I will always believe

James gave his fiance a soft smile, leading him outside and into the warm night air. The castle garden was quiet except for the chirp of crickets, fireflies floating lazily in the breeze.

The prince already had a blanket down, a few notebooks out where James had been scribbling away constellations, so he beckoned Alexander to sit with him. And when he did, James leaned into them. Quiet, but a safe presence for them.

He never forced Alexander to say a word, if they wanted to sit quietly and enjoy the night, then James would respect it. Their feelings were far from weakness in the prince's eyes, and he was welcome to be himself around them.

He follows James out into the gardens and takes a set, his tail naturally curling in a loose arch around him and himself. He feels James lean against him and it almost makes him forget the sting of Olgan's lightening bolt that still lingered on his upper back, now tended to and bandaged up. He looks up at the stars, they twinkled and shimmered in the sky amongst the twin moons. " Light pollution." He repeats. "Mayhaps if the people of your world could see more stars, they be a little happier, maybe?"

He waits a while before he finally brings up today's events.

Lucifer made a mental note to have Malak check on those legs next time they did wing exercises, he sat down on the edge of the bed next to him.

“Ah yes perfect , the clowns and my magic will keep him imprisoned until we can get the proper trial going .— with that out of the way it should be safe for you to be out of hiding now ..”

"Yeah... but... we still need to know how to tell people about....." About him. They couldn't lie, not about this. The trust between Goetia, Kings and sins was fragile right now with everything that had happened. But like Delphine said, they also needed to find a way to protect Lucifer in this from people who might think they can be changed themselves.

She laid down the pen, standing up. When she had shown Patch the fate of Gillian, she had mostly done it out of temper. He hadn't reacted well, even with the imp shrunken and deformed. She perhaps regretted her hasty decision, but she still hadn't believed he would tell Gritt.

The Queen stood before Gritt, expression very serious.

It was frustrating. Did Trip regret that night? Did he regret them? Is that why he wouldn't give details? Opal had been digging, and Gritt knew she'd found discrepancies. Even if she hadn't told him yet. "... sorry. I'm just... frustrated. People are asking me to forgive him, that he's a great guy, and they're annoying Alastor and... I don't even know if thats true."

Gritt sat down heavily on a love seat, his tail drooping. "I know you hate parent stuff. But they're meant to look out for you, they're meant to guide you, and care about you, and protect you... and Trip's done none of that. Why does he even want to be in our lives?"