Page 287 of The Spider Queen
My eyebrows shot up to my hairline as I tried not to tremble from the touch of his wings as they caressed me.
“Fallen angel?”
“Yes, Stella,” he drawled. “I was the first fallen angel. My wings were once black feathers, but then I…changed.” His eyes glowed, but a haunted look ghosted across his face.
Before I could stop myself, I reached up to gently touch the tip of one wing. Lucifer gritted his teeth, like he was in pain, but he didn’t do a thing to stop me.
“They’re warm,” I murmured, feeling like I was in a drunken daze. “Why am I here?”
“Because”—he swallowed—“you belong to me.”
The fire of lust was quickly doused by his cold pronouncement. I wrenched away from him; his wings opened, letting me escape.
“I belong to no one,” I yelled.
His smile was slow, effortless, like he had all the time in the world. “Ah, my starlight, how naive you are.”
Lucifer stalked toward me again, swept me up into his arms, and then launched us into the sky. I beat against his chest, but it was no use, he only clutched me tighter, nearly cutting off my air supply.
“Sleep,” he whispered, his lips stealing across mine.
My eyelids grew heavy and I slumped against him as he gently released his grip, so I was comfortable. But I didn’t fall asleep. It was more of a catatonic state where I was completely aware of everything surrounding me, yet I wasn’t in control of my own body.
Lucifer brushed his cheek against my head. “I have so much to explain to you.”
We flew higher, the meadow disappearing beneath us. The landscape changed once again. Active volcanoes rose high into the sky as Lucifer flew between them, not bothering to dodge lava and ash.
My lungs felt like they were suffocating from lack of oxygen, and when Lucifer dove toward the opening of a spewing mountain, a scream lodged in my throat but couldn’t escape.
He flew into a mountain cauldron of boiling orange and red lava. It churned and bubbled. It looked exactly like I expected Hell to look, all fire and heat.
Lucifer continued to dive, and I blinked sleepy eyes, wishing I truly was asleep so I didn’t know I was about to be burned alive.
He plunged into the lava, but I didn’t feel its scalding touch, nor did my skin disintegrate. He swam through a tunnel of magma, with me in his grasp, his wings still pumping.
From my vantage point, it seemed like the lava was endlessly whipping and spitting. But eventually, the mouth of the tunnel loomed closer—and the magma didn’t spill into the opening. It was contained within the volcano. Which begged the question…what existed on the other side of the tunnel opening?
Lucifer flapped his wings one final time, and then we were no longer in the mountain of lava, but a cool dark cavern. I should’ve had a difficult time seeing because there was no light source that pierced deep beneath the ground. But the stone appeared to emanate a blue glow—the same shade as Lucifer’s eyes.
He carried me in his arms through the cave. It was quiet, and I felt safe.
A haven.
There was a giant bed and he set me in the middle of it. He stared down at me, his eyes languid. He stole a hand across my forehead. I blinked, shaking off the stupor.
“What did you do to me?” I demanded. I sat up and inched my way to the back of the bed, my shoulders pressing against the stone headboard.
“I tried to spell you to sleep. It didn’t take.” He frowned. “Why didn’t it take?”
“I don’t know,” I grumbled. “Maybe I’m demon-immune.”
“I’mnota demon—I’m a fallen angel. And the ruler of Hell.”
“Potato, pah-tah-toe.”
“You. Are. Infuriating.”
I grinned. “Infuriating enough to let me go back to my life?”
