Page 60 of Wicked Savior
I stop and check to see if he’s offended by my observation, but he waves his hand for me to continue.
“How do you choose the sessions?” I ask him.
With a surprised look, he shrugs. A second later, a small blue demon appears before us. With large floppy ears and whiskers on his chin, he almost looks like a grumpy puppy.
“Sonders, how do we choose which sessions to hear?”
The demon lifts his chin. “I choose them based on their level of importance. Many people apply to court, but their grievances are too petty and not worthy of your consideration, my benevolent ruler.”
I frown. “If he only hears the most important cases, then who listens to the others?”
Sonders swings his dark eyes to me, then back to Lucifer without answering the question.
Lucifer leans forward. “She asked you a question.”
Sonders swallows hard. “Nobody.”
“You’ve done a great job of picking the largest disputes,” I assure him, guessing he takes his position very seriously. “Do you have any ideas about what to do for the small grievances? Also, do you have suggestions on how to make the process more efficient for everyone, including yourself?”
His dark eyes light up and he bobs his tiny head up and down. “Yes, I’ve given it a great deal of thought, but these sessions were established based on his orders. It’s not up to me to change them.”
At that statement, I give Lucifer a look. It’s his court.
The corners of his mouth twitch. “Send me your suggestions. We’ll see what we can do to make things better.” He waves a hand to dismiss him.
Sonders bows deeply. “Thank you, Sire.” He swings to me and dips his chin. “Miss.”
When he’s gone, I hesitate to add another suggestion, but he did ask. “What does the council do?”
The near smile on Lucifer’s face disappears. “They advise me on matters of state and political alliances.”
“They didn’t do anything in today’s session. Was that an anomaly, or is that the norm?” I ask him, unsure what’s bugging me about them.
“They rarely interfere in court sessions,” he replies gruffly.
It hits me. “They look like the old gods we used to have on our council. As our numbers started to dwindle, we knew we needed a new council. So, we asked them to take over certain duties. Unfortunately, when they couldn’t perform the tasks we set for them, they had to step down and let another take their place, someone willing to work harder for our people.” Once appointed, we couldn’t get rid of them, because it would have caused a lot of uproar and anger the god. It was better for them to step down using their own judgement.
Lucifer stares at me with dawning comprehension. “Clever. I have been thinking of getting rid of them but putting them to work is a better idea. There are plenty of items on my list I can delegate to them.” He eyes me. “Anything else?”
“Your bone chair is very fitting for the ruler of the Underworld,” I tell him. “You should invite other leaders here. Let them see you in your domain.”
“I’ve tried, but none will come. Besides, if they did, I’d have to attend one of their insufferable balls,” he says, laughing at the expression of outrage on my face.
Irritation blooms. “That’s rude. They may need you one day.”
He gives me a lazy look, which tells me he couldn’t care less.
“The nymph was very beautiful and sexy,” I blurt out, unable to stop myself.
He stands and stalks toward me. “Mm, what nymph?”
I narrow my eyes. “Good answer. What’s next?”
He tugs me up from the small, tufted chair he had placed next to his throne and pulls me into his arms. “A surprise. Ready?” The smile on his face pulls at something inside me.
Breathless, I raise my head for his kiss. Hard lips press on mine as he whirls me away. When we get to our destination, I realize I’m no longer plagued by the dizziness from traveling that way. I open my eyes and pull my lips from his.
The room we’re in is full of stainless-steel counters, beakers, and an assortment of machines. My mouth drops open. “How did you get all this? I haven’t given you a list.”
