Page 291 of The Spider Queen
“A walk with you?”
“Who else?”
“How long was I asleep?” I asked.
“Few hours. Come on, let’s get some fresh air.”
“I don’t have any shoes.”
“So ask for them.”
I gritted my teeth. “May I have shoes?”
In a flash, a pair of flip-flops appeared. My eyes landed on Cerberus who was panting eagerly, as if he knew he was about to go outside.
“Does he fetch?” I asked snidely.
Lucifer’s grin widened. “When I ask nicely. He’s a hellhound, so all bets are off.”
“You mean your hellhound doesn’t even listen to you?”
“He’s not mine. Not originally. He belonged to Hades.”
I blinked. “Right. And you stole him from Hades?”
“Who said anything about stealing?” he asked, his brow furrowing. “I won him in a poker game.”
“Did you cheat?”
“Who do you think I am?” he demanded.
“Um, Satan?”
Lucifer grinned. “No, I didn’t cheat. We have an honor code when we play poker.”
“Code of honor. That’s rich. Coming from you.” I jumped up from the bed. I followed him through the tunnel toward the volcano, Cerberus running ahead of us and then darting back when he didn’t think we were moving fast enough.
“Are you going to fly us both out the way we came in?”
“There’s more than one entrance into my haven, Stella.”
“How am I supposed to know that?”
“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” he teased.
I ran in front of him, forcing him to stop. “Okay. That’s enough.”
His sexy smirk didn’t disappear. “I’m not following.”
“This hot and cold bullshit. One moment, I get the charming Lucifer from the masquerade, which by the way issonot something that I ever expected to hear coming from my own mouth. The next I get the shirtless, beastly, angry Lucifer. The one who can’t seem to stand me, yet is determined to keep me here.”
“Determined? Haven’t you realized it yet? I don’tneedto do anything to keep you here. I could let you wander Hell for all eternity, and you still wouldn’t find a way out. Not unless I showed you.”
He pressed his hand to the cavern wall and the rock rumbled and then slid apart. Warm air gently caressed my face, reminding me of summer nights spent on Herron’s rooftop.
Cerberus ran outside, barking at something I couldn’t see. I followed the three-headed dog, not bothering to see if Lucifer was keeping pace, because I knew he was right behind me.
I stepped out into the night and the silver moon was full and bright. My feet tread through the silver-glistened grass.
