Page 46 of Endless Terrors
I turned toward that dark figure.
My heartbeat was loud in my ears. I watched the devil close the distance between us, the wind stirring the flaps of his long coat. Beneath it, he wore a gray suit with a black waistcoat. Everything about him was sharp and perfectly tailored. Laurie would’ve approved.
Don’t think about Laurie, I told myself, swallowing a rush of fear. In spite of all my research, I didn’t know what the devil was capable of. He already knew about my connection to the Seelie King, no doubt, just as he knew about every person I cared about. But I refused to allow him more glimpses into my life. Anything to protect them.
A few seconds after that, Lucifer reached me. He stood there for a moment, appraising my expression. I looked back without emotion, channeling the Unseelie Queen with everything I had inside me. You are cold. You are powerful. You are unafraid.
“Walk with me,” the devil said.
I just nodded, and by some unspoken agreement, we started moving toward the horizon. My skirt brushed against the tall, whispering grass. I lifted it, baring my legs to the cool evening, and kept the cotton from getting caught. Lucifer didn’t speak again. I knew he’d come for an answer, and this was it. I kept my focus on the fading sky.
“I’ll do it. I’ll … visit you in Hell,” I said haltingly. Fear made my voice tight.
Lucifer kept walking, and a breeze stirred the ends of his hair. He squinted at the distant sea, and the dying sun painted his skin a striking gold. “I look forward to showing you my home,” he remarked.
I stopped. It felt like someone had lit a spark inside me. I faced the formidable figure and raised my eyebrows. “Not so fast. Only a moron would take a deal without sweetening the pot.”
Lucifer stopped, too. He looked at me, and the corner of his mouth tilted up. “I would expect nothing less from you.”
I wanted to take a breath, for courage, but I knew Lucifer would see that. I met his gaze, willing myself to look back at him without a trace of fear. “I want the spell to wake Damon before I travel anywhere,” I said.
Now Lucifer’s eyebrows rose. “Are you suggesting I rely on your honor?”
My heart had started to quicken again. Was this actually going to work? To hide it, I gave a casual shrug. “I guess you’ll have to.”
“No deal, Lady Sworn,” the devil said, shaking his head.
I hid my disappointment. I hadn’t really expected him to go for it, anyway, but the last-ditch effort to avoid Hell had still been worth a shot. Lucifer’s instincts weren’t wrong about me—if he’d woken Damon before my departure, I probably wouldn’t have held up my end of the bargain. I wasn’t exactly dying to visit the underworld.
I was about to concede when Lucifer added, “I would be willing to negotiate the amount of time you are away, however.”
“Great,” I chirped, recovering from my surprise … and my annoyance. When I’d decided to accept Lucifer’s offer, I hadn’t even thought about how long I’d actually be in Hell. The devil had me so frazzled that I was missing things. Big, obvious things. Thankfully, none of this showed on my face as I looked at Lucifer and said, “Three days.”
“Three days? You insult me. Two months.”
“Do you have any idea how long that is in my world?” I countered. Whatever amount of time we landed on didn’t matter, since I’d be using Goody Baldwin’s spell as soon as I got to Hell, but I needed to put up the appearance of giving a shit.
“Two months is the blink of an eye,” Lucifer said dismissively.
I scoffed. “Yeah, well, your concept of time is warped. Two weeks.”
“Six weeks.”
“Three.”
“Done.”
I went still, my heart picking up speed as I remembered how my other deals had concluded. I shied away from thinking about the one I’d made at the crossroads—the night I summoned a demon that came wearing Ian O’Connell’s face—but then I saw Collith. I remembered that fall day we’d faced each other in the woods. The first deal I’d ever made. Is that it, then? Now what?
We kiss, of course. Shouldn’t you know this part?
My gaze snapped to Lucifer’s, and he saw a flash of panic before I could hide it. The devil stepped forward, raising his hands. I stiffened, expecting him to cup my face. Instead, his thumbs skimmed the edges of my jaw. The touch was so light that it felt like he hovered just a breath above my skin.
“When we kiss, Fortuna Sworn, it will be because you want to,” Lucifer said.
Surprise whispered through me. Fighting against a tide of desire, I tipped my head back. My gaze lazily roamed his face, and I thought about all the Nightmares he’d killed. The terrible things he’d done. “You didn’t care about my consent when you had me branded,” I reminded him, just as soft.
Lucifer didn’t answer. It was debatable whether he’d even heard me—I was giving him a look I’d given a thousand others. I was the spider, and Lucifer was the tiny fly caught in my web. Suddenly it didn’t matter that he was the devil, or that power practically rolled off him. In that moment, he was just another morsel. Just prey. Our faces moved closer. Closer. Attraction heated between us. Desire stirred in my belly.
