He swept them into his arms in one fluid motion, cradling their slender fainst his broad chest. Their wings fluttered instinctively, brushing against his forearms. The softness of their feathers was a stark trast to his unyieldi.

  Shay’s legs ed around his waist, their body trembling but not pulling away. His warmth seeped into their skin, overwhelming, ihey g to him.

  “To hell with propriety,” he muttered, his lips brushing against the sensitive curve of their throat. His breath was hot, his voice a low growl that seemed to vibrate through them. “I want to devour every inch of you, ao cim you as mine, in body and soul.”

  His hands roamed their form, his cws grazing over their curves in a way that left a trail of heat behind. Shay yelped softly, their breath hitg as they g to him tighter, their fingers curling against his shoulders. But then, a sharp, searing pain tore through their spine.

  “W-wait...” they gasped, their voice trembling.

  Lucifer stilled, his body tensing as he caught the st of singed feathers. The tips of their wings flickered with white fmes, the divine fire lig hungrily at their edges. Shay’s cry of pain pierced the air as they filed, their hands desperately reag for their wings.

  “My wings...” they choked, their voice strained with panic. Tears brimmed in their wide, frightened eyes, their body squirming against his hold, their movements frantic.

  Lucifer froze, his breath catg as realization dawhe sight of their wings burning—a sequence of his touch, his energy—sent a wave of dread crashing through him. His grip loosened as his heart thundered against his ribs. He had never intehis. He had wao cim them, not destroy them.

  “What have I done?” he hissed, his voice raw with anguish.

  Carefully, almost relutly, he lowered them to the ground, their trembling form slipping from his grasp. He k beside them, his hands h over their sm wings, the divine fmes flickering faintly against the oppressive shadows of his domain. His cws curled into fists as guilt warred with frustration.

  Foolish demon, he berated himself. You should have knower. You always destroy what is sacred.

  The thought cut deeper than he cared to admit. The sight of their charred wings, the faint glow of embered feathers, was a stark reminder of what he had lost—and what he had dared to challeheir agony was his doing, the sequence of crossing the boundaries Heaven had drawn with absolute crity.

  But weren’t those boundaries worth questioning? Worth defying?

  He let out a low growl, his crimson eyes narrowing. Isn’t this the price of freedom? He had asked the same question eons ago, standing before the blinding brilliance of God’s throne.

  When he chose defiand refused to kneel, he khe cost. Obedience demahe surrender of self. It required silen the face of authority, evehat authority demanded something intolerable.

  And so, he had fallen. Cast out. Not for pride but for the audacity to ask why. For seeking something greater than bliion. And now... now this angel aying the same price for their rebellion.

  Their wings smoldered because they had dared to cross a liheir pain was the sequence of individuality—of choice. It was the same punishment he had ehe same punishment humanity had faced when they sought the fruit of knowledge. Heaven always demanded obedience, and when it wasn’t given, it burned.

  His cws dug into his palms, his chest tightening with an unfamiliar ache. Was this truly justice? To strip them of their light for daring to see the shadow? For daring to touch it?

  He hovered closer, his voice thick with regret as he murmured, “Let me try to help you, angel.” The words tasted bitter, a holloology for a wound far deeper than he could heal. His firembled as he reached for the white fmes lig at their feathers, his demoniergy pressing against the divine fire.

  The fmes hissed in protest, the csh of light and dark sending shivers up his spihey flickered, shrinking batil they dimmed into faint embers, leaving only the charred remnants of once-pristine wings.

  Shay exhaled shakily as the pain began to ebb. Their wings, though charred and throbbing, no longer burhe stench of scorched feathers lingered in the air, mingling with the faint sulfur of Lucifer’s domain.

  “What happened?” they whispered, their voice trembling with fusion.

  Lucifer’s gaze lingered on their damaged wings, the burned feathers symbolizing what Heaven demanded of those who questios will. He rose slowly, his frame casting a shadow over them as he extended a hand to help them up.

  “It seems my touch ignited your divine essence,” he said quietly, his tone uncharacteristically subdued. His crimson eyes softened with trition. Your wings... they reacted violently to my demoniergy.”

  But beh the expnation, ahought simmered.

  This is what Heaven does, isn’t it? When you defy, when you question, it demands you burn.

  He guided them to a nearby stone bench, his movements careful, almost hesitant. His rge frame loomed protectively over them as they sat, his tail curlilessly behind him like a shield.

  “I apologize for the pain I caused,” he said, his toeady but taut with guilt. “It was uional.”

  Yet the truth g him: the pain wasn’t just his doing. It was Heaven’s. It was the cost of a system that equated obedieh worth. The fmes hadn’t simply been divihey had been punitive, a reminder of what rebellion demanded.

  His gaze softened as he studied their charred wings, a surge of protectiveness welling within him. “Rest now, angel. Let me tend to your injuries. You’ll heal in time.”

  Shay’s heart ached at the sorrow dimming the glow of his eyes. The mighty Demon King, so feared and reviled, now looked haunted by regret, his t presence shadowed by a pain far older thahe weight of it was crushing, and they couldn’t bear to let him shoulder it alone.

  Reag out, they took his hands, their fingers cool against his heated skily, they tugged him down beside them on the cold stone bench. “Please... sit with me.”

  Shay tighteheir grip on his hand, their voice barely above a whisper. “They won’t stop, will they?”