“God called me his sister. He’s not allowed to have me. He’s not allowed to force me. God told him that.” God. God, who had brought her forth into this world. For what? Breathe, the voice had said. And she had, but she wished she could take it back.
“Did he force you?”
She buried her hands in her hair, clutching her head. Adam had known what he was doing. It had been different than the other times she had heard his thoughts. It was a demand. A command. Imposed over her own will. And the heat burning through her body had been his, too. She understood now why Lilith believed as she did. He had forced himself on her, not just physically, but mentally too. Only Lilith had no power of her own. No strength of mind to stop him. No way to protect herself from the way his words twisted her thoughts to his bidding. She wouldn’t understand what was happening.
Eve wasn’t even sure she understood.
“He tried.” But it wasn’t something she was ready to explain. It wasn’t something she had the words to describe. “I won’t be his wife.”
Reu nodded and stood, glancing up at the tree sheltering her. He frowned and reached up, plucking a piece of fruit from a branch and staring at it. His forehead furrowed and he dropped the fruit as if it had stung him, stumbling back from beneath the boughs. He stared at the tree, his jaw tense and his face white.
“What’s wrong?”
He shook his head, searching the clearing now. Then he stopped, his gaze fixed on something over her head. The tree rasped again. “Eve, come toward me. Slowly.”
There was a hissing behind her. Like laughter. She turned to look and then scrambled out from under the creature hanging above her head. A legless kind of lizard, only so much larger than anything she’d seen in the Garden, longer than her own body and patterned with green and brown diamonds. It slithered through the branches, its body rasping against the bark as it followed her movement to the edge of the canopy, the hissing laughter in her ear the whole way.
A tongue flicked quickly in and out of its mouth and it stared into her eyes. “Sheltered as you’ve been you’ve already learned to fear.” It hissed another laugh, louder this time. “And God thought you’d be safe in the Garden.”
She couldn’t look away from the creature. Even breathing became a labor as it stared at her, suspended from the lowest branch of the tree. “What are you?”
“Reu knows.” The creature’s gaze shifted over her shoulder and the weight lifted enough for her to breathe again.
“You’re Lucifer,” Reu said.
It hissed another laugh. “And I didn’t even need to give you any hints.”
“What do you want?” She didn’t like the way it laughed. The way its tongue slipped in and out, tasting the air. She had no idea who or what Lucifer was, but the way Reu spoke the name made the hairs on her arms stand up.
“What does anyone want?” But the creature narrowed its pupils as it looked at her, and she felt as if it tore through every thought she’d ever had. Her skull ached. “Poor Eve, still struggling to understand this world you’ve woken to. I want to live. Undisturbed. Free. Without fear. Just as your Reu preaches we all should.”
“What do you want from us?” Reu’s voice was rough. Eve thought it was dismay to have his words turned by this creature, though she didn’t know why, or what about it offended him.
“Defy Adam. Bear sons and daughters of wisdom to protect us all.
She stepped back, jerking her gaze from the creature and staring at the tree. The boughs were heavy with brilliant red leaves, hiding its bounty. At first glance, she had mistaken them for apples; the same fruit Hannah had offered her at midday the day before. But now she could see they were brighter, more luscious. And shining a polished gold so brilliant they reflected the red leaves around them.
“The fruit?”
The creature hissed again. “She knows more than she’s admitted, Reu. Picked it from the mind of God’s favorite son. Will you still love her when she can read your thoughts as well?”
“The fruit is forbidden,” Reu said, glowering.
“Do you really think he’s searching the Garden just for Eve’s pleasure?”
“No.” She only realized she’d spoken out loud when the creature hissed with its awful laughter. She cleared her throat. “He’s looking for the fruit. It’s been in his thoughts since I’ve known him.”
Reu shook his head. “The angels will never allow it.”
“The angels will wait until God’s law has been broken before they act.” Lucifer said. “They won’t help you. And then it will be too late. Adam will destroy us all, determined as he is to have her.”
The creature’s golden eyes were black slits as it stared at Reu, who had fallen silent. She could feel his tension, so thick it was like a weight in her heart. If the creature could inspire such dread, why did it need them to act?
“You will not stop him?”
“It is not in my power to stop God’s chosen ones from doing what they desire. I may only suggest, only beg, only plead.” The creature said it bitterly, and its long body drooped between the branches. “Adam will not be constrained by God’s law, and you cannot cower behind it for much longer. Make your choices carefully.” Its gaze shifted back to Reu, and the tongue flicked out and in again. “Or it will be your death. Not that it will matter for long. Creation will be undone soon after, and God’s sacrifice will have been made in vain. Will you not make the sacrifice of this small sin to save the whole world, when He gave His immortal life for you?”
The creature pulled its body back into the crimson leaves, disappearing completely into the tree as though it had never been there.
“Wait!” Eve called. But there was no response, and Reu hushed her, his head turning away from the tree. He pushed her behind him and stepped back, his shoulders squared against what came.
Lilith crashed through the brush on the other side of the meadow with Lamech behind her. Reu swore, some of the stiffness leaving his body. He let Eve go, and when she moved to his side she could see the deep furrow of his brow.
“The tree.” Lamech’s eyes were wide, and he glanced at Reu before his gaze returned to Lilith. His face paled.
She was staring at the tree with eyes rounder than the moon, and then her gaze fell to the ground and the golden fruit there. She stepped forward, reaching down to pick up the shining apple Reu had dropped.
Lamech made a strangled noise. “Lilith, no. You mustn’t. It’s forbidden.”
“Nothing is forbidden to Lord Adam.” Her fingers caressed the golden skin. “He will be pleased with me for finding this.”
“It won’t matter, Lilith.” Reu spoke gently. “Even if you bring this to him, it won’t make him stop hurting you.”
Lilith shook her head, staring at the fruit. “You don’t understand.”
“I do.” Eve stepped forward.
There was a ring of purple around Lilith’s neck, black and blue marks in the shape of hands on her arms and splotches all over her body. This was what Reu had meant. What he hadn’t wanted her to see. What Lilith had suffered in her place. But she hadn’t seen this in Adam’s mind when he had kissed her. It had been different, and yet…
“The touch of his mind, the heat that sinks into your bones, bending you to his will. I understand, and what he’s done to you is wrong.”
“He is Lord! We are his to do with as he pleases.”
“He’ll destroy us all, Lilith,” Reu said. “He’ll hurt us all. Is that what you want?”
“You should be careful what you say, Reu. He’s already angry with you. He thinks you’re trying to take
“Eve is free to make her own choices, just as you are.”
But she wasn’t. Eve could feel the way Lilith’s emotions had been twisted. Adam’s power was like a cloud over her mind, his presence thick in her thoughts. It wouldn’t matter what Reu said to her. It didn’t matter what God’s law once might have been. Lilith would answer only to Adam, would follow only Adam. Eve pitied this
