The Spider Queen

by Emma Slate

  “This isn’t a dream, Stella.” My name slithered across his tongue, possessive and full of heat.

  “Where am I? Who are you?”

  His wings unfurled from his body. They were black, thin yet clearly powerful if they allowed him to carry me while he flew. They weren’t feathered at all, but more like the wings of a bat.

  The clouds outside the window grew even darker and I shrank back in fear.

  He smiled. It was cruel and mocking. “I told you who I was the night we met.” He paused, letting his words and the memory of his introduction sink in.

  My brain stubbornly refused to accept them. I shook my head. “No. It’s not possible. You can’t be—you’re not—”

  He bowed. “Lucifer. At your service.” He stood up and raised his hand. The door opened. “If you jump from this room again, I will not save you.”

  Lucifer strode to the exit. He peered at me over his shoulder. “Welcome to Hell.”

  And then he dove off the ledge, disappearing into the dark.

  I got up off my spot on the bed and went to the door. Despite the rain falling in slanted sheets, no evidence of it entered the room.

  Enchanted.

  The word flew through my brain.

  I slowly shut the door, closing out the storm. I leaned against the heavy wood and then sank to the floor.

  None of this made any sense at all.

  It would’ve been easy to discount what he’d said, but I’d witnessed everything myself. Seen it with my own eyes. Been pressed up against his chest as he’d swooped in to save me. This was long past the point of lucid dreaming.

  I started to shake when I thought of him and the feel of him against me.

  Why was I here?

  I walked across the room, counting the number of steps it took to reach the other side. Spacious. Decadent. Not at all the type of place one would keep a prisoner.

  He said if I jumped, he would not be there to save me. Did I really want to test that theory? It seemed like a lot of trouble to stick me up here among the clouds with no real means of escape.

  I obviously must have meant something to him.

  Him.

  Lucifer.

  The embodiment of evil.

  And yet, he hadn’t seemed evil to me. I sensed darkness, yes. Longing, definitely. The night we’d met at the masquerade, he’d been effortlessly charming.

  But this encounter left me even more confused. He seemed manic.

  I should’ve feared him. And yet…

  How was I wrapping my head around this situation with such utter calm? And why hadn’t I leapt to the conclusion that I was insane or exhausted?

  No.

  I knew this was real.

  Working my lip between my teeth, I looked at the closed door. I’d shut it because I hadn’t wanted to see the clouds, the reminder of my prison.

  Lucifer’s words rang in my ears.

  If you jump again, I will not save you.

  It was a lie. If he wanted me dead, he wouldn’t have saved me the first time. He wouldn’t have put me up here.

  I felt like Rapunzel in her tower, only I had no prince waiting to climb my hair to me.

  I’d been alone most of my life, loved by parents who’d never understood me, who’d tried to hide their fear of me and their fear for me.

  Herron was the only person in my life—Oh God, Herron. What would she do when she discovered I’d gone missing?—whom I actually considered a good friend. I’d let her in, as much as I was capable of letting anyone in.

  I hid in the shadows of society. It was safe there. Safe, and terribly lonely. I sometimes felt like the quintessential orphan, peering through the glass window to watch the happy family eating dinner.

  That had never been my life. And it certainly wasn’t my life now.

  Fortune favors the bold, or so Herron kept telling me. I never listened, but the words rang true.

  Was I bold enough to test Lucifer’s words against his actions? And why did I want to challenge him?

  My heart thundered in my ears as I slowly traipsed toward the closed wooden door. I glanced out the window to see that the storm was still going strong, unleashing terror.

  But I wasn’t afraid.

  I grasped the iron handle. It hadn’t magically locked itself. Then again, why would a door to a room in the clouds need a lock if the occupant had no wings?

  He didn’t expect me to disobey.

  I clenched the doorframe and leaned over. Wind and rain swirled and blew in my face, causing my hair to slither like snakes around my head.

  “Fight? Or flight?” I muttered.

  I jumped, my arms outstretched like I could fly.

  Down, down, down, I plunged.

  But instead of sheer terror at the drop, I felt adrenaline course through my body, and my shoulder blades crackled like tiny fireworks were underneath my skin.

  He didn’t even let me get close to the rocks below before swooping in to save me again. His wings flapped, the sound of them reverberating in my ears. I felt the intense vibrations in my molars.

  I leaned in to press my nose at the column of his throat and sniffed.

  He growled.

  Lucifer now smelled of darkness and mist, of cold barren places, of unquenched rage, and of a void that would never be filled.

  He beat his wings a few more times as we flew through the storm. Gray clouds misted around us and he dove through one before descending.

  My stomach leapt into my throat at the sharp decline, but I shrieked in excitement, my eyes tearing from the cool air.

  His wings wrapped around both of us, effectively blocking my sight, and then they unfurled.

  We’d landed and I hadn’t even felt him set his feet down onto the ground.

  “Whoa. Ten out of ten for perfect landing,” I quipped.

  He squeezed me tightly around the ribs and then let me go. Completely off balance, I collapsed. As I caught my breath, I looked around. We were in a ripe green meadow with rolling hills and trees lined with golden light.

  I blinked and looked up at the sky. The storm had ceased, but the gray storm clouds flashed with lightning every so often. But the sky that wasn’t covered by angry fog was a soft Easter egg blue.

  “Are you completely mental?” Lucifer snapped.

  I swiveled my gaze back to him. He was panting, his hands clenched at his sides. His sculpted chest was slick with sweat, and he looked like a marble statue come to life.

  “You were much more charming when we met at the masquerade,” I groused.

  “I was in the mortal realm. I had to be charming.” His eyes widened. “You left me sitting at the table. Alone.”

  “Is that why you’re pissed at me?”

  “I’m pissed at you because I told you not to jump again. And you defied me.”

  I snorted. “Defied? I’m not your minion. Do you even have minions? Never mind. You also told me you wouldn’t save me. You’re a liar.”

  He clenched his jaw, his indigo eyes flashing in anger and something else. Something that had me stepping back.

  “Try it,” he rumbled, his voice low and raspy. “Try and run and see how far you get.”

  Why did he make it sound appealing? What would happen if I ran? He’d come after me, no doubt. And catch me. Would we roll to the ground? Would he pin me beneath him and then cover my lips with his?

  The air crackled with energy. Literally. Tiny blue lines of electricity zinged off of Lucifer, and he wrenched his eyes from mine.

  “Why did you jump?”

  Whatever bravado I still had, I used it now. I tossed my hair over my shoulder and replied, “To test you, of course. Now answer my question: why didn’t you let me fall to my death?”

  Chapter 9

  “You. Tested. Me?” He punctuated each word while simultaneously trying to keep his breathing under control.

  Lucifer was a loose cannon, but for some reason I found him appealing.

  He expanded his wings. They were monstrous
. And beautiful in a gothic sort of way.

  I couldn’t stop staring at the delicate bones that ribbed each wing, the black membranes between them almost translucent.

  “Like what you see?” he purred.

  Jarred out of my reverie, I tossed him a haughty look. “I’ve seen better.”

  He strode closer to me, his wings reaching out to wrap around me and pull me to him. “I doubt you’ve seen another fallen angel’s wings before, Stella.”

  My eyebrows shot up to my hairline as I tried not to tremble from the touch of his wings as they caressed me.

  “Fallen angel?”

  “Yes, Stella,” he drawled. “I was the first fallen angel. My wings were once black feathers, but then I…changed.” His eyes glowed, but a haunted look ghosted across his face.

  Before I could stop myself, I reached up to gently touch the tip of one wing. Lucifer gritted his teeth, like he was in pain, but he didn’t do a thing to stop me.

  “They’re warm,” I murmured, feeling like I was in a drunken daze. “Why am I here?”

  “Because”—he swallowed—“you belong to me.”

  The fire of lust was quickly doused by his cold pronouncement. I wrenched away from him; his wings opened, letting me escape.

  “I belong to no one,” I yelled.

  His smile was slow, effortless, like he had all the time in the world. “Ah, my starlight, how naive you are.”

  Lucifer stalked toward me again, swept me up into his arms, and then launched us into the sky. I beat against his chest, but it was no use, he only clutched me tighter, nearly cutting off my air supply.

  “Sleep,” he whispered, his lips stealing across mine.

  My eyelids grew heavy and I slumped against him as he gently released his grip, so I was comfortable. But I didn’t fall asleep. It was more of a catatonic state where I was completely aware of everything surrounding me, yet I wasn’t in control of my own body.

  Lucifer brushed his cheek against my head. “I have so much to explain to you.”

  We flew higher, the meadow disappearing beneath us. The landscape changed once again. Active volcanoes rose high into the sky as Lucifer flew between them, not bothering to dodge lava and ash.

  My lungs felt like they were suffocating from lack of oxygen, and when Lucifer dove toward the opening of a spewing mountain, a scream lodged in my throat but couldn’t escape.

  He flew into a mountain cauldron of boiling orange and red lava. It churned and bubbled. It looked exactly like I expected Hell to look, all fire and heat.

  Lucifer continued to dive, and I blinked sleepy eyes, wishing I truly was asleep so I didn’t know I was about to be burned alive.

  He plunged into the lava, but I didn’t feel its scalding touch, nor did my skin disintegrate. He swam through a tunnel of magma, with me in his grasp, his wings still pumping.

  From my vantage point, it seemed like the lava was endlessly whipping and spitting. But eventually, the mouth of the tunnel loomed closer—and the magma didn’t spill into the opening. It was contained within the volcano. Which begged the question…what existed on the other side of the tunnel opening?

  Lucifer flapped his wings one final time, and then we were no longer in the mountain of lava, but a cool dark cavern. I should’ve had a difficult time seeing because there was no light source that pierced deep beneath the ground. But the stone appeared to emanate a blue glow—the same shade as Lucifer’s eyes.

  He carried me in his arms through the cave. It was quiet, and I felt safe.

  A haven.

  There was a giant bed and he set me in the middle of it. He stared down at me, his eyes languid. He stole a hand across my forehead. I blinked, shaking off the stupor.

  “What did you do to me?” I demanded. I sat up and inched my way to the back of the bed, my shoulders pressing against the stone headboard.

  “I tried to spell you to sleep. It didn’t take.” He frowned. “Why didn’t it take?”

  “I don’t know,” I grumbled. “Maybe I’m demon-immune.”

  “I’m not a demon—I’m a fallen angel. And the ruler of Hell.”

  “Potato, pah-tah-toe.”

  “You. Are. Infuriating.”

  I grinned. “Infuriating enough to let me go back to my life?”

  His nostrils flared.

  “Didn’t think so.” I sighed. “Listen. You clearly need a shrink—or a mood elevator—because you’re running hot and cold on me and I don’t know—”

  Lucifer bashed his hand into the side of the cave wall, causing silt to rain down.

  My eyes widened and I shrank back in fear. I shut my mouth and drew my knees up to my chest. I’d pushed him too far.

  “Why am I here?” I whispered.

  He clenched his fist and looked to the ground. “It’s complicated.”

  “Yeah, I gathered that.”

  Lucifer’s head whipped up; his lips twitched like he wanted to smile. He shut it down, though, but not before I got a glimpse of it. Maybe the charming man I’d met at the masquerade was still there. Lurking underneath the surface.

  My stomach rumbled. “You don’t get Chinese delivery here, do you?”

  He sighed and bent his head. A moment later, a paper bag appeared on the bed. The smell of egg drop soup and wontons wafted toward me.

  My head whipped up and my eyes narrowed.

  Lucifer finally let a smile through—a genuine smile.

  I rolled my eyes and reached into the bag, pulling out a container. I opened it and gasped. “Be still my heart. You got my favorite. How did you know?”

  “I know more than you can imagine.”

  A chair appeared out of thin air. Lucifer tucked his wings in and sat down.

  I held out an eggroll. “Can I bribe you into telling me why I’m here?”

  He laughed. Deep, throaty, masculine. “Bribery? Perhaps you’re finally beginning to understand who you’re dealing with.”

  Definitely manic, I thought. One moment he was charming—likable even. From agreeable to enraged in a split second.

  At the moment, we were both silent as we shared the Chinese food.

  I was sitting in Hell. Eating Chinese takeout that had been poofed into existence. By Lucifer.

  What the ever-loving fuck?

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked, using his chopsticks to reach for a sweet and sour shrimp.

  “So many things,” I admitted. “What is this place?” I gestured with the plastic spoon I’d been using to eat egg drop soup.

  “Hell.”

  “Yeah, that I know,” I said in exasperation. “But what is this place? Your bedroom?”

  “My sanctuary.” His eyes were bright as they met mine.

  I choked down my bite of egg drop soup and lowered my gaze, not liking how he was looking at me. Like he could see into my soul.

  “Am I your prisoner?” I whispered. “And if I am, what does that mean for me? Are you going to”—I swallowed—“kill me?”

  He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Can you stop eating? This requires your undivided attention.”

  Shrugging, I gathered up all the empty cartons and placed them in the paper bag. And then all the Chinese food remains disappeared. I leaned back against the pillows and kept my eyes on Lucifer.

  “We’ve met before,” he whispered, “you and I.”

  “When?”

  He lifted his hand and gently grasped the back of my head. The wall inside my mind—the one I used to hold back others’ emotions—came tumbling down. But it wasn’t just feelings that were unleashed, but memories.

  Memories I hadn’t even known were there, locked away, were suddenly free. And all at once, every memory I had ever been given by the mage to conceal my true identity became exactly what it was, a falsehood in my mind. I recalled all my years growing up with my parents in Purgatory, their faces, and my father’s voice, the times I’d fallen to my knees, begging to leave. I remembered Cassandra, the soothsayer who served my father.
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  He wants me, Mama. Lucifer wants me.

  Lucifer removed his hand from my head, and we stared into each other’s eyes. “I remember,” I whispered. “I remember you. I remember everything.”

  And then I leaned forward and kissed the Prince of Darkness.

  Chapter 10

  Lucifer ripped his mouth from mine. “Stella.”

  “I remember you,” I said again, my eyes taking all of him in, my body primed with lust and want. “I remember your pain.”

  While I was in my mother’s belly, Lucifer and I had made a connection. I’d been nothing more than a tiny seed, and yet I’d been aware. My mother had thought Lucifer had been the one to cause me pain, but in all actuality, I’d been trying to alleviate his.

  Even then I’d been an empath.

  “What did you do to me?” I whispered, leaning toward him, wanting my mouth on his, wanting his mouth on mine.

  He gritted his teeth. “Stop. This isn’t what I—this wasn’t—I mean—”

  “No?” I licked my lips and I watched with pleasure as his eyes dilated. “How did you find me? If I was hidden in the mortal realm, how were you able to track me?”

  “The mage who’d concealed you died.” His jaw clenched. “But the spell he casted to protect you had only fractured, not completely broken. When the spell attempted to repair itself, you were lit up like a magical beacon and I could pin your location.

  “I had the music box created just for you. The song that played? It was taken from a siren, with enough power to fully break the spell concealing you, but you had to hear the song for it to come to pass.”

  “The snake. With indigo eyes.” I peered at him. “You?”

  “Yes.”

  I sighed. “So that wasn’t a dream then…”

  The pull of lust had eased, allowing me to think a little more clearly.

  Lucifer stood up from his chair, which disappeared as soon as he stood.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “You need space. And time, to process all of this.”

  “Process? Process what, exactly? That I’m not who I thought I was? That I’m not even human? That the entire life I’ve been living the last few years has been a lie? Or what about the fact that I woke up in a room floating in the clouds, and now I’m somewhere underneath a volcano? You want me to process all of that? Alone?”