Bonus Epilogue Lucifer
Some time later…
“Jess,” I said, raising my eyebrow as I melted into the shadows of my cage.
The Queen of Hell had given me an elegant room for my prison, but it was a prison nonetheless. Magic-reinforced bars separated me from the rest of the room and burned with cool, blue fire. The blue fire didn’t hurt me, and it wouldn’t hurt Jess, either.
But it meant the bars were made of the queen’s Hellfire, something that needed a key to get through.
Jess, a demonspawn with a penchant for lowering my defenses, leaned on her hip as she twirled a blade. “Luc,” she said with a sneer as her forked tongue licked out to taste the air.
Fuck, she’s hot.
She still wore her human sleeve, but with enough witch magic, I could make it more permanent for her, if that was what she wanted.
But I preferred the adorable horns poking from her hair and her bright eyes filled with Hellfire. The tail swishing around her feet was formed into a little point on the end, one that left scars across the floorboards.
Deadly and adorable.
How could I possibly resist such a pretty little package?
I hadn’t. And that had been the start of my downfall.
When she had shown up with an innocently unaware Champion and equally weakened Virtues of the Third Echo of Calamity, I knew I had my opportunity.
One that I found myself regretting taking.
I rubbed my head, finding the throb at the base of one of my horns the most tender as I sighed out a steamy breath of heated air.
“Her Majesty said that you asked for me,” she said with a raised brow. “Something about an apology? I found that hard to believe, so I had to come see for myself.”
I hadn’t expected her to come, but I was trying to make amends.
She was the first person to come to mind. What I had done to her… that hadn’t been Calamity.
That had been me.
“I wasn’t trying to fool anyone,” I admitted. Even when I had spent the night with the feisty little demonspawn, I hadn’t told her the truth.
I had become a demon lord and abandoned my identity because I had been trying to start over.
I’d been trying to live a simpler life. Running a demon barracks suited me. I was made to lead, but I preferred warriors over a kingdom.
Of course, being unseated as the King of Hell had pissed me off, even if I knew that Sonya belonged on the throne.
I didn’t have to like it.
So when Calamity literally came knocking, I couldn’t help but answer the door.
Temptation leads to sin. That’s Hell 101.
Maybe I needed to take a few classes at Fortune Academy Underworld, because I was failing the basics.
Sin was usually a demon’s lifeblood, but in this case, I’d sinned against my own.
“I was trying to start over,” I told her, creeping closer to the bars so she could see my face.
After being imprisoned by Lilith, I had a few scars that were still healing.
Dark streaks marred my face and tracked down my arms. I curled one of my fingers around the bars, allowing my black claws to slip free.
My wings lazily unfurled behind me, but I didn’t stretch them out. I wasn’t trying to intimidate the girl.
She didn’t look very impressed anyway. She narrowed her eyes and snaked out her tongue again as if trying to taste the lie. “You were building an army, Luc. Even if I hadn’t brought Lily to you, or shown Calamity your doorstep, you still would have eventually stormed Hell’s Palace.”
She probably wasn’t wrong.
“Perhaps,” I agreed and tilted my head.
Her red eyes glittered with anger, but I suspected she wasn’t here for me at all.
I wasn’t the only one who had regrets.
“Did you ever want to start over?” I hedged.
She stiffened as she rolled back her shoulders. Her low V-neck blouse stretched over her ample cleavage, making my gaze drop before I flicked it up again.
She had posed as a succubus for a time, a role she played quite well.
She wasn’t human, yet she wore a mortal sleeve. It still clung to her, tattered as her true darkness peeked through.
She wasn’t a succubus, either, but her sensuality had become a part of her nature.
She pretended because she didn’t like who she really was.
She and I weren’t so different.
“Yes,” she admitted as her voice cracked.
She cleared her throat as she closed the distance between us and placed her fingers over mine.
She trailed her touch over my dark claws, then she gripped one of the bars and leaned in so that I could feel her heat on my face.
“Why do I still feel this way about you? After everything you did?”
Anger burned in her eyes and it enthralled me to see it up close.
My tongue flashed over her lower lip, making her flinch.
Mmm. Her anger tasted good, too.
“Because we’re demons, little one. We’re destined to regret, to hate who we are, to suffer.”
That was what Hell had become, anyway.
Under Sonya’s guidance, perhaps she’d build it into something new.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Jess said as she lifted onto her toes so that we were face-to-face.
Her lips lingered over mine as she pressed against the bars.
“Sonya put your fate in my hands, Luc. You want a fresh start? So does she. If you agree to take a power hit, she’ll let you go.
” Her burning red gaze flashed up to mine, making my stomach flex and my wings flare.
“You’ll have to sacrifice what you took from your brother. Are you willing to do that?”
I owed Cole that much. An eye-for-an-eye punishment was fitting, and I would honestly have doled out much worse had I been in charge.
This was a chance at redemption, one I didn’t necessarily deserve.
“What do I get in return?” I found myself asking.
Because this little demon had me on an edge, one that was about to slice me open and leave my heart in her hands.
She grinned, showing off sharp teeth made for biting. “You get me, Luc.”
I stared down at the fiery little creature, wanting nothing more than to take her.
To claim her.
To make her mine.
“Then my answer is yes,” my mouth said before my mind had a chance to catch up.
I didn’t feel the resulting pang of regret I expected. Only a thrill when she showed me a key that she had used and pushed away the bars.
She pulled out a blade and her grin was genuine this time. “Then turn around and hold still. This is going to sting.”