”

“Michael, stop,” Lucifer begged, feeling ill at the thought of Gabriel being exposed under the watchful eyes of the judgmental archangels, their heavenly brothers and sisters.

“No.” Gabriel’s voice was strong, and as Lucifer went to catch her clasped hands, she tore them away, keeping the shrinking gash over her chest covered. “I do not deny my actions which are of my doing and no one else’s.”

Kneeling down, Michael reached out, dipping one glowing finger into the water that had almost stilled to a mirror-like surface. A gentle ripple formed, spreading out in multiple rings, blurring the surface until the first ring met the edge. Images started to appear from the center, moving and changing one by one. There was the moment the angels had formed bodies out of pure light, showing close-up how Lucifer’s greedy eyes had drunk in Gabriel’s naked form. Next came the time she’d laid her palm over his chest and caused his heart to race. Then there was the moment they had witnessed the intimate act of mankind between Adam and Eve. Lucifer’s impure visualizations filled the stilling waters and every angel, even Gabriel, gasped. Images rushed on the surface faster after that as the Garden of Eden was turned to ash, and the moment Lucifer learned God could not see his thoughts and actions in the moments when a new soul passed from Earth. The way her cheeks had flared red at his forbidden and heartfelt words alongside the pond in her blackened garden played out next.

Finally came the first proof that all of this was not one-sided.

That moment in that grassy field when he had been tasked to shadow her. Lucifer had tried so hard to do the right thing, to comfort her sorrow over God’s plans for Below when he had wanted to do so much more. He had intended to leave, to shadow her return above. But her words for him to stay as a passing soul lit up the darkening sky had changed everything—with a kiss.

A kiss she invited. A kiss she returned.

Lucifer heard Gabriel’s quiet sobbing and could not stop himself from taking her hand. And this time, she didn’t pull away. Instead, she glanced sideways at him, a sad smile curving her full lips. “I am sorry.”

“Do not be. Not to me. Not ever,” Lucifer whispered back.

The last watery images rushed on. Lucifer discovering Gabriel’s life being endangered below—because of his carelessness—and then Lucifer battling Michael to break free of his chains and dive down to save and return her to the looking glass. Lucifer’s actions to kill a man to send Gabriel his message of never giving up came next, and then his imprisonment and lucky escape. The worst was finally put out for all of them to see. Lucifer’s plan to run away with Gabriel, and then his confession of love after her refusal. Gabriel’s soft words inside her ruined garden lifted in the air as if she had whispered them again. “I feel it too. My heart…it races at your presence, at your touch, at your…” The next action could not be confused. Gabriel rose up on her toes, inviting, wanting, and then accepting as Lucifer pressed his lips to her. Robes and leathers falling, lips roamed along with hands as flesh was revealed. Fresh gasps cut the air, every angel swiftly becoming slack-jawed as they beheld the raw scene. Their shock turned to silence as every angel stared at the intimate moments Lucifer and Gabriel had shared so recently, leaving only the sound of elevating breaths from Lucifer’s and Gabriel’s wet lips in the replaying imagery.

The water turned black without warning.

In his heart, Lucifer knew it had all been his fault. He had followed his unworthy heart and disobeyed orders and ignored warnings. He had sinned and tainted Gabriel’s purity with his lustful greed. She’d been powerless to resist with his ongoing seduction, seduction he’d had no right to act out. Michael was right. He targeted and endangered her in soul and in existence. He was not worthy of her. Not now, not ever. Yet he still could not stop what his heart wanted, what it craved. “I am the one who should be sorry,” he whispered in her ear. “For I still want you…”

“The truth is black and white. It cannot be confused.” Michael’s unexpected words had Gabriel tugging her hand free of Lucifer’s. The other angel’s eyes held sadness as they watched Gabriel, sadness that turned back to anger as Michael glared at Lucifer. “Lucifer instigated in the beginning, but Gabriel, in turn, chose to accept his advances. You have both broken the angelic laws that we must all abide by. And as such, a judgment must stand. Are we all in agreement?”

A string of voiced agreements rained out one after the other, though no clarity of the punishment to come was detailed or suggested. It seemed none of the angels, as they watched Gabriel with sadness and maybe even disappointment, wanted to see her harmed.

Azrael spoke finally, taking it upon himself to vocalize for every angel present. “We wish not to determine the repercussions of this breach.” From his dejected expression, it almost seemed like he feared the judgment too.

When Azrael’s voice fell silent, lips pressing together to trap his words, Remiel added, “We trust God will decide Lucifer’s and Gabriel’s fates in accordance with their actions as he deems necessary.”

In the depths of his growing depression and confusing emotions, Lucifer felt a glimmer of relief and maybe even hope at this result. On top of the angels’ reluctance to condemn Gabriel, Lucifer’s attempt to end Michael had not been shared. Did God know what Lucifer had tried to do to stop the angel warrior? If not, perhaps his and especially Gabriel’s punishments would not be so damning. Though, if it came to the threat of eternal extinguishment, Lucifer knew he would take the blame regardless of what had already been shown. After all he had caused, Gabriel deserved as much.

If he had to use his treason against one of his own to spare Gabriel’s immortal life, he would—in a heartbeat.