She crossed her arms around herself, suddenly conscious that she was still in her large shirt and very tiny sleep shorts. “Why did you bring me here, Lucifer?”
His jaw tightened when she said his name and his eyes bled black. Gali took a step back. It had been sexy the first time she’d seen it, but right now she didn’t feel safe, and there was nothing hot about that.
“Don’t do that,” she said. “I’m not in the mood.” Her body felt muddled—desirous but anxious and angry. He’dkidnappedher. Bonbon and Oriak? were stuck in her apartment, and she had no idea how to fix what she’d done to them. “Take me back.”
Lucifer blinked, and his eyes returned to the deep brown and flickering gold.
“I apologize,” he said, drawing himself up. His face was serious now, without a fragment of playfulness, as he picked up a linen robe from the bed and handed it over to her. Gali pulled it on, wrapping herself inthe soft fabric. It smelled of smoke and Lucifer. “I needed to talk to you,” he was saying, “and it’s... urgent.”
Gali glanced past him to the balcony and the open French doors he’d flown in through. Something was stirring in her blood, wild and musical, like a warning bell or a hunting horn. Her fear solidified into a sure knowledge.Nana Darling.
“We do need to talk,” she agreed. “But then you’ll take me back to my friends right after.”
Lucifer paused, frowning. “You’re concerned about something.”
Gali’s mind was wandering off, reaching out toward Celestial. As surely as if she were standing on the old porch of the Kincaid house, Gali knew that her family was coming for her, a small but vengeful army. She could almost see her mother slicking her hair off her face, slipping a sanctified razor blade into her cheek. Gali glanced up at Lucifer, and her heart thudded against her ribs at the sight of his face, like it always did. Nana Darling couldn’t kill him, could she? No, the Devil was almost certainly immortal. But Nana Darling couldhurthim, of that Galilee was sure. The Kincaids had been hunting inhuman things and sometimes human ones for a long time in those woods, guarding the civilians who lived around them, even the town of Salvation itself. They had anointed weapons, blessed edges, and they’d use them against Lucifer without hesitation. As Gali gazed at his face—a face she could see psalms being written about—it dawned on her that the worse certainty was that Lucifer could hurt Nana Darling. He could hurt Celestial, or Collette, or any of the Kincaid women. They would all be so worried about protecting Gali, when she was the one person Lucifer had shown no interest in hurting. But he was the Devil, and the Kincaids were bringing war to his door simply because he existed and he wanted her.
That’s not entirely true,her thoughts corrected.They’re bringing war to his door becausehe took you.
Gali took a tentative step toward him. “Lucifer...” she began.
He closed his eyes for a moment, as if to gather himself at hearing her speak his name, but his face was as calm as a mirror when he opened them again. “Yes, Galilee?”
Fuck, but she loved that he said her name in all its completeness. It sounded like a prayer each time it passed his lips.
“Would you ever hurt me?”
It was something she had to ask, because he was the Devil and she didn’t know him, and what if her family was right?
Lucifer winced, and something like pain or grief washed over his face. Gali blinked in surprise, certain she was imagining it, because that was absolutely not the response she’d expected or wanted. But no, Lucifer was still standing there, sorrow pulling at his mouth and apology thick in his eyes.
“Galilee...” he said. “We need to talk first.”
She took a step away from him, then another. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I don’twantto hurt you,” he replied, and foolishly, Gali felt her eyes sting.
“Wrong answer, asshole.” She forced the unreasonable sense of betrayal back, replacing it with useful anger,righteousanger. “You supposed to say,No, of course not, I would never hurt you.”
Lucifer sighed and looked away, reaching out a long arm to drag a chair over to him. He sat heavily in it and rubbed at his forehead. “You know, contrary to popular belief, I don’t lie.”
“That’s not the same as telling the truth,” Gali shot back, echoing her cousin. Celestial had been right all along, dammit.
“Iwouldtell you the truth if you would just sit down and listen!” The gold in his eyes flared for a heated moment, but then he took a deep breath and forced it away. “I can’t promise not to hurt you because I don’t know what youare, Galilee. I don’t know why you’re here or whatyou want. Which leads me to believe that you could be a threat to the work I’m currently doing.”
Gali sat down at the edge of the bed, her jaw falling open. “I’mthe threat? I hate to break the news of our power dynamic to you, Lucifer, but you’reliterallythe Devil.”
He glared at her. “I’m aware.”
She laughed, and the sound was derisive as it came up her throat. This wasn’t making any sense. “How the hell am I the threat? Shit, you could kill me in a heartbeat right now.” Saying it out loud should have made her afraid, but there was something reassuring in the helpless, futile truth of it. Besides, he didn’t seem like hewantedto kill her, though that wouldn’t be much of a consolation if he did it anyway. “And what’s the work you doing?”
Lucifer’s eyes shuttered, going flat and cold. “Don’t ask questions like that, Galilee. They don’t help.”
Gali tilted her head and frowned, letting the irritation color her voice. “You acting like I’m some spy or criminal. I’ve been minding my own business and living my life until you waltzed into it, and nowI’ma threat? For what? For being alive and unfortunate enough to be breathing in your proximity?”
Lucifer leaned forward. “Whatareyou, Galilee? That’s all I’m trying to figure out. Just tell me that and everything could be fine.”
An old, old fear coated the back of her mouth. “Why wouldn’t everything be fine?”
