Her Sinful Angel by Felicity Heaton Page B

hope that the stars would still be here when she returned.
    Nina slipped her tights on, her eyes on the sky the whole time, and then backed towards the tunnel. She knew the moment she crossed the threshold without even looking. A sense of coldness ran through her, a feeling that unsettled her. She pulled the wooden torch from the holder mounted on the black wall, turned away from the valley with a heart that felt heavy in her chest, and trudged along the corridor towards her room in the castle.
    The heaviness in her heart began to lift the closer she came to that room, the cold sensation chased away by heat that steadily grew inside her as her thoughts turned away from the valley and back to Lucifer.
    A greeting balanced on her lips as she stepped through the door at the other end and died as she realised that she was alone.
    Nina padded across the room to a white-cloth-covered dining table that had been set up near the fireplace. Two candlesticks, each holding six black candles, provided the only light, casting a golden glow over the food on the serving trays beneath them.
    And the single place setting.
    She placed the wooden torch down into the unlit fireplace, turned back to the table, and idly ran her fingers over the empty end, her thoughts with Lucifer.
    Where had he gone?
    She had upset him, and she didn’t know how. She wanted to leave the room and go in search of him, but she rounded the table instead and sat at the opposite end to the one Lucifer should have occupied.
    The heaviness returned to her heart as she stared at that spot, easily imagining him there with her, dining with her and perhaps even talking to her about things other than the man who had taken her and who might want to hurt her.
    If he talked about himself, maybe she would find the courage to tell him about herself too.
    Maybe she would finally lower her guard for the first time in years and let someone inside.
    And neither of them would be alone anymore.
     
     

CHAPTER 8
    Lucifer flashed his fangs at a lower demon as he appeared near the prison. The hideous creature scuttled away into the shadows and hissed at him from behind a rock. He flicked his left hand towards it and black blood splattered the ground where the demon had been. Vile little bastards. He did despise the lesser creatures of his realm.
    Especially when they were dragging him away from something pleasant, something he desired to do with every drop of his blood, and were forcing him to deal with something repulsive instead.
    He eyed the three male brown-skinned scaly demons kneeling in the circle in the black courtyard of the prison ahead of him, surrounded by six of his finest Hell’s angels. The demons’ huge yellow eyes all locked on him, their rough throats working on hard swallows as they spotted him. The spines that ran up their arms trembled in a wave like motion, revealing their fear to him. The one in the middle flicked his forked blue tongue out to wet wide lips.
    His own men were equally as restless, their red feathered wings shifting constantly, a bright bloody backdrop for their crimson-edged obsidian armour. Two of them held curved black blades pointed at the three demons. Two stood behind them to ensure they didn’t attempt to escape.
    The remaining two broke away, approaching him as he glared at the demons and did his best to ignore how bleak his realm looked when compared with the valley where he had left Nina.
    Fuck, he had wanted to dine with her. A stupid and ridiculous desire, one that showed only weakness and deserved to be crushed out of existence. If his men learned he was falling for a mere slip of a mortal, they would mutiny.
    Falling?
    Lucifer blinked at that and then growled as darkness surged within him to eradicate the insane notion and replace it with something more fitting.
    Lusting after.
    Never falling.
    He had vowed to never fall again, and it was a vow he meant to keep.
    Nina was beautiful, a very attractive little human, and if she wasn’t