Serah gasped, rushing right at her brother. He picked her up, swinging her around in a circle as he hugged her tightly. "Told you," he whispered to her, just loud enough for Lucifer to hear. "I knew we'd have so many wonderful moments to come."
Serah smiled, clinging to him, before Hannah pulled her away again. Samuel greeted Michael casually with a slap on the back and turned to Lucifer, nodding, before once more stealing his sister back away. They vied for her attention, and Lucifer backed away, quietly giving them space. He turned to leave when arms suddenly wrapped around him from behind, stalling him. Sighing, he closed his eyes, taking a moment to savor her touch. "Angel."
"Luce."
He pulled her into his arms as he whispered, "I love you."
"I love you, too," Serah said, clinging to him. "When I opened my eyes, I didn't want to be here, because I didn't think you'd be here. I thought you'd be down there again, back in the pit, and I'd take an eternity in your Hell before I took a single second in my Heaven without you."
Those words wiped away all his worry, all his doubt, leaving him with a warm glow beneath his skin. She loved him. She did.
He pulled back some, opening his eyes to stare down at her. Her cheeks were flushed pink, her eyes sparkling brown with specks of a greenish hue. Shades of peach and tan coated her, pale in places, freckled in others. Her lips were naturally cherry red.
Leaning down, he softly kissed her.
He'd never appreciated color so much before...
Acknowledgements
Over a year ago, when I published Extinguish, I expected that to be the end. I felt like their story had been told, that what happened from there should be left to the reader's imagination. With a character like Lucifer, I didn't think he needed perfect bows or continuations. However, where Luce is concerned, things rarely go according to plan. He said fuck that, take this down… so I did, and here we are.
I want to thank everyone… yes, every single one of you reading this… for giving this story a chance. I knew it was risky, and I might fall flat on my face, writing about characters like Lucifer and Michael and their Heavenly Father, so I'm eternally grateful to everyone who took a chance on Luce and Serah. It wasn't always pretty and I know it isn't a "traditional" romance, but I hope you found their story worth it.
Many thanks to Sarah Anderson, as usual, for always listening to my ideas and reading my words and being both a championing and critiquing, for cheering me on but not being afraid to tell me when something sucks.
To my amazing family, who doesn't bat an eyelash when I tell them I wrote a story where Lucifer becomes the hero, and to my beautiful best friend, Nicki Bullard, for being so supportive every step of the way. You can always tell when I'm getting in a funk and know how to pull me out.
Reignite (Extinguish Book 2) Page 15