Adela was thrown into a time when her parents were the most mortifying people in her life.
She must have been a tween.
It felt like a lifetime ago.
This man—well, Devil—was embarrassed at a little blue demon in a maid’s uniform singing his praises.
The stories she was told as a kid about who the Devil was painted him in a different picture.
Actually, her stereotypes were just like the pictures on all sides of this massive gallery.
Particularly the Renaissance ones where he dragged unwilling people to Hell and burned them for all eternity.
His mortification was only pushing Adela to bite the inside of her cheek, or she was going to laugh.
It was the lightest she had felt since arriving here.
“That’s enough, Mera,” Lucifer chided after clearing his throat.
“Forgive me, Your Majesty,” the demon maid apologized.
“It is just not often I see new faces here.
I must ensure they are aware that our devotion is because our lord and leader is as perfect as—” “Mera,” he cut her off, his tone having a slightly warning edge to it.
“Yes, Sire?” she asked.
“That last part,” he responded.
“Our lord and leader is perfect,” she responded resolutely.
“Before that,” he said.
“Our devotion, Your Majesty?” “Are you here against your will?” Lucifer asked.
“Not at all,” Mera responded, offended.
“Then say that,” he urged.
“I am not something to be idolized.
I make mistakes.
I am not perfect.” “But, Sire—” Lucifer sighed.
“Call me Lucifer.” “You’ve been saying that for eons, but it doesn’t make it come out easier,” Mera admitted.
“As long as you stop telling people that you’re here because you worship me,” he persisted.
“I am not worthy of devotion for existing.
The demon maid seemed like she wanted to say something else as she pressed her lips together and held back a grin.
Her wild, yellow eyes were wide as though it was hard to contain herself.
“I will get back to dusting, Your—Lucifer,” she responded and gave a deep curtsy that showed she hadn’t absorbed anything he was telling her.
“Then, we ought to move on,” Lucifer decided.
Since Adela had fallen into silence as she observed the situation, she only nodded in response and followed Lucifer, who, for once, didn’t wait for her until he was already in the hallway.
“Is there somewhere you would like to go in particular?” he asked.
“Actually, I can see gardens from my window,” she admitted.
“Am I allowed to see them before we start going back up into the castle?” Lucifer sized her up for a moment.
She asked so timidly that he felt awful.
Someone had made her insecure about showing that she was interested in anything in the past.
“Of course,” he responded easily.
“It’s a perfect time of day to see the gardens.” They weren’t far from the front entrance, but Lucifer instead passed it, and they continued down a long breezeway that led them to stairs.
Once at the bottom, Adela was finally able to see the beginnings of the gardens that had captured her attention from her room.
As far as she could tell, the gardens were entirely full of roses.
They were all shades of red, black, and grey, but what stuck out to her most was how shiny they were under the glow of the blood moon.
“They are more beautiful than I could have imagined,” she admired.
“The upkeep of this must be intense.” “Not quite upkeep,” Lucifer admitted, stepping back and letting Adela observe the gardens as she pleased.
“A new flower grows each time someone’s time in hell expires.
If anything, I feel bad getting rid of a single one, so this is what it looks like…” He gestured for her to keep moving forward until she was at a fountain in the center of a couple of gardens.
It was a serene pool with dark water and a horse statue in the center.
However, it only caught her attention momentarily because when she was finally able to look at how far the rose gardens expanded, she gasped.
From this perspective, they seemed to have no end.
They wrapped around the castle until they were out of her sight.
It made her realize that Lucifer was someone who experienced a lot of loss.
Was this place merely Hell, or was it Hell for him?
“There have to be billions,” she realized.
“That sounds correct,” he admitted.
Adela paused to gather her thoughts, her eyes never stopping, and quietly walked farther down the path.
“You’re the Devil?” she asked, confirming something she was already certain of.
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“And you don’t like when people find you flawless,” she recalled.
“I disagree with being worshipped just because someone looks up to me,” he admitted.
“Kindness, righteousness, even saving others doesn’t require payment in loyalty or… being worshipped.” That caused a gentle smile to pull at Adela’s lips as she observed the man who was supposed to be a horrible demon who punished people.
She couldn’t exactly picture it if they didn’t deserve it.
Even in the form when his horns were showing, she didn’t find it off-putting.
“Should we continue the rest of the tour?” she asked, not wanting him to feel like she was prying too much with her questioning.
Even if he was gentle with her, there was a paranoia that it could change.
There were people before who seemed to cherish her far more than Lucifer had and betrayed her in the end.
“Breakfast first,” Lucifer insisted.
After they ate together, the tour took them higher and higher through the castle.
She saw places he met with leaders, his study, a formal library, and other places that were more public-facing.
Despite everything being carved out of onyx stone and the lighting being red, she didn’t find the place particularly frightening.
It had its own version of beauty.
Whoever decorated the place had good taste as well.
It wasn’t until they made it to the eighth floor and were thinking of exploring the places more personal to Lucifer that Adela stiffened up.
She wasn’t entirely sure why she could smell another werewolf.
Her heart raced, and instinctively, she hid her own pheromones.