I didn’t have to see her to know she was here. I felt her bone deep. She was my other half—my destiny. I had no intention of only being with her in my dreams. It was time to play dirty.

“Truth, or dare?” I inquired, not looking at her.

“Seriously?” she asked with a groan. “I was thinking of something more physical.”

“Is that all I am to you?” I asked, glancing up at my Siren with a grin.

“Yep,” she said, crossing to my bed and sitting on the edge. “You’re a fabulous lay.”

“I am,” I agreed. “World’s Greatest Lover.”

“You’re my lover,” Elle corrected me. “And only mine.”

“But alas, I only have you in my dreams,” I reminded her as she frowned at me with displeasure.

“You agreed that this would be enough if it was all we could have.”

Sitting up and pulling her to me so she didn’t disappear in a huff, I wrapped my arms around her. “I agreed to nothing. For now this is fine. But it is not our future.”

She tried to wiggle away, but I held her fast. Both of us knew she could leave any time she wanted. It was a game we were playing—full of addiction, lust, insanity… and love.

“Lucifer,” she said on a sigh as her body relaxed and she laid her head on my chest.

It felt so perfect. My throat clogged with what I could only imagine was emotion—a very new thing for me. However, it was not the time to bask in newfound feelings. It was war.

“How’s it going in Kismet?” I asked and felt her body stiffen in my arms.

“I don’t want to talk about Kismet,” she protested. “I want to make love to you.”

“I want the same, but all sex and no talk makes for…” I trailed off because I couldn’t think of anything that was bad about all sex.

“Makes for incredible orgasms bathed in fire,” she finished for me while running her hands down my overheated body.

Grabbing her hands before she could get to the prize, I pulled them back to my chest and placed them on my heart. Her quick intake of breath displayed her uncertainty with what I’d done. I was going to make her tell me the truth. Our sign was a hand to the heart. Normally, it should be my own hand to my heart, but my Siren understood instantly.

“Has Fate found you?” I questioned as she tried to remove her hand.

She failed.

“No, but she’s getting closer,” Elle admitted.

“What will she do when she finds you?”

Elle was quiet for so long I was certain she wasn’t going to answer me.

“She’ll freeze us in an enchantment for eternity just like she froze the rest,” she said hollowly. “Each time I visit you may be the last.”

“Unacceptable,” I snapped, and raised her chin to mine. “I won’t let that happen.”

“It’s what it is. Time shall march on for a while. She will be able to draw on the power of our souls regardless. The lack of balance will eventually tear her apart and the world will finally come to an end.”

“I have your soul,” I pointed out.

“And I have yours.”

Goddamn it, I needed to give it back to her. She could only go a hundred years without it. It might take me far longer than that to find her.

“How long will it be before the end?” I asked.

She shrugged and let her chin drop. “I don’t know. That will be left up to fate.”

The irony of her statement wasn’t lost on either of us. It made me want to kill.

“We will exchange souls now,” I said, getting up from the bed to get hers.

She grabbed my hand. Her amethyst eyes were swimming with tears. “We can’t. In a dream state, it won’t work.”

“Then tell me how to find you,” I growled. “I have to find you.”

She slid off the bed and wrapped her arms around me. I felt every nerve ending in my body tingle with foreboding. My skin was heated and my cold dead heart was slowly shattering.

“It’s not explainable. I would have to take you there and I can’t physically leave.”

“There is always a way,” I insisted. “Always.”

Elle turned and paced. Her frustration was evident in the jerky way her body moved. She was unsure… afraid.

“I hate myself,” she whispered.

“I love you enough for both of us,” I replied.

“I’m such a bad person to get you involved in this, but… I can give you a hint,” she said haltingly. “And you’ll have to figure it out.”

“Alone?”

A smile pulled at her sinful lips. “No. And that’s part of the hint. No man is an island and…”

“And?” I pressed.

“And mother knows best. I love you, Lucifer, and I always will.”

And on that cryptic note, my Siren disappeared in a blast of amethyst crystals.

I stood naked in the middle of my room and let my head fall to my hands. Taking deep breaths, I centered myself. I was Satan. I was the Harbinger of Evil. I was the goddamned Devil.

I was also a broken man and Adrielle Rinoa was the only person that could make me whole again. Her message was odd, but I would take it at face value. Going back to my mother didn’t appeal, but if she held the clue and had kept it from me there was going to be Hell to pay.

The world might just end tomorrow when I threw a tantrum to end all tantrums in Nirvana.

Or…

Maybe mothers did know best.

Tomorrow would be the end or the beginning. And right now I couldn’t predict which it would be.