"Father, Lady Mother," Lily said as she sat down across from them. Her mother's eyes darted at her and she already knew the reason why Lily spoke up. She slightly turned her head to avoid eye contact. Her mother started to tap her fingers on the table.
"Look at me, Lilith," her mother said.
Lily turned back around to face her mother. "I know what you're about to say about my outfit, Lady Mother. But this is what girls wear in the mortal realm: they wear pants, shorts, and these stretchy pants they call leggings. They are so pretty, you can't lie and say this doesn't look nice. This outfit was actually on a fashion runway."
Her mother sighed. "You know, I was going to yell at you about it, but you are right. Maybe we are old fashioned--you're going to rule one day and it will be your job to make this empire into your own."
Lily was beyond surprised by her mother and really didn't know how to react. She thought her mother would flip out over her outfit. But her mother was very calm. Even though her mother didn't get mad at her, she still wanted to give her the dress she bought.
Lily closed her eyes and put her hand out. She thought about the white box that came with the dress. The box appeared in her hand. She opened her eyes and smiled at her mother. "Here, this is a dress I bought for you."
She handed the box over to her mother. Her mother opened it and gently touched it. The dress was off-the-shoulder and velvet blue with silver lining. Her mother looked impressed.
"This is very nice. I really love the texture," her mother said.
"Thank you, Lady Mother. I knew you would like it." Lily smiled. She looked over to her father. "I didn't forget about you, Father." She did the same thing and a white box appeared in her hand.
Lily passed the box to her mother, who passed it to her father. He opened it and saw a navy blue and black military-style jacket with dragon wings embroidered on the collar. He cracked a smile. "I guess you got your sense of style from your mother."
Lily chuckled as her father closed the box and gave it to a young man. He ordered him to put both boxes in their bedroom. When the young man opened the door, four servants entered, two men and two women. They bowed as Nisroch, the Chief of the Kitchen, started to put food on the table. Behemoth, the Chief Cupbearer, put down cups and poured wine in each cup. Dagon, one of the female servants and the Grand Pantler, put down bread, fruit, and cheese in the middle of the table. Hanna, a minor female servant, held a bowl of water and a white cloth.
Nisroch and Dagon bowed, curtsied, and left, leaving Behemoth and Hanna. Lily looked at the food, besides the bread, fruit and cheese. There were small meat pies, turkey legs, and beef stew bread bowls.
Lily and her parents started to eat. It was silent for a few minutes until Lucifer looked at Lily. "We need to talk about a few things. There's so many; where do I start?" He chuckled.
After her father said that, Lily could see her mother side-eyeing her. She knew what that meant; she put down her spoon and looked at her father. "Father, I want to talk about school."
"Oh, okay, go ahead," Lucifer said, biting into a turkey leg.
Lily folded her hands and took a deep breath. "For the past two months, I have been getting bullied."
Lucifer dropped the turkey leg. "What? Why are you just mentioning this now?"
"I was afraid of how you would react. Before the break, I told mother. I wasn't just bullied--I was also sexually assaulted." Lily didn't sway her eye contact from her father.
Lucifer didn't know what to say. Of course, as a father, he was pissed but he didn't want to flip the table. He calmed himself down and took a breath. "Have you told any of your teachers or the headmaster?"
Lily nodded her head. "I did, but they didn't take me seriously. My teacher even blamed me for the chaos. But I'm going to fight and let my voice be heard, like you did when you wrote the Freewill Act."
At the moment Lily said the last part, Lucifer knew how much Lily had grown since going to the mortal realm. But there's one more thing that was bothering him.
"Your words and voice have become so powerful. As your father I am proud of you but—" he slowly bent his fork and his eyes glowed red. "Who sexually abused you?"
Lily slowly shifted her eyes away from her father. She could see the only window in the room started to freeze. He's mad, she thought as she gripped her hands tighter. She doesn't like looking at her father when he got upset. It scared her.
"It was a dhampir; his name is Brycen."
"Brycen what?" Lucifer asked, trying to calm himself down, because he could see that Lily was a little frightened.
"Brycen Cozma," Lily answered.
Lucifer's eyes widened. "Cozma, huh." He shook his head. "This is my fault."
"How so?" Lily asked.
"It's karma. That boy is a descendant of King Bael. As you know, I am not the first ruler of Hell. Your mother and I fought in war for our crown and, in that war, I killed King Bael. Ever since, his descendants tried many times to claim the throne."
"But, Father, he doesn't know who I am. He knows that I'm high-born because he saw my devil's mark," Lily said as she started to eat again.
"It doesn't matter, karma comes in different ways. But don't worry. I will deal with this," Lucifer said with a stern voice.
"You're not planning on killing him, right?" Lily asked.
Lucifer just chuckled and ate the rest of his turkey leg. Lily started to worry. Even though she hated what Brycen did to her, she didn't want him to die. Her father changed the subject and started to talk about Yule.
"On the first day, you will be insinuating the Feast of Feast," Lucifer said.
"Really?" Lily asked.
"Yes, you're older now and I picked out the perfect dress for you to wear," Lilith said.
"You're also going to be joining the Wild Hunt," Lucifer said.
Lily shot up with excitement. "Are you serious?" she asked, grinning.
Lucifer nodded. "Not only that, but you will pick out the tree."
Lily frowned and slowly sat back down. Flashes of the Suicide Forest went through her mind. Her hand started trembling. "But you were always picking the tree."
"Yes, the sovereign picks a soul tree but, because you are the heir, you need to try it out for once before you become Empress."
Lily hadn't been to the Suicide Forest since she was twelve, and she wanted to keep it that way until she became Empress. The thing that scared her the most was the thought of going into the forest by herself until she yelled out that she found a tree. She tried to talk her father out of it, but he was very stubborn and had made up his mind.
Because Lucifer wasn't going to change his mind, Lily changed the subject. She wanted to ask an important question that had been hovering over her head for a while. And she thought that, since it's the season of giving and generosity, it was the perfect time to ask.
Lily cleared her throat and looked at her parents. She was thrown off by all the food that her mother ate but shook it off.
"I want to ask a question to both of you," Lily said.
Her parents didn't say anything; she continued. Her leg was shaking and she was hesitant. "You two love my ladies like they were your own, right?"
They both nodded.
"I have been thinking, how about you adopt them?"
Her parents looked at each other. Lily held her hand up before either of her parents could say anything.
"I know that they would be considered illegitimate, but--" she looked at Lucifer ''—you have the power to make them legitimate. They are beautiful, so finding them a husband won't be hard."
"That won't be necessary," Lucifer sighed.
"Why? Didn't you voice that you want more children?" Lily asked.
"I did, children that can carry my blood in them and besides, it would be your job to find your ladies fine husbands. So adoption is pointless."
Lily felt like her stomach was in her throat and she was on the verge of tears. She blinked because she didn't want to cry in front of her parents. She really thought her father would be on board with her idea.
"I know that you want your bloodline to stay strong, but I'm your only child." Lily lowered her head.
Lucifer looked at Lilith and she put her hand on Lily's. "That won't be the case anymore."
Lily lifted up her head to look at her mother. "What are you saying?"
"I'm pregnant." Her mother gave her the brightest smile that she ever saw.
Lily knew that she couldn't be selfish in this situation. She loved seeing her mother happy and she was glowing.
"That's fantastic, Lady Mother." Lily smiled back. "Do you know what it is yet?"
"I believe it will be a boy," she answered, rubbing her stomach.
"Wait, if it is a boy, does that mean he will be the heir? Because I know that in some places the boy would bump up in succession."
Lucifer shook his head. "Don't worry, you're still the heir. You're the oldest child, after all."
Relief went through Lily. She started to process the fact that she's going to be a big sister. I wonder if the baby would look like Father?
While Lily was in her thoughts, Lucifer called in Simon, who was holding a red leather book. He put the book in front of Lily.
Lily raised her brow. "What is this?" she asked as she opened the book. She saw different names while flipping through the pages. She stopped when she noticed a name. Melusina?
"That's the book of sou—" Lucifer got a closer look at the book and clicked his jaw. "Boy! Come back here!" he yelled.
Simon came back into the room. "Yes, Your Majesty?"
"You gave Lily the wrong book. I told you to get the Book of Souls, not Libro de Bestia."
The Book of the Beast? Lily thought as she stared at Melusina's name. Questions flooded her mind because she heard about the Book of the Beast and what it stood for.
Simon apologized and left to get the Book of Souls. Lily pointed at Melusina's name as she looked at her father.
"Why is Melusina's name in the Book of the Beast? I thought she was a witch that used white magic?" Lily asked.
Lucifer chuckled. "Not at all, you do know she's married to Leviathan. She isn't called the Mother of Sirens for nothing."
"So, if she gets her power from you, then so do her descendants, right?"
"That's right, and when you become Empress, the witches and warlocks that are in that book will be getting their power from you."
Sam is a descendant of Melusina. Now it makes sense why that bashing spell didn't work. Lily didn't realize it, but she started to grin wide by the thought of Sam not knowing where her powers came from and that, one day, she will be in control of those powers.
Simon returned with the correct book. It was a big, black leather book. He took the Book of the Beast and put the Book of Souls in front of Lily. She opened it and it was similar to the Book of the Beast. The only difference is the names in the book weren't signatures.
Lucifer cleared his throat. "I'm going to get right into it. There's an office that I made just for you," he said to Lily.
"And that is?" Lily asked.
"I want you to be my Mortal Judge. Those names in that book are humans that are destined to Hell. And I feel the new souls that are coming down here shouldn't be here; at most, they should be in Limbo. That's where you come in. While you are in the mortal realm, you'll be searching for those people. Your job is not to convince them to change their ways. They would have to convince you why they shouldn't go to Hell."
"You want me to announce myself to them?" Lily asked while she closed the book.
"Not exactly, but if it comes to it then you can. However, you need to observe their actions and how they spent their life to that point. That will help you decide on your choice," Lucifer said as he played with an apple.
"And you trust me with this?"
"Of course, you're my daughter, after all. I would do it myself, which I have, but the devil is very busy. Besides, this is good practice for when you become Empress."
This was a big responsibility for Lily. She had mixed emotions about it. On one hand, she was glad that her father trusted her and, on the other, she felt overwhelmed by all of it.
She took a breath. "I will be honored to take this position, Father."
Lucifer smiled. "Great, the only thing left to do is to visit the three judges tomorrow."
Lily's eyes widened. "Y-You want me to go in front of the Judges of Hell?"
Lucifer nodded. "Yes, they will be expecting you. Make sure you make a good impression. They don't care if you're my daughter; they care if you are right for the job."
Lily was now nervous. She only met the three judges twice and they were scary, in her opinion. The three Judges of Hell are a few of the oldest demons. They have been around since the reign of King Bael. They judge every soul that comes through Hell and make the discussion of where the soul goes depending on the sin and how they spent their life.
Lucifer chose them because of their wisdom of humans and for the fact he was getting too busy to judge every soul that came through.
Lily looked at the book and sighed. This day is just full of surprises.