Lucifer was still waiting by Eros’s door when I finally left the apartment. His white hair rested messily by the sides of his face, and his eyes were icier than last time. “Stunning.”

  “You don’t look too bad yourself,” I said.

  Eros opened the door. A red tie was hanging loosely around his neck, and his soft hair was parted to one side. So many succubi and incubi would be all over him tonight, trying to pry him away from me.

  He pulled me inside and pressed his lips to my ear. “If we didn’t have to deal with my family tonight, I’d already have that dress ripped off of you.” His fingers trailed over my cleavage. “Everyone is going to be all over you tonight.”

  I pulled him closer, ignoring Lucifer’s playful groan at our affection, and fixed his tie. When I was finished, he grasped my hand and held it to his chest. “I can’t wait to show everyone how amazing you are,” he said.

  I hoped that’s how the night would go—making a damn good impression in the kingdom he was banished from—but nothing ever went to plan. Eros pulled away to fix his hair in the mirror one last time, and I grasped my necklace, suddenly filled with so much doubt.

  Something was bound to go wrong. I could feel it.

  “Are you ready?” Lucifer asked, standing in front of a portal.

  I clenched the pendant in my fist, accidentally ripping it off of the chain. My eyes widened at the v-shaped piece of metal in my palm. “Oh, my God.” I broke it. The one thing that I needed to survive tonight broke. What was I going to do? I needed Mom with me. I couldn’t sit at dinner with a table full of demons without her to keep me calm. I—

  “Dani,” Eros said. He placed his hands on my shoulders and gazed down at the pendant. “Calm down. It’s fine. You’re fine.”

  “But—but my necklace.” I held my hand toward him.

  “We can fix it,” he said.

  “No.” I shook my head. “Last time it broke, it took weeks for Trevon to fix it. We can’t fix it now.” I ran my hands through my curls. “What am I going to do?”

  Lucifer stepped forward. “There is a jeweler in Pride who can fix it for you while we’re at dinner. He’s exceptionally good at all things jewelry, even handcrafted that ring Eros has on his finger.”

  “But I—what about Mom?”

  Eros squeezed my shoulder. “You’ll be fine without her, Dani. It’ll take less than a couple hours for him to fix it.”

  I gazed between the two men and reluctantly handed the pendant to Lucifer, hoping that I’d see it again. It was one of the few things left of Mom.

  “I’ll meet you there,” he said. He stepped into the portal and disappeared.

  Eros took my hand. “Close your eyes,” he said. I squeezed my eyes shut. I would not make the same mistake as last time. I didn’t have Mom to protect me.

  ~~~

  When Eros told me to open my eyes, we were standing in a portal room in an unfamiliar kingdom. The room was fairly large with soft egg-white walls and two red velvet couches on either side of the portal. The lights were dim, and there were two guards dressed in suits with black horns and reflective eyes. Lucifer stepped out of the portal behind me, nearly bumping into me. He rested a hand on my lower back.

  “Lord Eros. Commander Lucifer,” one guard said.

  The other eyed me but returned his gaze to Eros after a moment. “You’re the last to arrive. Everyone is waiting for you in the castle.”

  The Kingdom of Lust was much different from Pride. The sky was a light pink with white feathery clouds. Beds of roses lined the white stone walkways which lead to a towering castle.

  Lucifer placed his hand on Eros’s shoulder. “This is all about to be yours.”

  Eros gazed around us, taking in the sight of his kingdom, and nodded. He looked so stoic and strong, and I was glad one of us was.

  While we walked to the castle, Eros repeated that I must stay with Lucifer at all times—even when he went to do whatever it was that he was going to do. He didn’t tell me the specifics, and I didn’t want to know. Times like this, when your lover was going to kill his parents and seize the Kingdom of Lust’s throne—in Hell—it was best to remain ignorant.

  What I did know was that the three of us were going to pretend that Eros had finally accepted life as a true incubus through a partnership with Lucifer and me, which meant that I had to flirt with both of them all night long. And that wouldn’t be a problem.

  I linked arms with Eros and walked up the staircase to the front doors of the palace. Demons were already drunk off of Passion Delights on the front steps—flirting, kissing, touching. They were doing it all, and I only wished that I had Mom’s necklace—my security net.

  A few succubi batted their lashes at Eros, but he brushed by them. He didn’t even look at them when they called his name.

  When we reached the top, another two guards nodded at Eros. “Lord, Commander.” They looked at me, then at each other. “Who is this?”

  “She’s my date,” Eros said.

  “Our date,” Lucifer corrected, grabbing my hand. If this was going to work, we couldn’t make any mistakes.

  “You share the human girl?” The guards looked at each other and laughed. “The Great Lord Eros who was shamed for only wanting one lover, now is sharing a woman with a comman—”

  Eros grabbed his throat, pressing him up against the stone door. “If you have a problem with it, tell me.”

  The guard shook his head. “No, no, Lord. I was just in disbelief.”

  When Eros released his grip, I squeezed his bicep tighter. Tonight was only going to get worse. He stepped over the man and opened the door himself.

  Lucifer placed his hand on my lower back. “Stay by my side,” he said.

  I took a deep breath and stepped into the room. We would walk out of here with the Kingdom of Lust or we wouldn’t walk out of this castle ever again. I could feel it.

  The lights were dim inside. Demons were dancing, grinding, and flirting with each other. Some were nearly naked, others were clothed. The palace kind of reminded me of The Lounge, if it had hundreds more people and they were all demons.

  Horns of ice. Dresses of gold. Red curled tails. Green scarred skin. There were demons from all the kingdoms here. But, despite their differences, one thing was the same amongst all of them: when Eros walked in, everyone stopped.

  They shuffled to the side, creating a path for us to walk through. The succubi stared at me and whispered, eyeing my hand on Eros. I rubbed my sweaty palm on my dress, hoping that they didn’t notice how nervous I was.

  I had never been surrounded by hundreds of people who were more beautiful than I would ever be. And—by the way they held themselves with so much confidence—there was no doubt in my mind that they could please Eros more than I ever could.

  “Dani!” someone said. Kasey pushed through the crowd—red lipped and dressed in black stilettos—and jogged over to us. Her eyes were dark, her horns sharp, she was breathtaking. She pulled me into a hug. “I’m so glad that you made it!”

  “Not even going to say hello to your brother?” Eros said from beside me.

  She playfully pushed his shoulder, then bowed to Lucifer. “Commander. I didn’t think you’d be here with Eros and Dani.”

  “I’m their date,” he said.

  There was an uproar of whispers, and I tried to ignore it. My heart was pounding way too hard in my chest. I glanced around to distract myself and locked eyes with the one person I wish I hadn’t. Javier.

  He sat at a long table, staring directly at me, and smirked. I gulped nervously, trying to pull my gaze away from him. I hated to admit it, but he was much more attractive in his demon form. Sculpted frame, large horns, dark eyes tinted red.

  An older demon sat next to him, tail curling around a succubus’s waist. A pair of scars laid diagonally across his face. They both whispered back and forth.

  Eros must’ve seen them too because his grip on me tightened. We continued through the crowd of whispers to the table.

  “Eros, I didn’t think you’d actually make it.” A petite woman approached us, her voice a bit distasteful. She had hair like Kasey’s and piercing eyes like Eros. “Look who it is, Dear.”

  A tall man walked up beside her. His gaze flickered from Eros to Lucifer. “Son.” The man nodded stiffly. “Commander. I don’t think we invited you.”

  Lucifer smirked, tapping his fingers on my lower back like he was amused. “I was invited by Eros as his and Dani’s date.”

  If I thought that my heart was racing before, I was definitely about to have a heart attack when Eros’s dad looked me up and down, his mother following suit. She curled a finger around a strand of my brown hair and watched me closely. I stayed still, absolutely terrified. “She’s pretty, Eros.”

  “She is,” his father said.

  Eros paused and pulled me away from his mother. “But?”

  “But?” she said with a strained smile on her face. “Why do you think I want to say more?”

  “Because you always have more to say.”

  His mother shook her head and curled into his father’s arm. “I’m just surprised. That’s all.”

  I tried my hardest to have a neutral expression, but everything she said sounded so fake, rehearsed even. No wonder Eros didn’t like his parents.

  Eros stared at her, his face void of any emotion. “Surprised about what?” he asked tensely.

  “She’s not a demon,” his father said.

  “And you’re seeing her and Commander Lucifer.” She held out her hand for Eros to take, but he didn’t. So, instead, she slapped him playfully on the chest. “I should’ve known. You’ve been spending so much time with him lately and none here with us.”

  “You banished me, Mother.”

  She waved her hand, dismissively. “Oh, that’s silly talk. Now that you’ve accepted the true incubi way your banishment shall be lifted. You can spend more time here in the palace.”

  “I don’t wan—”

  I dug my nails into his bicep to get him to shut up. If we were going to do this—no mistakes. That’s what he told me, and I planned to keep it that way. I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t want him to die either.

  “Why don’t we have dinner?” Eros’s mother asked, shuffling her husband to the table.

  “Yes. Dinner,” Eros said.

  Once his parents sat at the head of the table, next to Javier and the other demon, there were two chairs left. Lucifer sat in one and Eros sat in the other. He tugged me into his lap, lips brushing against my ear. “When we rule, I’ll make sure you have a seat at the head of the table.”

  Chapter 42

  Servers filed in through a door with platters of food and bottles of Passion Delight and dark red wine labeled Sanguio. As soon as the waiter popped the cork on the Sanguio to give to Javier, I wrinkled my nose. It smelled so vile.

  Javier and the man sitting with him grabbed glasses. The older man gazed across the table at me, then drank a long sip—eyes turning red—and placed it down. “Eros, glad to see you’ve made it with your pet.”

  I clenched my jaw. The man held a certain familiarity and power in the way he spoke and held himself. He reminded me of Trevon when he was possessed. He must’ve been from the Kingdom of Wrath, possibly the Commander of Wrath himself, Sathanus.

  A waiter placed a plate of food in front of him and nearly knocked over his drink. He slammed his fists against the table, and I jumped. Yep, definitely from Wrath. I turned away from him.

  Javier cleared his throat. “Dani.”

  Oh, great. Here we go.

  “How’s my dear friend Trevon doing? I’m assuming you two aren’t together anymore since you’re here with two of Hell’s finest.”

  I balled my hands into fists under the table. He had some nerve asking about Trevon, especially because he was the reason for our breakup and for him being possessed. I took a deep breath through my nose and bit back my anger. It would be exactly what he wanted. “He’s doing fine,” I said. “Thanks for asking. Maria is doing well too.”

  Sathanus snatched his drink from the table. “Lucifer, I didn’t think your pride would let you sink so low to have a human pet.”

  Lucifer placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward, brow arched. “Still trying to get under everyone’s skin, Sathanus? Seems like you could use your time doing something more useful like, maybe, actually commanding your kingdom instead of burning everything to the ground.”

  After slamming his fists against the table, Sathanus stood. His eyes blazed red. “I will not take this disrespect. You and the pet were not invited here.” He glared at Lucifer with so much hatred. “Remove them this instant or I will.”

  My heart raced, and I suddenly got flashbacks of Trevon freaking out on me that first night. Eros placed his hand on the inside of my thigh and rubbed it gently, trying to calm me down.

  I gazed at the meat on the center of the table and tried to control my breathing. God, I should’ve brought a cross.

  “Dani and I were invited by Lord Eros,” Lucifer said.

  I didn’t know which commander was scaring me more—Sathanus who was about to flip the table or Lucifer who was frighteningly calm right now.

  Some succubi sashayed over, pushed Sathanus back down, and sat on his lap. His eyes still blazed, but when he snaked his arms around the women’s tiny waists, the color faded.

  Eros’s father cleared his throat and placed his Passion Delight on the table. “We don’t call pets by their names, Commander,” he said to Lucifer. “She’s a pet, and that’s all. Call her what she is.”

  “She’s not a pet,” Eros said, tensing.

  His mother laughed. “Eros, baby, she isn’t anything more than that. Why don’t you get yourself a true succubus? Someone who could actually please you.”

  Damn these people. I could please Eros. I could please him, couldn’t I?

  She stood and leaned over the table, flashing her cleavage to everyone. I turned away in disgust. “Girls!” she said, flicking her manicured finger behind us. Two succubi walked up to us.

  One sat on Eros’s other leg and pressed her breasts against his chest while the other ran her fingers up and down his horns.

  Eros tensed, and his eyes darkened just enough for me to tell that he enjoyed how she touched him. I pressed my lips together and stared at the table. Could I really please Eros?

  He dug his fingers into my side and shoved the woman off of his lap. “What the fuck are you doing, Mother?” He stared at the two succubi. “Get the fuck away from me.” He was seething, and I felt like our whole plan was ruined.

  Lucifer pulled me onto his lap, placing his hands on my waist and holding me to him. Eros stood and slammed his hands against the table. “Why do you insist on fucking with my life?”

  “You will sit down now,” his father said. “Or you will be escorted to the portal with your filth of a pet.”

  Javier smirked across the table, and I had the sudden urge to hurl my fist at him.

  “If you want your banishment to be lifted, you will sit,” his mother said.

  I brushed my fingers against his and noticed that he didn’t have on his ring anymore. He looked down at me with black eyes, growled in frustration, and sat.

  The girls hovered around us while we ate. I watched them lightly graze their fingers against the back of Eros’s neck, lean a little too close to him, and even speak in those damn seductive tones that could work on anybody.

  Lucifer leaned closer to me, lips against my ear. “You need to eat.”

  I snatched my fork and stabbed it into the lasagna, because I wasn’t about to eat whatever kind of meat was sitting in the center of the table that Sathanus couldn’t stop devouring.

  After eating about half my plate, I glanced up to see Javier staring at my breasts. I wrinkled my nose. What a damn disgusting—

  Javier looked me in the eyes. “Eros,” he said. “I don’t see what your problem is. You have Commander Lucifer and the pet as your lovers. If you’ve truly accepted the way of the incubi, you shouldn’t have a problem letting a couple beautiful woman sit on your lap.”

  I hated that man. Hated him so much.

  Lucifer gripped my waist a little tighter, so I couldn’t move. “He doesn’t have a problem with it. In fact, girls!” He motioned for them to come closer. “Why don’t you escort Eros to a Lust Room?”

  My eyes widened. What the hell did he think he was doing? When Eros refused to go—and he would—this was all going to get much worse for the three of us.

  Eros took a deep breath and stared at me as the demons sauntered over to him, swaying their hips from side to side. They were so damn sexy. I didn’t know how anyone could resist them.

  They wrapped their filthy arms around my Eros.

  “Make sure you girls do a real good job. He’s been tense lately.” Lucifer winked at them.

  They wouldn’t have to because he wasn’t actually going to go with them. He wouldn’t. He told me he wouldn’t do anything I wasn’t comfortable with. There was no way he’d let them take him to a Lust Room.

  Eros looked away from me and stood.

  The girls giggled into his neck, their lips trailing up the sides of it. I sat there with my brows furrowed. No, no, he wouldn’t go. He was just going to push them away again.

  He looked at Lucifer, then turned away—not sparing me a single glance. And, in that moment, I didn’t know what to think. All I could do was watch hopelessly as he walked down the hall with his arms curled around their waists.

  Chapter 43

  I had been hanging onto a thread of hope that Eros wouldn’t actually do anything with them, but when I heard that door shut my heart broke. It was like Trevon all over again, but worse.

  Lucifer rubbed my thigh in a soothing way and leaned close to me. “It’ll be okay,” he whispered.

  I didn’t even want to be here anymore. All I wanted was to curl up in my bed with Maria’s arms around me and cry. For Mom, for Trevon, for Eros. It was stupid but I couldn’t help it.

  I felt broken.

  Dinner continued in silence, and I was sure that everyone just wanted me to hear the moans coming from the Lust Rooms. Lucifer tried to reassure me that there were many Lust Rooms here, but I didn’t care. Every minute that Eros wasn’t here with me hurt.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25