Page 138 of Hell Bound

Rational Lilith knew that there were myriad reasons why Lucifer hadn’t been down here yet. Asmodeus would be watching him closely. He’d have to go on patrols, and of course the dungeon was well-guarded.

Unfortunately, Rational Lilith wasn’t here right now, but Dehydrated-Starving-On-the-Verge-of-Losing-it-Completely Lil was present and accounted for.

Fuck him. He could be here if he wanted.

I mean, seriously, he’d managed to find a way to get me food when I’d missed a single meal. Now that I hadn’t eaten in days, he was nowhere to be found?

I tried to hold on to the anger, but it slipped away with my lucidity. All that remained was pain. Physical and emotional agony.

Dammit, Death, if you’re coming, hurry the hell up!

A moment from weeks ago flashed through my mind. Me in the tub while Lucifer crept in to see me for the first time.

“If you’re here to kill me, do me a favor and make it quick.”

But that hadn’t been the first time. He’d come in the window like that a hundred times, slipping away from patrols. Asmodeus believed he was on the borders of Infernal territory, but Lucifer spent more nights with me than not.

The phantom sensation of his arms around me constricted my throat. Tears would have slid free if I had any to spare. Fingers running through my hair, tracing down the nape of my neck and further along my spine as he held me close.

I tried to hang on to the feeling, but it required energy that I didn’t have. Consciousness slipped away, dropping me right into a night I didn’t remember.

“You can’t be here,Lucifer! Have you lost your mind?”I pushed at his chest, trying my best to shove him back out the window.

“Easy, Fire Lily,” he said, his obnoxiously sexy smirk spurring my heartbeat faster. I gave him my best dirty look at his use of the silly nickname. I loved it, but I couldn’t admit that to him. “The false king believes I’m out on patrol. Odragir is on guard here, so he has no idea I left the others to the task.”

He’d known that was my next question. Odragir had made an enemy of Lucifer the moment the Fallen Prince had arrived.

The only thing better than retaking control of the wolf guard would be to ensure Lucifer’s eternal torture for dallying with Asmodeus’s unwanted queen.

For that reason, our stolen moments had been just the barest minutes we could steal away from the watchful eyes that filled the palace.

Fleeting touches, whispered words, and kisses that lingered on my lips until the next one.

Never had he been this brazen before. Sneaking into my room alone would get him tortured, and given the gleam in his fiery blue eyes, he wasn’t planning to stop at simply being in my room.

“It’s still not safe, someone could come in at any moment—”

“And I would hear them if they did.” He grabbed my wrists, holding them to his chest and pulling me in closer. “But I needed to see you. What we have… it’s not enough for me anymore, Lilith.”

That simple statement was a spear to the heart.

What had I really expected?

That this demon, this breathtakingly beautiful angel, a rightful prince, would dwell on a demoness he could never have?

He could have any choice he wanted. Every female in Hell would fall to their knees for the chance to be with him.

Next to them, I was soiled goods.

“I understand.” I tried to pull my hands free, but the hold on my wrists tightened.

“I don’t believe you do.” He released one hand to hook a finger under my chin and lift my gaze to his. I hadn’t even noticed I was looking down. It had become second nature to me after years with Asmodeus. “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I do you, Lily. My chest aches when I go too long without seeing your face. It flays my soul every time I watch that monster breathe your air when I’m forbidden to do so much as speak to you.”

It hurt to hear our reality spoken aloud like this. When it was just us, I could pretend that I wasn’t married to the cruelest demon in all of Hell.

I could be just Lilith, succubus from the Ardent Court, falling in love for the first time.

But it was impossible to truly give my heart when my body had already been sold to another. I wasn’t my own demoness, so how could Lucifer want the slivers of me that I still held?

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