Galilee
The wind stole Gali’s scream—stole it right out of her lungs and threw it into the wind, where it would undoubtedly tumble through the forests, coil around a cypress tree, and find its way to Celestial’s ears. Gali winced at the thought even as she wrapped all her limbs around Lucifer, air roaring past her ears as they fell. She could feel the wheels of fate turning with a heavy inevitability, and the future was a storm of Kincaid women being unleashed on the city, God help them all. It was all Gali’s fault—Celestial had warned her what Nana Darling would do. Her family was going to rain down, a terror on top of the terror she was already feeling as she and the Devil hurtled toward the ground. Maybe it had been ordained from the moment Lucifer melted out of the darkness and her eyes fell on him in the hallway. Maybe her want had engineered all this, and now her life was about to be blown to bits, and it was too late for Gali to do anything to stop it. It had certainly been too late the minute she touched Lucifer and made a deal with him.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured in her ear. Gali took a breath to scream again, but then Lucifer’s wings snapped out and their bodies jerked into a halt midair. Her scream abbreviated into a sharp gasp, and Gali stared at the sight over his shoulder, shocked and not a little bit in awe.
“You havewings,” she whispered breathlessly.
Lucifer huffed in response. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Gali wasn’t sure how to respond. His wings weren’t bat leather and talons like she had imagined the Devil would carry. They were feathered, a deep burnished black like the heart of a stone, gleaming with slick power. She tilted her head. “You havesixwings.”
Lucifer rose in the air, and Gali tightened her arms around his neck as the ground retreated beneath them. “Do you know nothing about angels?” he asked.
Of course she did. While angels might touch the earth as beautiful winged people, it was nowhere close to their final form. Gali frowned and fought the urge to touch the feathered curve where his wings burst off his back.
“You don’t really look anything like this, do you?” she murmured, almost to herself, trying to distract her mind from the fact that they were flying over the city, that her friends were frozen in her loft, and that the Devil had essentially just kidnapped her. It was easier to burrow against the furnace of his skin and ask curious questions against the burning musk of his scent.
“This is as much a true face as any other form,” Lucifer replied easily.
“Show me your other form one day?” The request surprised her even as she said it out loud. It presumed a future where they would have both the time and the intimacy for that.
Lucifer fell silent, and Gali winced. She just wanted to see him, truly see him, butwhywould she want that in the first place? Why did it feel important?
“It’s not a thing for humans to see,” he finally said.
Gali grinned. “I thought you said I wasn’t human.” A memory of her cousin’s voice suddenly ran through her head.One day theygon’have totell you the truth.Gali shook the echo away.
Lucifer chuckled, the sound rich and deep. “Fair enough, little demon.” He bent his head, and Gali lifted hers up to look at him. God, but he was still so beautiful, it left her breathless. Lucifer dipped his head some more, and she let her eyes flutter shut, her lips parting. Sure, her world was unraveling at multiple seams, but she was fairly certain a stolen kiss under the clouds would make it all better, just for a brief moment. Instead, she felt the warmth of his tongue lick across her eyelids, then pull away. Gali tried to glare at him in outrage, but her eyes remained coated in darkness. “What did you do?!”
“My apologies,” he said, sounding thoroughly unrepentant and very amused. “I can’t have you see where I’m taking you just yet.”
Anger spiked through her. “You blinded me?!”
“It’s temporary.”
Like that mattered! Gali tried to force her eyelids open, but they were held fast. Her eyes flickered helplessly behind the skin, trapped in the dark. “I’m gonna kill you,” she growled, feeling the air currents change as he began to descend. “Where the hell are you taking me?”
Lucifer actually sighed out loud. “NottoHell, unfortunately.” His voice curled hotly around her. “Although it would be such fun to have you there. The things we could do...”
Gali ignored the suggestion thickening his words. “Hell?” She’d never truly believed it was real; there seemed to be enough of it here on earth.
Lucifer paused again. “Many afterlives are possible,” he said eventually. “My Hell is just one of them.”
Gali felt them glide into a descent, and their landing was so gentle, she barely felt any impact. She tried to struggle out of his arms, but Lucifer simply tightened them around her and walked forward.
“You can put me down now,” she snapped, swiveling her head around as if it would help the darkness coating her eyes. Not being able to see where she was made all the fine hairs on the back of her neck bristle with warning.
“So impatient.”
He still didn’t let go of her, and Gali was debating whether to really try to fight her way out of his grasp—maybe just bite him wherever her teeth could get a hold—when Lucifer stopped walking and let her down. He brushed his thumbs across her eyelids, and Gali blinked a few times, her eyes adjusting to the light as the darkness lifted.
“Where did you bring me?” she asked.
Lucifer simply stepped back so she could look around herself. They were standing in a room with high ceilings and black walnut floors, a worn antique rug under their feet. The space felt old, down to the plaster crumbling off the walls. There was a heavy wooden door opposite them and a sprawling unmade bed in the center of the room with disheveled sheets.
Gali frowned. “You live here?”
Lucifer folded in his wings, and Gali tried not to stare in fascination as they melted into his back and out of existence. “This is one of my homes for now, yes.”
