“It is done,” Lucifer said, and his hand shot out. The box Seraphina held flew to him. He snatched it out of the air and quickly checked inside, making sure the gem was there.
A flash of bright light filled the room, and when it subsided, Sera was gone.
“Where is she?”
Lucifer’s gaze came back to me. “I’m sure she’ll soon be back to take her place in Hell. Sera will hold me to my bargain.”
I didn’t want her here. I didn’t want to see her smug, evil face ever again.
His yellow gaze held mine. “I can repair your broken heart, I can take all you are feeling away. Sera will never know. There is no reason for you to suffer this way.”
I shook my head. Despite what Lothar had done, I couldn’t let Lucifer take my pain away. The thought of erasing the love I felt for him was unthinkable—it was all I had left of us now.
I coughed, tasting blood as agony wracked through me.
“I hope, my precious one, that you will not live to regret this decision,” Lucifer said as he scooped me up off the bed and stepped through the gateway to Hell, closing it behind us.
It was my job to protect Lucifer and his interests. It was what I was created for, what all the handmaids were created for. He came first, always.
Regret would be pointless.
What was done, could never be undone.
Chapter
One
Present day
Roxy
* * *
Poe strained against his chains, mouth opening to scream as I carved into his flesh, but he only managed a hoarse croak. I’d been working on the demon for several hours, after torturing Tarrant until he passed out.
Still, neither was talking.
Lucifer was convinced they didn’t know where Beelzebub was. I refused to believe it. They had to know something. I needed them to talk. They were B’s little helpers, and if anyone knew where that traitor had run off to after his failed attempt to usurp Lucifer’s throne, it was them.
The only sound in the room now was my leather jacket creaking as I leaned in and pressed the tip of my blade into the delicate flesh below Poe’s right eye. “You want the pain to stop, don’t you, Poe?”
His gaze bored into mine, full of fear and fury. “Yes,” he croaked past his wrecked throat.
“Then you need to talk.” Desperation filled me. Time was almost up. If I could get him to give me something, freaking anything, I wouldn’t have to go on this hunt for the missing lord, I could just go pick the prick up from wherever he was hiding, bring him back to Hell, and be done. I swallowed thickly. I wouldn’t have to spend the gods only knew how long with Lothar tracking down the giant red traitor.
He licked his bloody lips. “I-I don’t know a-anything.”
“Losing an eye isn’t fun. You know this better than anyone. They take a really long time to regenerate.” He flinched. “I’m about to make mincemeat out of both of yours, Poe, and there’s only one way to stop it.” I gripped his jaw. “Tell me where Beelzebub’s hiding.”
His mouth opened and closed several times. “No…please. I-I don’t…kn-kno…”
“What are you doing, Roxy?”
I froze, and my gaze sliced to the door.
Lucifer stood there, his yellow gaze shadowed by his gloriously thick black lashes. He was dressed in black jeans and boots, leaving his chest and all that heavily tattooed skin on display. He slid his thumbs into his pockets, and the silver rings he wore glinted in the flames from the wall sconces. He didn’t speak, just tilted his head to the side, studying me.
I huffed. “Before I’m sent off on some wild goose chase, I decided to give torture one last crack.”
