“How is your host faring?” Lugh asked, shocking me and, judging by the look on his face, Raphael as well.
“The first time we’ve been able to talk to each other outside of an immediate crisis for perhaps a century, and that’s what you want to ask me?”
Mentally, I started. I knew, of course, that demons were long-lived, if not immortal. And I knew how badly Lugh and Raphael had gotten along. But it had never occurred to me that they hadn’t spoken to one another for so long.
“Remember, brother,” Lugh said, “unlike yourself, I’m in partnership with my host. Which means her concerns are important to me. So tell me how Andrew fares.”
Raphael shook his head. “Why should I bother? Neither you nor Morgan will believe me if I tell you he’s fine.” I’d never seen my brother’s face look petulant before. It wasn’t a flattering expression.
I felt my teeth grinding and knew that Lugh was struggling to control himself.
Don’t throw a conniption fit on my behalf, I thought at him. You know I’ve already had this conversation with him, and his assurances haven’t made me feel any better.
“Do you blame us for not fully trusting you?” Lugh asked. “Would you trust me if our positions were reversed?”
Raphael crossed his arms over his chest and slumped in his chair. I swear he looked just like a sulking teenager. “Nothing I ever do is enough for you. No matter how many risks I’ve taken for you, no matter—”
Lugh growled. “Stop whining! If the only reason you’re helping me—if you are indeed helping me—is so you can use your cooperation as emotional blackmail, then don’t bother.”
The demon Raphael flared in Andrew’s eyes, and for a moment I thought he was going to launch himself at us. Lugh tensed, apparently sharing my suspicion, but Raphael managed to keep his ass in the chair. He gripped the arms of his chair with both hands, and the knuckles turned white.
Uh, Lugh, I don’t think goading him and telling him what a shit he is is terribly productive, I said. Funny how much more rational I could be when it was Lugh arguing with Raphael rather than myself.
“And who was it who goaded him into hitting her the last time she spoke with him?” Lugh asked aloud.
If my body had been my own, I’m sure I would have flushed beet red at the reminder. I definitely wasn’t in a position to throw stones.
To my surprise, Raphael chuckled and seemed to relax. “I have mentioned before that you and Morgan make a surprisingly compatible team.” The humor faded from his face, but at least the sullenness didn’t return. “Andrew is fine. We are neither of us happy with our forced alliance, but we are making the best of the situation.”
Lugh snorted. “No one’s forcing the alliance except you.”
Raphael leaned forward in his chair. “You’re forgetting something, brother. Andrew and I have despised one another almost since the first moment we met. I have the power to destroy him, but because of you and Morgan, I’m not doing it. So yes, I am being forced into an alliance I’d very much prefer to give up.”
Then give it up, you asshole, I wanted to say, but of course my voice wasn’t under my own control at the moment.
I felt my lips curl into a smile that was more like a snarl. “I’d be happy to help you give it up, little brother,” Lugh said, and it seemed like every muscle in my body tensed.
Raphael tensed, too. “You think you can exorcize me?” His lips curled into a snarl very like his brother’s. “Are you certain which one of us would win if we fought?”
Lugh had told me once that he wasn’t sure, that he and Raphael were evenly matched. But he seemed to have forgotten that doubt now.
“Let’s find out,” Lugh said, and before the words had left his mouth, he had propelled himself off the bed and slammed into Raphael’s body.
What are you doing? I screamed in my mind. If they fought and Lugh lost, then it was all over. Dougal would gain the throne, and everything I’d gone through—that we’d gone through—would be worth diddly squat.
Lugh didn’t answer me. The chair crashed to the floor, and Raphael ended up trapped on his back, with Lugh holding him down. Andrew was a lot bigger than me, but Lugh was strong enough to compensate, especially when he was already on top. Their eyes locked, and although the effort to exorcize a demon is not a physical one, I was still aware of Lugh mustering his energy, of his aura pressing down on Raphael’s.
I desperately wanted to take back the reins of my body, but it was too late now. If I started fighting against Lugh, I could destroy his concentration, and it would all be over.
Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that Lugh would let his temper get the better of him. Yes, I’d seen flashes of that temper before. And yes, I knew how deep-seated was the animosity between him and his brother. Still, I’d thought the same sense of responsibility that I spent most of my time cursing would keep him from doing something so rash. I mentally held my breath, hoping and praying that Lugh turned out to be stronger.
Raphael’s eyes widened as his gaze locked with Lugh’s.
“Please don’t send me back,” Raphael said in a choked whisper. “You know what Dougal will do to me. Please!”
What the hell. .?
Lugh’s aura continued to push against Raphael’s, but there was no resistance. Just a little bit more pressure, and Raphael would be shoved back into the Demon Realm. And my brother would be free.
Raphael lay still under Lugh’s body. . under my body. There was still no resistance against the pressure of Lugh’s aura, and it finally occurred to me that there was no resistance because Raphael wasn’t fighting back.
“You’re going to make it this easy?” Lugh inquired, his voice calm despite the ugly temper that had prompted the attack.
Raphael swallowed hard. “If one of us is going back, it has to be me. Dougal would kill you, and then it would all have been for nothing.” He closed his eyes and waited. Sweat dewed his face, and his breath came short and frantic, but still he didn’t fight.
Lugh’s aura retreated and he rolled off of Raphael. Raphael just lay there, eyes closed, body tense. Lugh righted the chair he’d knocked over, then grabbed Raphael’s arm, hauled him to his feet, and deposited him in the chair. Then he sat on the edge of the bed again and just stared until Raphael opened his eyes.
The staring contest seemed to go on forever. I had no idea what was going on, what Raphael was thinking, what Lugh was thinking. But I watched through Lugh’s eyes as Raphael’s fear faded to puzzlement, then to understanding, then to fury.
“You bastard!” he spat, and it looked like he was holding himself in the chair by force of will alone. “That was some kind of test, wasn’t it? A test of my loyalty?”
“If you’re to be in my inner circle, if I’m to trust you, then I had to know for certain you’re on my side.”
To my shock, Raphael’s eyes glittered with what looked like a hint of tears. “And that’s what it took for me to prove my worth?” His voice was hoarse, and there was no missing the pain in it. I’d sometimes mistrusted Raphael’s emotions in the past, never sure he wasn’t just acting. This time, I was sure he wasn’t.
Lugh reached out to pat his brother’s shoulder. Raphael actually flinched from the touch.
“Ask yourself this, little brother,” Lugh said. “Given everything that’s at stake, would I have taken the risk of fighting you if I really thought you’d fight back? You may think me arrogant, but surely you don’t think I’m so arrogant as to assume I’d win.”
Raphael blinked and shook his head. “But then why. .?”
“Because I’m not the only one who needed to be convinced.”
Well, shit. That whole show had been for me? I hadn’t been Raphael’s favorite person before, and this wouldn’t do anything to endear me to him.
Raphael thought about that for a long time without saying anything. Then he nodded. “I can’t say I appreciate your methods, but I understand. What happens now that I’ve passed your test?”