Before I knew it, she was running down the street with me to the police station, taking me away from the only family I had. When I got to see Mom’s body on Christmas morning—at the time we were supposed to be at church—I pushed a strand of her blonde hair from her face and told her a bedtime story.

“Fervor Crisps?” Dr. U asked, pulling one out of the brown paper bag. “I love these!”

I grinned. “You’ve had them before?”

“Of course!” She bit into one and sighed. “You’ve had them before?”

“Eros makes them.”

Her eyes widened, and she slowly chewed. “Eros, as in the man you’re dating?” she asked.

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I’m going to visit his family for the holiday and am nervous.”

She placed the Fervor Crisp on a napkin and dusted off her hands. “You’re going to see his family?” While she had become comfortable with my relationship with Eros, she suddenly looked hesitant. “You’re moving rather quickly, but…” She sat up, took my hand, and smiled. “You’ll do great. I know you will. You’ve turned out to be the strongest woman I know.”

We gazed at each other for a few more moments, and I closed my eyes. Hoping that I had made Mom proud like I had Dr. U.

After a few seconds of silence, I stood. “Well, I don’t want to hold you up. Have a good Christmas. I’ll see you next Monday.”

I tugged on Mom’s pendant and walked to the door. I’d see her if I survived Hell.

“Dani!” she said before I walked through the doorway. I turned around to see her smiling weakly at me. “Be careful.”

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER 40

OceanofPDF.com

Dani

If I was going to visit the Kingdom of Lust, I was going to make an unforgettable first impression.

I shimmied into a long red satin gown that Eros brought over this morning and smoothed it out. It was as bright as Kasey’s lipstick, clung to every one of my curves, and had a plunging neckline that showed way more cleavage that I was used to.

Music was playing softly on the speaker in the living room. Maria peeked her head into the bathroom. “You look amazing!” She walked in—still wearing pajamas—and brushed her fingers against Mom’s pendant. “And your necklace is nearly glowing!”

My cheeks warmed. “You’re not going to the party?” I asked. “Didn’t Zane invite you?”

She sighed. “He did, but I don’t want to see Javier, and demons freak me the fuck out.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. It’d be nice to have some support there tonight.

“Zane said he was leaving the party early to come over, so I’m just going to stay in,” she said. I raised my brows. Maria, staying in? That was a first.

“So, you and Zane… you’re fine?” I asked, smiling.

She grabbed my hand, cheeks flaming, and pulled me toward the front door. “Yes, but I’ll tell you about that later. You can’t be late to a party in Hell,” she said.

After visiting Dr. U’s office last night, I had told Maria that I was going to Hell to visit Eros’s family. Of course, I only told her the essentials—that I’d be amongst a bunch of sex demons, having a lovely dinner with Eros’s disgustingly rude parents, trying not to embarrass myself—and made sure to leave out the part about Eros actually killing his parents and seizing the kingdom.

That part scared me the most. Not only was I going back to Hell, but this time I was going back to Hell with my boyfriend who was going to murder his family to take back his throne.

Maria opened the door and pushed me out. “Have fun and good luc—” She stopped half-way, her gaze traveling from me to the hallway behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder. Lucifer stood at Eros’s door, smirking in our direction. His icy eyes lingered on me. Maria’s mouth fell agape. “Holy fu—” She pulled me back into the house and slammed the door. “Who is that?”

“Lucifer.”

She leaned closer to me, her voice quiet. “Lucifer, as in the guy you had a threesome with?” When I nodded my head, her eyes widened. “You get it, girl. He’s so sexy!”

“Thanks, Maria,” I said, playfully rolling my eyes at her and opening the door again. She wished me good luck, knowing just how much I was fearing this whole night. I pulled her into a hug. If the plan failed, I didn’t know when I would see her next. And—even though she was annoying sometimes—I was terrified that I’d never see her again.

Since yesterday morning, I’d felt that something wasn’t right, that I shouldn’t go tonight. But I was going because Eros was counting on me and Eros deserved to be king.

Lucifer was still waiting by Eros’s door when I finally left the apartment. His white hair rested messily by the sides of his face, and his eyes were icier than last time. “Stunning.”

“You don’t look too bad yourself,” I said.

Eros opened the door. A red tie was hanging loosely around his neck, and his soft hair was parted to one side. So many succubi and incubi would be all over him tonight, trying to pry him away from me.

He pulled me inside and pressed his lips to my ear. “If we didn’t have to deal with my family tonight, I’d already have that dress ripped off of you.” His fingers trailed over my cleavage. “Everyone is going to be all over you tonight.”

I pulled him closer, ignoring Lucifer’s playful groan at our affection, and fixed his tie. When I was finished, he grasped my hand and held it to his chest. “I can’t wait to show everyone how amazing you are,” he said.

I hoped that’s how the night would go—making a damn good impression in the kingdom he was banished from—but nothing ever went to plan. Eros pulled away to fix his hair in the mirror one last time, and I grasped my necklace, suddenly filled with so much doubt.

Something was bound to go wrong. I could feel it.

“Are you ready?” Lucifer asked, standing in front of a portal.

I clenched the pendant in my fist, accidentally ripping it off of the chain. My eyes widened at the v-shaped piece of metal in my palm. “Oh, my God.” I broke it. The one thing that I needed to survive tonight broke. What was I going to do? I needed Mom with me. I couldn’t sit at dinner with a table full of demons without her to keep me calm. I—

“Dani,” Eros said. He placed his hands on my shoulders and gazed down at the pendant. “Calm down. It’s fine. You’re fine.”

“But—but my necklace.” I held my hand toward him.

“We can fix it,” he said.

“No.” I shook my head. “Last time it broke, it took weeks for Trevon to fix it. We can’t fix it now.” I ran my hands through my curls. “What am I going to do?”

Lucifer stepped forward. “There is a jeweler in Pride who can fix it for you while we’re at dinner. He’s exceptionally good at all things jewelry, even handcrafted that ring Eros has on his finger.”

“But I—what about Mom?”

Eros squeezed my shoulder. “You’ll be fine without her, Dani. It’ll take less than a couple hours for him to fix it.”

I gazed between the two men and reluctantly handed the pendant to Lucifer, hoping that I’d see it again. It was one of the few things left of Mom.

“I’ll meet you there,” he said. He stepped into the portal and disappeared.

Eros took my hand. “Close your eyes,” he said. I squeezed my eyes shut. I would not make the same mistake as last time. I didn’t have Mom to protect me.

When Eros told me to open my eyes, we were standing in a portal room in an unfamiliar kingdom. The room was fairly large with soft egg-white walls and two red velvet couches on either side of the portal. The lights were dim, and there were two guards dressed in suits with black horns and reflective eyes. Lucifer stepped out of the portal behind me, nearly bumping into me. He rested a hand on my lower back.