Lucifer's Cage (After Dark Book 6) by Sarah Bailey (short story to read .txt) 📗

She looked up at Lucifer, her eyes full of hesitation. This is why he wanted to be by her side. No matter how strong and assured she was, Candace was still fragile inside. She’d been denied her parents’ affection and approval for so long.

He’d begun to understand what drove her. The feelings of neglect and hurt which rested deep inside her soul. She’d told him she saw all his damaged parts. He saw hers too. And yet they loved each other all the same. He’d have the courage to tell her soon. When he knew she’d given up the last of her ties to this world for him.

“I won’t be able to return to Earth for the foreseeable if I do this,” she finished.

“Is this your way of telling me you’ve agreed to return to Hell?” her father asked.

She turned to him. Lucifer could see her fingers tightening around the mug.

She’s preparing herself for his disappointment. Fuck.

He wanted to soothe away her fears. Teach her that she was worthy. That she didn’t need her father’s approval.

“You know how I feel, Dad. I want… I need…”

His hand tightened around her waist.

You can do this. You can tell him the truth, my little witch.

“I’m choosing this because it’s what I want. No one is forcing me. I want my life to be my own for once. Without all the expectations and duties hanging over my head.”

She trembled. He could feel her conviction flooding through her veins. He’d asked her to stay, made her promise not to leave him, but it wasn’t with force. He needed her willingness and she’d given it to him. Given him everything. And he’d give her all he was in return when she came home free of the shackles keeping her tethered to Earth.

“Candace, I only wish you to have your heart’s desire. I told you yesterday, I will do anything in my power to make up for bargaining with your life.”

The urge to growl and rip her father a new one drove through him. Only the woman anchored to his side stopped him. Her father had sold his own daughter’s life, but he was also the only family Candace would have left who cared for her.

Her eyes snapped to his as if she could feel tension radiating off him. She wanted access into his thoughts. Her expression told him that much. He wasn’t about to kiss her in front of her father. He’d break and want to take out his anger on her delicate skin.

Red, hot, painful lust spiked in his blood.

Fuck. She has no fucking clue how much I need to use her, hurt her, ruin her. Fuck, I shouldn’t take out my pain on her.

Pain. It lanced through his chest. The pain of never being able to return to Heaven. The pain of being cast out for wanting freedom. The pain of the shackles his father had placed on him when he’d been consigned to rule Hell. All of it sliced through him, threatening to overflow.

What the fuck is this?

It had been a long time since he’d felt anything but rage, hatred and a need for revenge when it came to his father.

Candace’s expression softened. She reached up, placing her hand on his heart for a moment. Her eyes said ‘I know you’re suffering with things I can’t change but let me love you and share your burdens’.

Fuck if it doesn’t make me more aware of how much I don’t deserve her and how much I love her all the same.

She knew the pain of parental disappointment. And she’d willingly sacrificed her life to belong to him. He held something so precious, so unbelievably pure of sins.

It was then he knew.

When Candace faded from this world, his father would take her away from him because her soul, which she’d given to Lucifer, belonged in Heaven.

Despite all the pain he felt at the loss of his home and his father’s approval, he knew losing her would be the worst fucking pain of all. It almost robbed him of his control and his anger at his father threatened to spill over.

“Lucifer, I’m here, stay with me,” she whispered.

Her voice shattered him. She had no clue how dark his thoughts were yet her words were exactly what he needed.

She’s here and she’s mine.

He shook himself, dispelling the violence locked inside him. The need to destroy his father dulled.

He brushed her hair from her cheek, giving her a haunted smile. Her tentative returning one spoke volumes. She wasn’t going to rest until she’d torn his pain to shreds and made him admit to what tormented his very existence.

She is more terrifying than any sort of punishment my Father might exact. She has the power to ruin me if she leaves me. She’ll break my heart.

No one had ever had such power over him before. He could only hope her love for him was enough to keep her by his side.

He turned back to her father. Gallian’s expression held curiosity and understanding. As if he realised what tethered Lucifer to his daughter.

Love.

Would it keep her father happy, knowing Candace was everything to him?

Gallian stood, walking over and placing his mug on the dining room table. He took the mug from Candace and placed it next to his. Taking her shoulders in his hands, he smiled at her.

“You’ll have some way of staying in contact with me.”

He looked over at Lucifer who nodded his assent. Now the portals had reopened, there was nothing standing in the way of her talking to her father.

“Then I’ll be content in the knowledge that you’re safe with him.”

He leant down, placing a light kiss to his daughter’s forehead.

“I love you, my child. I will always be proud of you. Remember what I said about