Page 348 of The Spider Queen
I would’ve gagged, but I could hardly breathe, let alone vomit. I was nearly inside his cavernous mouth when I saw another enormous beast knock him to the ground.
Cyclops went down.
As he fell, his hand bounced off the land and his fingers opened, and I rolled out of his palm. I clambered up, taking in the form of the beast that had unknowingly rescued me. Its skin was flaming red, and it had a set of curved horns like a ram’s. Its eyes were yellow, demonic. A forked tongue slithered out from thin reptilian lips.
Wings with knobby protrusions and translucent black webbing unfurled from its body.
Cyclops tried to sit up, but the brute placed a clawed foot to his neck. “Enough!” the devil roared.
The giant trembled in fear.
I felt like Gulliver, small and inconsequential. The barbarian’s gaze landed on me, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to hide.
“Stella,” he purred.
I swallowed. “Lucifer.”
Chapter 33
“You look…different,” I said, attempting to stall for time.
He flashed a grin but it wasn’t in humor. “The only way to break Prometheus’s chains was to change into my true form.”
I swallowed.
“Go ahead,” he sneered. “Look upon me in all my hideousness. Do you lust for me now, my starlight?”
“Lust was never our problem, Lucifer,” I pointed out. I examined him while he still held Cyclops down with his clawed foot. The giant actually whimpered in fear. Stupid bully. Only afraid when someone bigger and badder came along.
“You’re still you,” I said. It felt strange, to be having an intimate discussion with a twenty-foot-tall monster.
“It’s over.” His eyes flashed yellow fire. “You failed. You will come home with me.”
Defeat settled in my chest. His words were truth. Even now, there was no way to retrieve the last pearl. Lucifer barred my path. I was miniscule.
“And what will you do to me?” I asked, my voice soft. “What will you do to me for attempting to gain my freedom?”
His forked tongue slithered out to taste the air. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?” My tone was flat. “For all the trouble I’ve caused you?”
His smile was wide and cruel. “You’re still bound to me, Stella. I win. No matter what.”
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, and I swallowed the lump of sadness in my throat.
He lifted his foot off of Cyclops, who sat up but made no move to stand. He rubbed his throat and said to Lucifer, “I am your humble servant.”
“Where are your living brothers?” Lucifer demanded. “I will free them too. You will all have reign of Earth.”
Fear for the world overtook every other emotion I was feeling. Lucifer was making it so easy to hate him. To loathe him. And maybe, that was the problem. Maybe he wanted me to despise him.
I was about to call out to him, to tell him that I loved him, no matter how wicked he claimed to be, no matter that he couldn’t control his nature. But before I could get the words out, the sky suddenly darkened.
A army of gargoyles swooped down to distract and maim. They spared neither Lucifer nor Cyclops. Cyclops shrieked in pain as gargoyle claws sliced his skin to ribbons. Lucifer roared, breathing fire into the blue sky in an attempt to defend himself.
I lifted Aloysius’s knife from its sheath and ran as fast as I could for the giant who had the final pearl, who held my last chance at true freedom. I couldn’t climb up his body—I might’ve had a chance if he’d been still. But he bucked and shook off the gargoyles, flicking them aside like they were flies as they tore into him.
Suddenly, I was airborne. “Come on, kid, I’ve got you,” Jax said. “We’ve got one shot to do this. Are you ready?”
