“Lord Eros. Commander Lucifer,” one guard said.

The other eyed me but returned his gaze to Eros after a moment. “You’re the last to arrive. Everyone is waiting for you in the castle.”

The Kingdom of Lust was much different from Pride. The sky was a light pink with white feathery clouds. Beds of roses lined the white stone walkways which lead to a towering castle.

Lucifer placed his hand on Eros’s shoulder. “This is all about to be yours.”

Eros gazed around us, taking in the sight of his kingdom, and nodded. He looked so stoic and strong, and I was glad one of us was.

While we walked to the castle, Eros repeated that I must stay with Lucifer at all times—even when he went to do whatever it was that he was going to do. He didn’t tell me the specifics, and I didn’t want to know. Times like this, when your lover was going to kill his parents and seize the Kingdom of Lust’s throne—in Hell—it was best to remain ignorant.

What I did know was that the three of us were going to pretend that Eros had finally accepted life as a true incubus through a partnership with Lucifer and me, which meant that I had to flirt with both of them all night long. And that wouldn’t be a problem.

I linked arms with Eros and walked up the staircase to the front doors of the palace. Demons were already drunk off of Passion Delights on the front steps—flirting, kissing, touching. They were doing it all, and I only wished that I had Mom’s necklace—my security net.

A few succubi batted their lashes at Eros, but he brushed by them. He didn’t even look at them when they called his name.

When we reached the top, another two guards nodded at Eros. “Lord, Commander.” They looked at me, then at each other. “Who is this?”

“She’s my date,” Eros said.

“Our date,” Lucifer corrected, grabbing my hand. If this was going to work, we couldn’t make any mistakes.

“You share the human girl?” The guards looked at each other and laughed. “The Great Lord Eros who was shamed for only wanting one lover, now is sharing a woman with a comman—”

Eros grabbed his throat, pressing him up against the stone door. “If you have a problem with it, tell me.”

The guard shook his head. “No, no, Lord. I was just in disbelief.”

When Eros released his grip, I squeezed his bicep tighter. Tonight was only going to get worse. He stepped over the man and opened the door himself.

Lucifer placed his hand on my lower back. “Stay by my side,” he said.

I took a deep breath and stepped into the room. We would walk out of here with the Kingdom of Lust or we wouldn’t walk out of this castle ever again. I could feel it.

The lights were dim inside. Demons were dancing, grinding, and flirting with each other. Some were nearly naked, others were clothed. The palace kind of reminded me of The Lounge, if it had hundreds more people and they were all demons.

Horns of ice. Dresses of gold. Red curled tails. Green scarred skin. There were demons from all the kingdoms here. But, despite their differences, one thing was the same amongst all of them: when Eros walked in, everyone stopped.

They shuffled to the side, creating a path for us to walk through. The succubi stared at me and whispered, eyeing my hand on Eros. I rubbed my sweaty palm on my dress, hoping that they didn’t notice how nervous I was.

I had never been surrounded by hundreds of people who were more beautiful than I would ever be. And—by the way they held themselves with so much confidence—there was no doubt in my mind that they could please Eros more than I could ever.

“Dani!” someone said. Kasey pushed through the crowd—red lipped and dressed in black stilettos—and jogged over to us. Her eyes were dark, her horns sharp, she was breathtaking. She pulled me into a hug. “I’m so glad that you made it!”

“Not even going to say hello to your brother?” Eros said from beside me.

She playfully pushed his shoulder, then bowed to Lucifer. “Commander. I didn’t think you’d be here with Eros and Dani.”

“I’m their date,” he said.

There was an uproar of whispers, and I tried to ignore it. My heart was pounding way too hard in my chest. I glanced around to distract myself and locked eyes with the one person I wish I hadn’t. Javier.

He sat at a long table, staring directly at me, and smirked. I gulped nervously, trying to pull my gaze away from him. I hated to admit it, but he was much more attractive in his demon form. Sculpted frame, large horns, dark eyes tinted red.

An older demon sat next to him, tail curling around a succubus’s waist. A pair of scars laid diagonally across his face. They both whispered back and forth.

Eros must’ve seen them too because his grip on me tightened. We continued through the crowd of whispers to the table.

“Eros, I didn’t think you’d actually make it.” A petite woman approached us, her voice a bit distasteful. She had hair like Kasey’s and piercing eyes like Eros. “Look who it is, Dear.”

A tall man walked up beside her. His gaze flickered from Eros to Lucifer. “Son.” The man nodded stiffly. “Commander. I don’t think we invited you.”

Lucifer smirked, tapping his fingers on my lower back like he was amused. “I was invited by Eros as his and Dani’s date.”

If I thought that my heart was racing before, I was definitely about to have a heart attack when Eros’s dad looked me up and down, his mother following suit. She curled a finger around a strand of my brown hair and watched me closely. I stayed still, absolutely terrified. “She’s pretty, Eros.”

“She is,” his father said.

Eros paused and pulled me away from his mother. “But?”

“But?” she said with a strained smile on her face. “Why do you think I want to say more?”

“Because you always have more to say.”

His mother shook her head and curled into his father’s arm. “I’m just surprised. That’s all.”

I tried my hardest to have a neutral expression, but everything she said sounded so fake, rehearsed even. No wonder Eros didn’t like his parents.

Eros stared at her, his face void of any emotion. “Surprised about what?” he asked tensely.

“She’s not a demon,” his father said.

“And you’re seeing her and Commander Lucifer.” She held out her hand for Eros to take, but he didn’t. So, instead, she slapped him playfully on the chest. “I should’ve known. You’ve been spending so much time with him lately and none here with us.”

“You banished me, Mother.”

She waved her hand, dismissively. “Oh, that’s silly talk. Now that you’ve accepted the true incubi way your banishment shall be lifted. You can spend more time here in the palace.”

“I don’t wan—”

I dug my nails into his bicep to get him to shut up. If we were going to do this—no mistakes. That’s what he told me, and I planned to keep it that way. I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t want him to die either.

“Why don’t we have dinner?” Eros’s mother asked, shuffling her husband to the table.

“Yes. Dinner,” Eros said.

Once his parents sat at the head of the table, next to Javier and the other demon, there were two chairs left. Lucifer sat in one and Eros sat in the other. He tugged me into his lap, lips brushing against my ear. “When we rule, I’ll make sure you have a seat at the head of the table.”

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CHAPTER 41

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Dani

Servers filed in through a door with platters of food and bottles of Passion Delight and dark red wine labeled Sanguio. As soon as the waiter popped the cork on the Sanguio to give to Javier, I wrinkled my nose. It smelled so vile.

Javier and the man sitting with him grabbed glasses. The older man gazed across the table at me, then drank a long sip—eyes turning red—and placed it down. “Eros, glad to see you’ve made it with your pet.”