The room had grown quiet again. The black flame in Lucille's palm flickered like a heartbeat, then dimmed. Maika stood frozen, eyes locked with the being inside Nyra's body—no longer just a girl, but a reborn of ancient fire.
Lucille's gaze turned away from the window and settled on Maika, not with malice—but with something sorrowful. Tired.
> "Do you want to know the truth?"
"Not the Council's twisted scripture… but what really happened?"
Maika didn't answer, but her silence gave permission.
Lucille took a seat on the edge of the bed, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Nyra's face stared back—but there was age behind the eyes, lifetimes of pain.
> "I don't want war," she said. "I wanted peace. I still do."
She inhaled deeply, eyes softening.
> "There was a time, long ago… when I believed peace was possible. When I found him."
Her lips curled faintly.
"Duke Koa. A human."
Maika blinked. "You loved a human?"
Lucille nodded slowly.
> "Yes. And he loved me. Not for my power. Not for my blood. He called me his star. He kissed my forehead when I woke from nightmares. And when I told him who I was… he didn't run."
Her fingers clenched.
> "But the Council couldn't allow it. The Devil's daughter in the arms of a human Duke? They feared what that meant. That the bloodline of Lucifer could love, could integrate. That I might bear a child with no darkness in its heart."
A deep breath trembled from her lips.
> "So I left him. I walked away from the only home I had… so he would be safe."
---
A Devil's Heart
Lucille looked up, her voice quiet but firm.
> "You asked what kind of monster I am. Let me tell you what the Council never did."
She stood and walked to the window, eyes gazing toward the stars.
> "My father… was Lucifer. The Devil. But not the way they paint him in tales."
> "He was once ruthless. Cold. Destructive. Yes. But everything changed the day he met my mother—Corinne Carello."
Maika's head snapped up. "The Carello line?"
Lucille nodded.
> "A witch of unmatched power and a heart wild as the sea. He met her when she seeks power from him. He could have killed her instantly—but he didn't. He was fascinated."
Her tone turned wistful.
> "And he fell in love."
---
The Devil's Vow
> "My siblings and I were born from that love," Lucille said. "And I watched with my own eyes how he changed. How the Devil became a man who smiled at lullabies, who carved wooden animals for his sons, who kissed the ground our mother walked on."
> "He was terrified when she was pregnant with me. The last child. My birth nearly killed her. I remember hearing the story from my brothers… how he stood outside the chamber, screaming like a beast every time she cried out."
Her voice cracked.
> "They say he punched through marble walls. Tore apart mountains. That he swore—if he could take her pain, he would do so a thousand times over."
> "And when I was finally born, bloodied and silent… he held me in trembling arms. And he wept."
Maika whispered, "Lucifer… wept?"
Lucille smiled faintly.
> "He did. And in that moment, he promised my mother—'Lucille will be our last.'"
---
The Council's Betrayal
Lucille's expression darkened.
> "But love isn't something the Council understands. When they discovered the children of Lucifer and Corinne, they didn't try to negotiate. They didn't listen. They struck."
Her voice shook.
> "They slaughtered my siblings… in front of my mother's eyes."
Tears shimmered at the corner of her eyes, but they didn't fall.
> "They used the Black Arrow—infused with Elven power. Made to kill devils and anything tied to the abyss."
> "Only I survived. Because I used concealment magic. I watched from beneath the vision in my chamber at the witch sanctum… as my brothers died screaming. As my mother wailed. As the light in my father's eyes was stolen."
She turned to Maika, and for the first time, Maika saw not a devil—but a daughter. A child who lost her entire world.
> "They call me a monster. A harbinger of ruin. But all I ever wanted… was to live. To love. To be free of what my blood meant."
---
The Flame Within
Silence fell.
The wind outside slowed. The fire dimmed. Maika's throat felt tight. The Council's version of history was unrecognizable from this truth.
Lucille's voice was soft now, barely above a whisper.
> "I do not want to conquer. I do not want to burn this world. I just want to live in it."
Maika looked down at her own trembling hands. The very council who threatened her family… had also erased this woman's truth. Her sorrow. Her right to peace.
Lucille met her eyes.
> "Will you report me, Maika of the Carello blood? Or will you help me rewrite what they burned?"