Page 28 of Lucifer's Redemption

Giggling, I playfully pushed Loki. “Yes, please!” I chirped. Lucifer rolled his eyes. Glancing at him, I saw him clench his fists.

“Are you mad?” I questioned, picking at my fingers; I picked too hard, making a stupid hangnail bleed. I sighed, sucking on my finger to make the blood go away. Ember pushed her son, nodding over in my direction.

“No, I’m not mad,” he spoke stiffly. He pulled my hand away, looking at where I picked too hard. “You shouldn’t pick at your nails.” He blew on my finger. The heat of his breath warmed my hand, dissolving the soft tingles left on my skin from his fingertips. The pain melted away, and the bleeding stopped. “Come on.”

He dropped my hand, and I immediately disliked it. My hand felt all cold and clammy now, and I wanted to run up and grab his hand again.

Luci was already walking down the hallway while Loki waited for me to follow. “Go on, hun. He won’t bite.” Ember put her arm around my shoulder. “He’s a good man. He’ll take care of you. He cares more than you think.”

“You sure? I don’t think he likes me very much,” I muttered.

“People’s emotions don’t always live on the outside, sometimes they hide deep inside. Luci just doesn’t understand how to let them out. That’s why he needs you to show him.”

“Me?” I questioned.

Hades wrapped his arm around Ember.No matter how nice he was trying to be, he still reeked of unbelievable power which was super scary.

“Lucifer needs a friend.” Hades bent down to my level. “Why don’t you show him? Hmm?”

“H-he doesn’t have any?”

How could he not have any friends? He’s so pretty! He could get a lot of friends, who are girls, I’m sure. He could also get friends that were boys, too. Loki and Luci were princes. That meant they were automatically popular, but maybe that was why Loki liked me so much because I didn’t care about him being a prince.

“Lucifer is a butthead,” Loki spat. “He doesn’t know how to be nice. I, however,”—Loki pretended to wipe off the imaginary dust on his shoulder—“know how to be friends with people. Everyone wants to be my friend, except you. I have to work for you.” I laughed.

Loki pulled on my hand. We had to run to catch up to Lucifer. He was already halfway to the family’s side of the palace, on the East side. The red sun that lit the sky was already to the West, so the palace lights had been dimmed, and only left the main pathways lit.

Luci didn’t even look at us as we ran up to him, out of breath. Biting my lip, I thought of what Queen Ember told me—Luci was just misunderstood and needed a friend.Not having many friends myself, I needed to figure out how to be a good friend to him without saying too much, since he doesn’t like to talk.

Feeling his hand earlier was really nice. I wonder if he thought the same?

I’m going for it.

Staring at my hand for a few seconds, I shoved it right into his. Alright, not shoved, I might have tickled my hand into his. Luci’s body stopped right in the middle of the hallway. Loki kept walking, but I had to stop because I was like, stuck to grumpy Lurch.

“What’s wrong, Luci?” My head tilted to the side, wondering why he kept staring at our hands.

Luci’s face looked up at mine. I smiled, tugging at his hand. “Ready?” He took one slow step to meet up with me, and we continued down the hall.

One step closer to being friends, check!

We finally reached the family wing. These doors were huge and black with a hint of red; demons decorated each of the panels and the trim around each door was gold.

“You know my room.” Loki pointed to his door. His door had a dark-green hue to it. “That’s Lucifer’s door.” He pointed to the room beside his. His door was the same as most of the others, dark with a hint of red. No personality on the door like Loki’s.

“And this is your room,” Luci spoke lowly. It was right across the large hall from Luci’s room. It held a white, cream-colored door instead of matching the darkened doors. Walking up to it, I rested one hand on either handle. Looking back, I waited for the boys behind me to prepare for the grand reveal.

Of course, they knew what it looked like, but I didn’t!

I pulled, jumping as I did, to open the heavy doors until they were expanded for all to see. Gasping at the magnitude of the room, I stepped on the light hardwood floor. The bed was surrounded by a white, fluffy, fur rug. I couldn’t wait to feel it with my bare feet! The walls were a dark mauve, and the beautiful, white bedspread was fit for a princess!

“It's so wonderful!” I squealed. Running to the bed, I jumped on it a few times.

It was way bouncier than Loki’s.

“Did you look in the bathroom?” Loki ran to the door, only to be stopped by Luci.

“Let her look,” he growled. I snorted, jumping off the bed and running to see what the fuss was about.

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