Page 131 of Touched By Darkness

Only, she’s anything but.

Struck with the intense urge to protect her, I stay awake while she sleeps. My gaze never strays from the door in case her stalker decides to pay a visit.

AURELIA

Lucifer sits on the armchair in front of the fireplace while we wait for dinner to be served. He stares at me from across the room, dressed in a wine-red button-down with a slim black tie.

Daemon has given the staff strict instructions to keep the girls unharmed and quiet, so they don’t trigger the darkness in me to rise to the surface. It feels like a science experiment, but judging by the tense silence in the air, I guess they don’t want Lucifer to find out what happens when I lose myself.

I overheard them in the kitchen earlier, discussing how my power could awaken the alpha’s need to dominate.

Lucifer is the ultimate alpha in this neck of the woods.

I’m not sure what that means, but it doesn’t sound good, so I keep my mouth shut and my wings tucked. It’s best to be safe than sorry. The last time Lucifer wanted to get rid of me, he tried to sell me to Amenadiel. If it’s one thing I have learned, it’s not to underestimate the ruler of Hell.

As if pulled forward by his own curiosity, he rises from the armchair and walks up to me.

Seated on the couch, Daemon watches his approach with tense shoulders and a carefully blank face.

“Why is it that the longer I watch you, the more familiar you seem?”

I stay silent, acutely aware of the shift in the air, when he starts to circle me. A blind person could sense the crackling tension in the air.

Dariana tries to break it. “It’s nice to have you back, Lucifer. You’ve been gone for a while.”

His eyes remain laser sharp, focused entirely on me as if he’s peeling me like the layers of an onion. “What is your intention with my son?”

My eyes automatically find Daemon, who remains a statue. I remember this from last time. He barely moves when his father is around. “Intention?”

Lucifer stops in front of me and buries his hands deep in his pants pockets. His shirt stretches tight across his shoulders, and his dark hair is styled back. “Yes, intentions. You’re not marrying my son.”

My eyes pop wide open as my heart takes flight. “Who said anything about marriage?”

“Oh,” he hums, “so you admit my son is nothing more than a fling?”

I’m so confused. Shifting on the spot, I open and close my mouth in search of the right words.

Lucifer speaks first. “My son is the only heir to the throne. He will be king one day. Naturally, there is the question of marriage.”

“Marriage—” I start, but before I can speak another word, he continues. “My son is already betrothed to a woman of high enough standing to be worthy to serve by his side.”

My heart ceases to beat, and Lucifer tilts his head with a smile, attuned to reading a room.

“You didn’t know?”

“Father,” Daemon warns, his tone low and threatening.

If anything, it makes the smile on Lucifer’s face grow. His eyes flick over my shoulder, and he holds his hand out. “Come here, Dariana.”

I gasp, my mouth falling open as she rises from the couch and walks up to us with obedient steps.

“Meet Daemon’s future wife.His betrothed.The female angel who will one day produce an heir to the kingdom.”

Tears prick the backs of my eyes as they lock on Dariana. The girl I once fell for... It turns out she knew all along and never thought to tell me. She let me fall for him when he played his twisted power games. She let me fall forher.

My feet carry me backward, first a single step, which is soon followed by two more.

When Daemon notices, he flies up from the couch and gives me a warning glare.

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