The Judgement Of Divinity (TMOE #2)

Chapter 39: For love

His eyes welled up again, and he turned away.

"But not Anthony." His voice broke. "You can't hurt him as well. Not like this. You— You can torture me all you want, if it helps. If it numbs your own pain. I'll be alright, but... Not him."

His vision was a blur as he looked over at Anthony's painting, remembering the conversation he'd overheard between Damien and Lucius.

"You don't... Actually want to die, right?" Tears found their way down his cheeks. "I— I know he's caused you so much anguish, but... You could have a good life now. Without him."

Deep down he doubted it would be enough. Anthony had changed throughout his immortality, perhaps even more than Damien. His lust for life had faded, and the few moments of joy he could find were always fleeting. It was possible Ethan had chosen to disregard the severity of that as well, only focusing on having his family back, but were things really so bad that Anthony had to kill himself repeatedly to cope, or to make Damien suffer more?

He shook his head. It was too late for thoughts, and no time for hesitation. He just had to get Anthony's painting out, and then it would all be over.

Except his feet refused to move, and his blurred gaze was forced to look back at the wall again, chest aching as the flood of doubt returned.

To his horror, sounds of footsteps approaching on the other side of the door pierced through his hesitation, and he begrudgingly came to terms with that his time was up.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, wiping tears from his face before forcing his body to move again. "But it's better this way."

***

The wait was excruciating. How long could it possibly take a centuries-old being to move one painting out of a house?

Lucius maintained his plastered smile, but scowled on the inside. He was too worked up to wait much longer. The plan already involved high stakes, so why complicate it further?

He's probably backing out. He doesn't want that man to die.

It was not impossible, but Lucius didn't want to believe it. After all, Ethan had approached him on his own. The more likely explanation would be Ethan having some tearful monologue and saying goodbye to his scourgefucker of a father.

But did he really need to drag it out that much?

Lucius took yet another stroll around the room, doing his best to seem interested in stupid angler conversations while trying to keep an eye on the window where Ethan would appear as soon as he was done.

Swallowing a groan, he turned his head towards inevitable eye contact with Damien, who had fortunately not attempted to talk to him, but they had to at least acknowledge the other's existence.

A chilling discomfort struck Lucius as he laid eyes on the man. No, in fact, the problem was something beside the man. Rather, something not beside the man.

Derek wasn't there.

Of course there was a possibility that Derek was wandering around on his own, but from Lucius' experiences, he wasn't much of a mingling-with-strangers person, and even worse, he seemed to have an uncanny knack of detecting Ethan whenever he was around.

So instead of acknowledging Damien properly, he raised his fan, pretending to be in need of air and made his way towards the window.

Fucking fiddlesticks.

Things would never go smoothly. Lucius just had to accept that as he stared at Ethan trying to navigate stray sunbeams further away at the corner of the building while Derek was having a pleasant time trying to maim him.