The Angel's Fall (The Fay Morgan Chronicles Book 6) Read Online Free Page B

as everything did on the way here. Why is that?”
    His face lit up, and again I had the sense that all the light in the room was drawn to him. “Oh, sweet woman, you speak true?” He clapped his hands “Most excellent! Things fall apart, as they must. It has been that way, ever faster and faster, ever since….” He blinked and looked confused.
    “Ever since Lila was dragged down here?” Merlin asked.
    The father nodded and spilled tea as he raised his teacup toward his mouth. “An inevitable series of events,” he muttered.
    “Perhaps she is more important than you think,” Merlin added.
    “Correlations is not causation, son,” the old man said. “The realm was bound to fall apart sometime. I’ve thought so and hoped for it, ever since I fell here.”
    “You… fell?” Merlin asked with a whisper.
    The old man shrugged. Light danced across his face. “Fallen is always how they tell it. In truth? I jumped and my wings carried me down as my feathers caught fire and burned. I came here blazing as bright as the North Star, and I have stayed within the borders of Hell ever since, except for the short time I was allowed to go to Earth and….” The old man rubbed his eyes and looked confused. “Did you know I traveled to Earth once? To Wales?”
    “Yes, you told us,” Merlin said.
    “The order of things gets confused,” he said. “Did I tell you yet, that the story of Lucifer is rarely told in Hell? It is more common on Earth. I have been down here so long, doing what I do quietly and patiently, that the citizens of Hell have forgotten I ever existed. Sometimes I’ve wondered if I’m real.”
    Merlin paled. “Do you mean to say that you are….”
    The man flashed him a troubled smile. “The light bringer. The darkest angel of Hell. Yes, son, I am Lucifer.”
     

 
     
     
     
     
    5
    Bastard
    The name filled the room and the father and son stared at each other.
    “But why?” Merlin finally asked, breaking the silence that filled the room. “Why do you stay here, if you are an angel? You hate it here. I hear it, in everything that you say. I don't,” he said, swallowing. “I don't sense that you must stay because you are the worst of the worst.”
    The man brightened. “Thank you. Few have ever offered me that much grace. Though time and this place have warped me, I thank you for seeing any light left within me. I am here because this is a realm that must be guarded. And when this place was formed, it was made with the idea that one good soul must watch over it.”
    Merlin frowned. “I don’t understand a god that would abandon you here.” Anger threaded his voice. “I don’t understand how you could give up everything to live here.”
    “You will, though,” Lucifer said so quietly it was barely audible. “I would like to show you some of the darker corners of these lands, son. But time is one of our many enemies today.”
    Merlin pushed his plate away. “Indeed. Thank you for lunch. We must be off now. We did not intend to tarry.”
    “Intentions,” Lucifer said, and confusion fell across his face. “The road to Hell, and the door. Sometimes I think I should have given up in the very beginning. Insisted Hell shouldn’t exist. But now,” he said, shaking his head. “Too much has grown crooked. A man must watch the border, along with his good dog, of course.” He reached under the table and fed Cerberus a piece of fish.
    “But the border is not so shut as all that,” I said. “Lila's father. The Marid. He escaped.” As I spoke, I had the bright hope that Lucifer could do something about him. Send the Knights of Hell to capture the Marid, perhaps. I hoped there might be one less impossible thing we had to accomplish today.
    Lucifer nodded slowly and one of his eyes ticked shut. “The truth of it is, I didn't know he was gone until Lila came here. He is too strong on Earth for me to touch now. I should have known he was gone long ago.”
    “We all make mistakes,” Merlin