Lucifer sighed and straightened out his face. “I promise not to kill your family, Galilee.”
That wasn’t enough, not even close, not with yellow eyes and a cold sword looking down at her. “And your princes?”
His eyes darkened. “I’ll get no such promise out of them.” He gently put her aside and stood up from the bed. “It’s probably best we get this talk over with.”
Gali’s eyes shifted away. Leviathan had been bad enough when he stormed in; she had no desire to meet more hostile princes.
“Why don’t you handle that and I’ll wait right here,” she suggested, patting the bed. “Where it’s nice and safe.”
Lucifer barely heard her. He was pulling on his jeans, his jaw tight as he talked to himself. “Now that they know you’re here, the timeline’s not going to matter anymore.”
Foreboding sat up at the nape of her neck. “What timeline?”
He paused, his shirt in his hands, and met her eyes solemnly. “I won’t let them hurt you. I just need them to stay away from your family, even if your family doesn’t stay away from them.”
“Uh... your princes don’t sound like they’ll roll with that,” Gali ventured, watching as he pulled on his shirt and shoved his hair off his face. It was surprisingly intimate and rather domestic, watching him get dressed.
“They probably won’t,” Lucifer agreed.
Gali stared at his mouth, suddenly aware that he was fully clothed while she was still naked on the bed. It made her want to crawl over to him and watch him unleash himself all over again. Lucifer glanced at her and finally snapped out of his thoughts, his whole body going still. Gali drew in a breath. He was looking at her with a mix of want and wonder, and it made her chest feel tight.
“I need something to wear,” she said, choking the words out past the tension curling between them. “Then we can go deal with your princes.”
Lucifer nodded, breaking the spell. “Okay, beloved.”
Ten minutes later, Gali was following Lucifer down a dim hallway, dressed in a cotton tunic that hung to her knees, the sleeves rolled up. Her feet were bare against the walnut floors, but so were Lucifer’s. Under any other circumstances, it would have been nice to be doing this, walking through his home with him. Gali did wish that he was holding her hand, because the foreboding had thickened, dripping down her back.
When Leviathan had barged into the room, he’d looked at her for a split second before Lucifer had covered her, but in that short moment, Gali had seen enough. She wouldn’t have minded if Leviathan had looked disgusted or even murderous, but his gaze had simply hovered over her as if Gali had already stopped existing. As if he’d already brought his sword down through her bones and heart, through the sheets of Lucifer’s bed. As if she was already dead and walking and unfortunate enough to be the last person to know about it. Gali tripped over a rug and stumbled, catching herself against the wall.
Lucifer was by her side in an instant. “Are you all right?”
Fear fluttered along her bones, primal and so fucking human, no matter what the Devil thought she was.
“Promise you won’t let them hurt me,” she said, her voice tense. Gali hated pain. If they killed her, it probably wouldn’t hurt all that much, but there was a taste for suffering floating through the air of this house. It was as old as a planet, as sadistic and indifferent as nature itself. All her instincts screamed that she shouldn’t be here, she shouldn’t have come here, she was alone and unprotected.
Lucifer took her hands in his gently. “No one will hurt you.”
She tried for a smile. “Ah, but will they kill me?”
He didn’t smile back. “Not today, beloved.”
Disappointment raked over Gali’s skin. Lucifer kept saying no one would hurt her, but he only meant now, or today. Hestillwouldn’t guarantee her long-term safety, not when it came to his princes. It made her feel like some kind of sacrifice, like she was an offering he was fucking while obeying larger rules, rules that had destined her for an altar he wouldn’t save her from. God, Celestial would be so ashamed of her for wanting a man who wouldn’t even commit tostopping hermurder, for fuck’s sake. The bar was clearly lower than Hell.
He was the Devil, though, and this was a different world with different rules. Even with his hesitance, Gali simply refused to believe that Lucifer would watch her die. He was offering no reassurances past the here and now, but the knowledge still felt real and firm behind her sternum, like a premonition or a prophecy. There was only so much her pride could take, nonetheless, and continuing to fuck a man who might be complicit in her death was so far beneath her, it dipped its toes into a self-loathing she couldn’t pretend away.
With each step, Gali could feel her family drawing nearer. Their presence was an approaching warmth that folded over her with a humid weight, making it just a little harder to breathe but making her objective clearer. The Kincaids were who she had to protect now, not even herself.Once they were safe, she could let herself feel the contempt around Lucifer’s half-ass statements about her fuckinglife, and that would have to be enough to drive her away from him, to break the chains of the crazed desire leashing them together.
She let Lucifer tuck her hand into his arm and walk her down a flight of stairs curved against the wall. A chandelier with dripping candles hung from a vaulted ceiling, and Gali barely had a moment to look around before Lucifer led her off to the side. Symbols she couldn’t decipher were carved into a heavy oak door, and a low crackle hissed through the air as Lucifer pushed the door open and walked into the room. It was a large rich parlor, wallpapered and filled with antique furniture, pieces that Gali could tell were priceless from just a glance. The decor was the only thing familiar and remotely human in the space. A dark, seething fire bubbled unnaturally in the fireplace, and several pairs of flat eyes immediately swung over to Lucifer and Gali as they entered. A wave of malevolence pushed over Gali’s skin, but she was a Kincaid, so she raised her head and squared her shoulders as she looked upon the princes of hell.
They all had human forms, and yet, in this space, they looked like nothing but terrifyingly inhuman things, coiled weapons in a taut moment. When they saw Lucifer, they relaxed a fraction, but their cold gazes scraped at Gali. Lucifer leaned his head closer to her as one of them stood up.
“That’s Belial,” he murmured. “She thinks she’s my favorite.”
Gali watched the whip of a woman stalk over to them, whirring a knife between her knuckles. Intricate red snakes were tattooed on her bare scalp, writhing just underneath the skin. Like everyone else, she was dressed in matte black, and like everyone else, her eyes were tight and unfriendly.
“Bold of you to bring the threat here, Luci.” Belial’s voice was as hard as marble as she raked a contemptuous glance over Gali. “Are you offering her up now that you got what you wanted?”
Gali had been resolved to keep her cool, but she almost flinched atthat. It dug too close to her own thoughts—the offering he’d willingly defile before he let her burn at their hands—but it brought up new ones. How many humans had Lucifer used and cast aside in all his centuries, just like this?His millennia,the voice in her head corrected.And you’re apparently not human, remember?Gali could feel the familiar stings brushing deep against her insides, but she sidestepped the ache like she always did, bee-covered mirrors and illuminated hands flashing through her memory. She was a Kincaid, and she wasn’t going to be bullied.
