I swallowed, unsure if I hated or loved that idea. If I hated or craved him.
“He didn’t enchant your dress, Camillia,” he said softly. “Had you not blocked him out, you would have heard the hurt that notion caused him when you accused him of it.”
I stared at the Hell Fae King, some of my earlier frustration returning at the mention of my gown. “He’s enchanted things before.”
“Yes, to protect you,” he replied. “I punished you as a way of punishing him; he knew the Hell Fae Bride rules and chose to cheat. I couldn’t let that go unanswered.”
The song changed again, the tempo slowing once more.
Lucifer followed it, holding me in his arms and guiding us to the new rhythm.
For all his faults—which I supposed he didn’t have many other than being a bit of a control freak with a punishment fetish—he could dance.
“More so,” he went on, “I was jealous of his affection. Melek’s soul is faithful to mine. He sometimes plays with others, but he doesn’t fuck them. He simply uses them to satisfy a need I can’t fulfill. However, with you, it’s spiritual. And it shocked the life out of me.”
CHAPTER 13
CAMI
“Oh.”
It was a poor response.
But I had no idea how to react to Lucifer admitting he wasjealous.
This was also the longest Lucifer and I had ever spoken to one another, and he was being… candid. I wasn’t sure how to interpret any of this. “Are you… still jealous?” I hedged.
“Extremely,” he murmured. “But the reasons for that jealousy are shifting.”
My brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “It’s not relevant to my apology. I’m simply trying to say that I acknowledge I haven’t gone easy on you. You’ve not just threatened my Source, but my heart, too. Fae have died for much less, Camillia.”
My chest tightened at his mention of an apology, then my heart sped up at what I perceived as a threat. “I’m not trying to be a threat, Lucifer.”
I meant that.
But the chilling magic against my breastbone appeared to contradict me, because the necklace was humming with cool energy.
It seemed to grow colder with each passing minute, Lucifer’s closeness intensifying the chill. I wasn’t sure what it meant. Was it a warning of some kind? Or a way to help chase away his heat?
“That remains to be seen,” he murmured, twirling me again. His response had me wondering if he’d heard the questions running rampant in my mind, but then I realized he was replying to my statement about not being a threat.
“I don’t want your Source,” I promised him. “And I don’t want…” I trailed off. I’d almost saidyour prince, but I caught Melek standing nearby with Az and Ajax, his focus entirely on me.
Actually, all three of them were studying me, likely searching for signs of discomfort. Or perhaps just wondering what their Hell Fae King had wanted to say to me.
“My prince is very alluring,” Lucifer said as he spun me in his arms, placing my back to his chest and his lips to my ear once more. “Were you about to deny craving his touch?”
I held Melek’s sparkly gaze, noting the concern flickering deep within. It was an uncharacteristic gleam, one that I wasn’t sure I’d seen on him before. “Is he worried about what you’re going to do to me?” I asked, ignoring Lucifer’s question.
“No, he knows I won’t harm you.”
I nearly glanced over my shoulder to check his expression, but I already knew it wouldn’t give anything away. “I wish I could be that confident,” I muttered, more to myself than to him.
“You have every right to not be confident in my intentions,” Lucifer replied, his words shocking me into silence. “I’ve threatened you more than once, punished you in foreign ways, and more or less expressed my deep disdain at mating my prince.”
He spun me around, my legs clumsy due to my shocked state.
