CHAPTER 13: The devil's touch
1713 Words
The corridor felt too small for both of them.
Moonlight spilled through the tall palace windows, casting pale silver across the marble floor while candle flames flickered weakly against the cold creeping through the hallway.
Heaven could hear her own heartbeat.
Lucifer stood impossibly close now, his fingers still lightly resting against her jaw.
Warm.
That frightened her most.
Not the wings shadowed behind him.
Not the unnatural darkness surrounding his presence.
Not even the crimson eyes watching her so intensely.
It was the warmth.
Because monsters were not supposed to feel warm.
“You should hate me,” he whispered again.
The words settled heavily between them.
Heaven slowly stepped backward, breaking the contact instantly.
The moment his hand left her skin, the cold returned.
Lucifer noticed the reaction immediately.
Something unreadable flickered briefly across his face before disappearing behind calm indifference.
“You’re afraid,” he observed quietly.
“I should be.”
“Yes.”
Silence followed.
Heaven tried steadying her breathing while forcing herself to think clearly.
This was the creature connected to the whispers.
To the corruption.
To the suffering spreading through Elarion.
And yet standing before him now felt nothing like the terrifying image she had created inside her mind.
Lucifer did not look crazed.
Or savage.
Or monstrous.
He looked composed.
Ancient.
Beautiful in the most dangerous way imaginable.
And horribly lonely.
The realization disturbed her deeply.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered.
A faint smile touched Lucifer’s lips.
“And yet you keep finding me.”
“That’s not true.”
“No?” His gaze sharpened slightly. “Then why did you walk toward the mirrors tonight?”
Heaven froze.
Because she had.
Something inside her had pulled her here without explanation.
Like instinct.
Lucifer stepped closer again, dark robes brushing softly against the floor.
“The bond draws you,” he murmured.
The word immediately unsettled her.
Bond.
She remembered hearing it before inside fragmented dreams and whispers she barely understood.
“What bond?”
For the first time, Lucifer’s expression darkened with visible irritation.
As though the very topic disgusted him.
“A curse forced upon me by fate.”
The bitterness in his voice surprised her.
“You speak about it like imprisonment.”
“Because it is.”
His answer came instantly.
Coldly.
Without hesitation.
Something unexpectedly painful twisted inside Heaven’s chest.
Why should that hurt her?
Why should she care how he viewed the connection between them?
Lucifer seemed to notice the shift in her expression immediately.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Interesting.
Even wounded, she still felt compassion first.
Pathetic.
Beautifully pathetic.
He hated how much that fascinated him.
“You feel sorry for me again,” Lucifer said quietly.
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
Heaven looked away first.
That alone answered enough.
For several moments, neither spoke.
The hallway remained silent except for distant thunder rumbling beyond the palace walls.
Then quietly—
“The people in the marketplace…” Heaven’s voice softened. “Did you truly cause that?”
Lucifer studied her carefully before answering.
“I gave darkness an opening.”
Her stomach tightened.
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is the only one you’ll receive.”
Frustration finally pushed through her fear.
“Innocent people died!”
“And innocent people die every day.”
His calm response shocked her.
Lucifer moved toward one of the tall windows overlooking the sleeping kingdom beyond.
“Kings wage wars,” he continued evenly. “Humans poison each other for gold. Families betray one another for power.” He glanced toward her slightly. “Yet somehow I alone disgust you.”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
Heaven struggled briefly for words.
Because somehow…
He made terrible arguments sound reasonable.
And that terrified her.
“You encourage darkness,” she whispered.
Lucifer gave a low, humorless laugh.
“No, Heaven.” His gaze returned toward the city lights below. “I simply reveal what already exists.”
The way he spoke sounded less like pride and more like certainty earned through centuries.
As though he had watched humanity long enough to stop believing goodness lasted.
Heaven hated how part of her wondered what could make someone become that cold.
“You weren’t always like this,” she said softly before realizing the words aloud.
Lucifer went completely still.
The shadows surrounding the corridor shifted instantly.
Dangerously.
Slowly, he turned toward her again.
“What exactly do you think you know about me?”
The sudden darkness in his voice sent fear rushing through her chest.
But Heaven forced herself not to step back this time.
“I know pain when I see it.”
Silence.
Heavy silence.
Lucifer stared at her with an unreadable expression.
Then suddenly—
He laughed.
Not cruelly.
Not mockingly.
Almost disbelieving.
“Pain?” he murmured quietly. “You look at the Devil and see pain.”
Heaven’s heartbeat quickened.
“Why does that bother you so much?”
Lucifer stopped laughing immediately.
The air around them grew colder.
Because she was asking dangerous questions now.
Questions no one had dared ask him in centuries.
Far beneath the mortal world, entire kingdoms trembled when Lucifer merely looked displeased.
Yet this mortal girl stood before him searching his eyes for sadness.
The mate bond pulsed painfully beneath his chest again.
Stronger.
More alive.
Lucifer despised it.
He stepped toward her once more until barely inches separated them.
“You think kindness makes you brave,” he said softly.
“No.”
“It makes you vulnerable.”
Heaven swallowed hard.
“Maybe.”
Lucifer lifted one hand slowly toward her face again.
This time Heaven did not move away.
The realization affected both of them differently.
Lucifer’s fingers brushed lightly through one dark curl near her cheek.
Gentle.
Far gentler than someone like him should have been capable of.
“You will break eventually,” he murmured.
“Everyone does.”
Heaven looked directly into his crimson eyes.
“Did you?”
For the first time since meeting him—
Lucifer looked genuinely caught off guard.
The silence stretching afterward felt strangely intimate.
And dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Before Lucifer could answer, hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from the far end of the corridor.
“H-Heaven?”
The voice shattered the moment instantly.
Lucifer’s expression changed immediately.
Coldness returned like armor sliding back into place.
Holland appeared around the corner carrying a lantern, visibly breathless from searching the palace.
The prince froze the second he saw Lucifer.
Everything stopped.
The lantern nearly slipped from Holland’s hand.
For one horrifying moment, nobody moved.
Holland’s face slowly lost color as his eyes fixed upon the tall dark figure standing beside his sister.
Wings.
Crimson eyes.
Shadow twisting unnaturally around him.
The reality felt impossible.
Yet terrifyingly real.
Lucifer looked toward Holland calmly.
And smiled faintly.
Not warmly.
Never warmly.
“Well,” Lucifer murmured softly. “This explains the protective brother.”
Holland immediately stepped in front of Heaven.
Every playful trace usually surrounding him vanished completely.
“Get away from her.”
Lucifer’s amusement deepened slightly.
The prince was afraid.
Lucifer could smell it.
Yet Holland still positioned himself between danger and his sister without hesitation.
Interesting.
“He can see you?” Heaven whispered quietly.
“Of course he can,” Holland snapped without looking away from Lucifer. “What exactly is that thing?”
The word thing darkened Lucifer’s expression slightly.
Shadows along the corridor walls moved violently for one brief second.
Heaven noticed immediately.
“Holland—”
“No,” the prince interrupted sharply. “You stay behind me.”
Lucifer tilted his head thoughtfully while observing the twins.
So different.
Yet loyal to each other in ways demons rarely understood.
“You’re brave for a human,” Lucifer said calmly.
“I’m not brave,” Holland replied coldly. “I’m angry.”
That answer genuinely amused Lucifer.
A small laugh escaped him.
“You hide fear well.”
“I learned from palace politics.”
Lucifer’s gaze shifted toward Heaven again.
“And you,” he said quietly, “continue surrounding yourself with fragile protectors.”
“He’s not fragile,” Heaven answered before Holland could.
The immediate loyalty in her voice affected Lucifer more than it should have.
Annoying.
Very annoying.
Holland carefully moved one hand toward the dagger hidden beneath his coat.
Lucifer noticed instantly.
“So mortals truly believe metal solves everything.”
Before Holland could react—
Darkness exploded through the corridor.
The lantern shattered instantly.
Shadows slammed violently against the walls while cold air rushed through the palace like a storm unleashed indoors.
Heaven gasped softly.
Holland grabbed her arm immediately.
And suddenly Lucifer stood directly before them.
Too fast.
Far too fast.
The prince froze.
Lucifer’s crimson eyes locked onto his.
“If I wanted your sister dead,” Lucifer said softly, “nothing in this kingdom could stop me.”
Terror crawled through Holland’s body instinctively.
Because deep down…
He knew the Devil spoke truthfully.
Yet despite the fear, Holland forced himself to speak.
“Then why keep coming back?”
Silence followed.
Even Heaven looked toward Lucifer carefully now.
Because somehow…
That question mattered.
Lucifer stared at Holland for several seconds.
Then slowly looked toward Heaven again.
Something complicated flickered behind his eyes briefly.
Not softness.
Never softness.
Something worse.
Conflict.
The mate bond pulsed once more.
Heavy.
Demanding.
Ancient.
Lucifer suddenly stepped backward.
The shadows surrounding him thickened rapidly.
“This kingdom is changing,” he murmured quietly while watching Heaven. “And soon you will understand humans far better than you wish to.”
Then his gaze shifted toward Holland one final time.
“Protect her carefully, prince.”
Darkness swallowed him instantly.
And then—
He was gone.
The corridor fell silent again.
Only shattered glass remained across the floor where the lantern had broken.
Holland stood frozen for several seconds before finally turning toward Heaven.
His face looked pale.
Shaken.
Terrified.
“Heaven…” His voice came out rougher than usual. “What in God’s name was that?”
But Heaven could not answer.
Because her skin still remembered Lucifer’s touch.
And somehow…
That frightened her more than his power ever could.
- Writer
