Chapter Six: The Devil’s Wrath

Elara stood in the castle’s garden, where the twilight painted the sky with streaks of violet and crimson. It was one of the rare places in the devil king’s domain where she found some semblance of peace—surrounded by night-blooming flowers, the air thick with the scent of jasmine. She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes, trying to calm the thoughts that kept returning to the feel of Lucifer’s touch, the danger in his voice.

Her hands shook slightly as she adjusted the sleeve of her dress, tugging it higher to cover the purple bruise that bloomed along her upper arm—a fading remnant from her past life, a life she thought she had left behind. But the pain, the memories, they still clung to her skin like shadows.

She flinched as a voice broke the silence.

“Trying to hide from me again, Elara?”

Her heart lurched, and she turned to see Lucifer striding toward her through the garden path. He moved like a shadow given form, all grace and menace, his eyes burning through the encroaching darkness. Elara quickly tugged her sleeve down, but his sharp gaze caught the movement, narrowing on her arm.

His steps slowed, and the air seemed to grow colder, the evening shadows deepening around him. “What are you hiding?” he asked, his tone deceptively calm, but there was a razor edge to it that made her stomach twist.

“It’s nothing,” she said quickly, her voice small, barely above a whisper. She took a step back, trying to put distance between them, but Lucifer’s hand shot out, catching her wrist with a grip that sent a shiver through her.

“Show me,” he demanded, his eyes boring into hers with an intensity that left her breathless.

She hesitated, but there was no escaping the command in his gaze. Slowly, with trembling hands, she pushed up her sleeve, revealing the bruise that marred her pale skin. It was an ugly, purple mark, a reminder of hands that had hurt her, of a time when she had no power, no hope of escape.

For a moment, there was silence. Then she felt his grip tighten, not painfully, but with a strength that made her acutely aware of the power he held. She dared a glance up at his face, and what she saw there made her breath catch in her throat.

His expression was a mask of cold fury, his jaw clenched so tightly she could see the muscle ticking beneath his skin. But it was his eyes that terrified her the most—burning with a wrath so fierce, so consuming, that she felt the air around them crackle with the force of it. He looked like a storm barely held in check, a force of nature ready to unleash its fury at the slightest provocation.

“Who did this to you?” he asked, his voice a deadly whisper, each word laced with the promise of violence.

Elara tried to pull back, but he held her firmly, his gaze locked on the bruise as if it had personally offended him. She shook her head, a desperate denial slipping from her lips. “It’s in the past, my lord. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Lucifer’s fingers tightened around her wrist, and she could feel the heat radiating from him, as if his anger could burn through her. “It matters to me,” he growled, his voice deepening with a dangerous edge. “Tell me who did this, Elara. Tell me, and I will make them pay. I will make them beg for a death that will never come.”

The raw intensity in his words made her shudder. She had never seen him like this—so unrestrained, so terrifyingly possessive. It was as if the mask he wore, the careful control he always maintained, had shattered, revealing the darkness beneath. And yet, beneath that darkness, she saw something else, something that made her heart ache—a twisted kind of concern, a protectiveness that she couldn’t fully understand.

“It’s my father,” she whispered, the words slipping out before she could stop them. Her voice cracked, and she looked away, ashamed to speak of the past, to admit to the pain she had tried so hard to forget.

Lucifer’s grip faltered for a moment, his eyes narrowing with a predatory focus. “Your father,” he repeated, as if tasting the words, and the way he said them made her blood run cold. “He hurt you like this?”

She swallowed hard, nodding once, her hands trembling in his hold. She expected him to laugh, to mock her for her weakness, but instead, she saw his expression twist into something darker, more dangerous. His free hand moved to cup her cheek, but the touch was cold, possessive, his thumb brushing over her skin as if he could erase the memories with a single caress.

“He will suffer for this,” he said softly, and there was a promise in his voice, a promise that sent a chill down her spine. “I will make him wish he had never laid a hand on you. I will tear apart his world piece by piece, until there is nothing left of him but regret and pain.”

Elara’s breath hitched, fear curling in her chest—not for herself, but for the man she had once called father, the man who had left her scarred in more ways than one. “No, please,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “I don’t want that. It’s over now. I just... I want to forget.”

Lucifer’s eyes flashed with a fierce possessiveness, his hand sliding from her cheek to curl around the back of her neck, holding her close, his breath brushing against her lips. “You don’t understand, do you, little maid?” he murmured, his voice soft but laced with a dark edge. “You belong to me now. Every hurt, every scar... it’s mine to avenge. It’s mine to destroy.”

Her heart pounded wildly in her chest, the heat of his body, his grip on her neck, sending a tremor through her. There was a part of her that wanted to pull away, to push him back, but another part—a darker, more secret part—felt a strange comfort in his words, in the fury that burned so fiercely on her behalf.

She shook her head, fighting the confusion that swirled in her mind. “You can’t—”

“I can, and I will,” he cut in, his voice turning cold as ice. His fingers tightened slightly, his gaze locking with hers, as if daring her to challenge him. “You are mine, Elara. And no one—no one—harms what belongs to me without facing the consequences.”

His words left her breathless, trapped between fear and a strange, twisted gratitude that she couldn’t fully understand. She searched his eyes, trying to find some hint of softness, but all she found was the fierce, possessive determination that made her feel both protected and terrified.

“Now,” he continued, his voice softening just a fraction, though his grip remained firm. “You will tell me every detail, and then you will leave the rest to me. Do you understand?”

She hesitated, then nodded slowly, feeling the weight of his promise settle over her like a shroud. As he released her, stepping back, she took a shaky breath, trying to steady herself, to calm the storm raging inside her.

But as she looked into his eyes, she knew that something had changed between them—something that she couldn’t take back. She had seen a glimpse of the devil behind the mask, the ruthless protector who would burn the world if it meant keeping her safe. And she couldn’t help but wonder if she had just made a bargain far more dangerous than she ever realized.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***