Reign chuckled, the sound fond just like the kiss he planted on Noah’s calf. “So am I, but it will have to wait at least until we make it to his palace. The summoning runes are not very accommodating for such activities.”
“We are traveling there via a summoning circle?” Noah asked, standing up so Reign had an easier time dressing him. Noah knew next to nothing about his new home, and now that some of the disorientation had left him, he was curious to learn, to fill the many gaps he still had in his knowledge of Hell.
“Conventional means, like riding or flying there, would take too long. We’ll be late,” Reign explained, smiling gently as he tied the string of the silk pants. “But I can send for a winged serpent as we won’t be in a rush on the way back.”
Noah followed Reign out of the bathroom, excitement bubbling up in his stomach. “Can we visit your palace? I would like to see it,” he asked, the request leaving his mouth before he’d thought it through.
Reign turned around, cocking his head. “Everything of mine is now yours too, Noah. We can go whenever you wish.”
The ease with which Reign made that simple declaration, the lack of any hesitation, melted Noah’s heart. He pulled Reign into his arms and kissed him, softly and indulgently.
“Let’s go,” Reign said when a sleepy growl interrupted them. He glanced toward the window where a creature was stretched atop the heated stone, its one eye watching them lazily.
That had to be the demonhound in Reign’s charge. Noah recognized it from his dreams and it seemed to recognize him too somehow, craning its head when heapproached. It let him pet it just like it had when he’d just woken up and found it curled next to him. Once he’d scratched the beast sufficiently, Reign took him to the floor above, to those great bone doors of the Demon King’s chambers.
“My King,” Reign greeted as they were invited inside, dipping his head. Noah did the same. “We should go before Asmodeus sends his legions to escort us.”
“A rather valid point, Reign,” Lucifer replied in his silky timbre, his midnight eyes crinkling in bemusement. With grace greater than even Reign’s elegance, he walked over to Noah and grasped his chin, tilting it up as he placed a kiss on his forehead. “I am glad that you are finally with us, Noah.”
Noah’s eyes stung with the need to cry and his throat tingled with a budding laugh at the same time, the gentleness in the gesture and the words just as unconditional as it had been when Lucifer had given him the choice between death and Hell.
“Thank you…” Noah managed, his voice betraying what his face did its best to hide.
“You need not thank me, child.” Lucifer smiled and shook his head. “I took from you as much as I gave,” he stated, his gaze flitting to an archway with silver drapes that seemed to lead into his bedroom.
A man stood there, holding a crown made from ivory and black opal. He was wearing a loincloth that matched Lucifer’s, and an intricate body chain adorned his torso, its color the same hue as the golden irises of Lucifer’s midnight eyes.
“Lu-Lucifer, I, um… found it,” the man said, lifting the crown. His voice sound a little hoarse as if he wasn’tused to speaking, and his eyes darted from Lucifer to Reign, meeting Noah’s last. “Hi. I’m… Ghost.”
Ghost looked familiar from somewhere and it took Noah a few more moments to place him, to recognize the head as the same one he’d seen inside the bell jar that had sat on the bone desk. The head now had a body, the neck connecting the two scarred in a way that Noah didn’t think could be repaired.
“My consort and soulbound,” Lucifer elaborated, walking over to Ghost. He took the crown and placed a hand at the low of the man’s back, ushering him into the room in an endearingly possessive manner. “He is to me what you two are to each other, though the nature and the rules of our binding differ. But… that is a story for some other time. Let us make haste now.”
Noah wondered about it as they descended to the Bone Palace’s depths, as they made their way down underground tunnels to a spacious antechamber with a rune in its center. All four of them cut their palms and fed it their blood, its pattern coming to life in a force field around them as the surroundings blurred and Noah’s stomach lurched. A heartbeat later, a surge of electricity rushed through his body, the sensation invasive like a parasite eating him from the inside out, and he found himself on the ground, retching while Reign stroked his back and whispered endearments.
When Noah finally got his bearings, he found the man with the severed head in much a similar state, pale and with his arms wrapped around Lucifer for support. He offered a weak but genuine smile that reached his pine-green eyes and made Noah feel a little better about his own reaction.
As soon as the two of them could stand without swaying, four prim-looking demons appeared, bowing their horned bald heads as they invited Lucifer to follow them to the banquet hall. Unlike the summoning room in Lucifer’s palace, the one here was situated in a separate building surrounded by stone gardens with red and purple bonsai. The gravel path they took to Asmodeus’ abode was neatly maintained, meandering around pockets of trees and small ponds, and the palace itself was grand-looking with its black and white stone, gables, and turrets.
“Ah, there you all are. I was starting to worry you were going to be late,” a deep and playful voice halted them the moment they entered the parlor, though its owner was nowhere to be found.
“Do not be silly, Barbatos,” Lucifer chided over a friendly huff of laughter, tipping his head back to look up at the ceiling.
Noah did the same. He scanned the space above twice before he spotted the demon, his gray legs hanging from one of the horizontal wooden beams.
“I meant Reign and Noah, my King,” Barbatos defended, precariously leaning forward. “You, I would never doubt.” He hopped down and flashed them all a grin, joining their group as it made its way to the grand hall.
Music and chatter spilled out from it, though both ceased the moment they walked in. Everyone turned their way, bowing heads in respect as Lucifer led the way toward the banquet table.
“My King, you arrive at last,” a massive demon with curved horns bigger than his head said, indicating the seat at the head of the table.
This had to be the host, Asmodeus. The demon who’d come back from a decade-long mission with the soul of a seraph.
“I had matters to tend to, Asmodeus,” Lucifer replied with no bite, sinking into the upholstered armchair with cat-like elegance. He pulled Ghost into his lap and propped his chin on the man’s shoulder, a content smile stretching his lips. “I don’t see your pet?”
Asmodeus shook with laughter and lifted his arm, a purple bruise marring the dark gray skin near his wrist. “He bit me, the little viper.Twice. He’ll be brought here later, after his punishment.”
“Dare I ask what that entails?” Lucifer mused, picking up the goblet a servant handed him on a black tray. “Nothing too traumatizing, I hope.”
