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I THOUGHT ALL of the other kingdoms were freaky, but Lucian’s domain is incomparable. He has had a long fucking time to create the perfect kingdom for torture and punishment. But damn. This is insane.
“Is that...?” I shudder at the sight before me.
A vast lake of lava expands into the distance. Within it, I spot thousands, no, maybe millions of souls hanging from some sort of burning lines like the demons plan to use them as skin suits.
“This is so fucked up,” I whisper, peering around from Lucian’s arms. “How did you come up with this?”
Lucian strokes his hand down my spine and back up until he locks his fingers to the back of my neck. Leaning close, he meets my eyes. “I just took the actions of the bad souls and mimicked them to create my kingdom. I will not take credit for this fuckery.”
I open and close my mouth, unsure of how to respond. Because he makes it sound like it’s basically all of the mortals in this kingdom’s doing. But I guess it could be. Lucian’s Hell contains bad souls from every sin. He punishes the worst of the worst. In Lucian’s Hell, there probably won’t be any souls ever able to move through the levels to land in Purgatory.
“You’re shitting me,” I say, staring at the souls flying in the wind but unable to go anywhere because they are pinned by huge hooks to this weird-ass tether. Almost like how butchers hang meat in freezers.
Lucian chuckles and shrugs his shoulders. “This is where all of the nastiest murderers, rapists, molesters, and souls that you won’t even grasp how incredibly evil they have been in life end up. The hanging lines come from one of the very first souls to enter my kingdom.”
I furrow my brows. It’s hard for me to process any of this. It’s even stranger that Lucian recollects the first souls to arrive in Hell. “Oh.” It’s all that I can think to say. I’m not exactly sure I want to know more about the evils born into the world through humanity.
“Don’t worry your pretty little head over it, Raven,” Lucian says.
He loosens his grip on me and tries to set me on my feet. My body ignores my brain’s request to be chill and not panic, and I squeeze onto him tighter. Like fucking fuck is he going to put me down out here. The hot breeze picks up, whipping the souls on the tether. With my luck, I’d stumble into them. No thanks.
Instead of making a snarky comment like I expect, Lucian drops his hands away from me, forcing me to hang on if I want him to carry me. This dick. We both know what he’s doing, but my poor mortal soul, now unbound to Hell, doesn’t like being so close to things I can’t truly comprehend.
Lucian hums under his breath as he carries me down the long, winding path leading around the lava pit. Instead of hiding my face, I peer over his shoulder and drink in the sight of the demons moseying around. They don’t sink into the lava lake like I expect them to. They manage to float just above it, probably because of the Hell power.
“I hope the tour of your kingdom isn’t the surprise,” I say, clutching onto his neck. “I’m not really into this kind of thing.”
“You’re lying, Raven. I saw how excited you were to punish souls in Micah’s kingdom. You’re a natural. If I didn’t want you to run Purgatory, I would try to convince you again to be my perfect, wicked queen.” Lucian flexes his muscles, and his body starts to morph into his devil form. This is one of the few times that I’ve seen him in Hell not in his beastly body. I’ve never asked him about it, but I’ve wondered if it has to do with keeping up with his satanic appearance as the big baddie of Hell.
“Lucian,” I say, sighing.
“I get it, Raven. I know what you want out of this eternity, but it’s still hard for me to think that the soul I had wanted will never be mine completely.” Lucian’s voice softens with his words. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him so honest about something like this. He’s usually an asshole. The only other time he has really opened up to me was when I beat him with his own fire chain.
“That’s where you are wrong. Don’t think of me as being separated between all the kingdoms. Think of me as the soul that tethers you all together. And if you keep up this honesty, I might consider rubbing your horns.” I playfully lace my fingers around the two horns jutting from his head. Stroking my fingers from the base to the tip, I fake a moan, stretching up enough to put my boobs in his face.
He growls and plants his hot palm between my shoulder blades, pulling me close. I laugh and squirm as he buries his face into my cleavage. Excitement floods through me, and I continue to explore the length of his horns and work my way back down to his head.
“Don’t start something you might not want to finish,” Lucian says, kissing my clavicle.
“Is that a threat?” I lean back and grin at him. “Because if it is—”
“It’s more than a threat. Just keep it up and find out what I mean.” Lucian growls again, his voice vibrating over my chest.
My laughter fades into a breathless pant, and I imagine what he could possibly mean. Do I want him? Do I want to risk starting something when I’m not sure about our relationship and where we stand? I wish I knew. At this moment, I feel myself letting my guard down. My mind and body want me to use Lucian to forget about everything else. Is my coping mechanism fucked up? Maybe. I don’t really care, though.
“That’s what I thought.” Lucian lifts an eyebrow and slides his hand lower until he squeezes my ass. “You’re thinking about it.”
Warmth travels up my chest into my cheeks. “Maybe.” I will never give him the satisfaction of being right. He can think he’s right, but I will never say it.
“What do I need to do to make you admit it,” Lucian asks, a smirk crossing his handsome face.
“There is nothing that you can do.” I grin and keep my eyes locked on his. “You were an asshole for far too long. You can’t honestly think that you will ever get your way that easily.”
Lucian laughs, his throaty voice echoing over the crackling flames of his kingdom. “You know how much I love a challenge, don’t you?”
“Yeah—”
A high-pitched scream blazes through the air, stealing my attention away from Lucian’s. Goosebumps prickle across my arms, and I suck in a sharp breath. It can’t be. It really fucking can’t be. I don’t believe it, even though the familiar guardian screams in front of me.
