Demon King (Claimed By Lucifer #1) - Elizabeth Briggs Page 0,56

the table and took my hand. “How awful that must be for you.”

My vision blurred, and I blinked back tears. “I wish so much I could remember them but there’s just…nothing. My earliest memory is waking up and my sister telling me what happened.”

His thumbs rubbed back and forth over my knuckles slowly. “Your sister… Jo, isn’t it?”

I had a hard time believing he didn’t already know everything about me, but I humored him. “Yes. She lives in San Francisco and runs a tech company there. She helped me get back on my feet after the accident, and then I started working in the florist shop we inherited from my parents. Not long after that I met Brandy where she works at the local library, and we became friends. She ended up getting a divorce, and I moved into her house after that.”

He leaned back, releasing my hand, and began to swirl his cider as if it was wine. “Do you ever want more from life than working in a flower shop? Or is that your heart’s desire?”

I bit my lip and looked away, his question touching something deep inside me, something I tried to ignore. I did want more. Desperately. But I also had a duty to run my parents’ shop, and I couldn’t run away from that. “I’ve taken a few online classes here and there, and sometimes I wish I could go to college and get a degree, but I don’t really have time. I have to run the shop and keep my parents’ legacy alive. That’s enough. It has to be.”

“Hmm…” He sounded as if he didn’t believe me. “When you dreamed bigger, what did you want to do?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes I dreamed of becoming a landscape architect and designing outdoor spaces for people.” I shrugged and wiped my mouth on my napkin. “It doesn’t matter, since it will never happen.”

“A job involving nature and plants. Seems like that would suit you.”

I glanced around at the amazing view with a small smile. “I love being around plants. Always have.”

He nodded like he’d expected as much as he pulled a big, red pomegranate from the picnic basket. He held the fruit toward me. “Would you like some?”

I nodded as I inhaled the delicate, powdery fragrance. Just a touch of sweetness that hinted at the luxury within. He must have known it was one of my favorite fruits. I wondered if he knew my trick for cutting into one.

With a small knife, he sliced off the stem, revealing the center and the parts of the pomegranate that didn’t have seeds. After turning it on its side, he scored down the fruit, following each section. With his hands, he broke the pomegranate into sections, the seeds both beautiful and bountiful on each one.

My eyebrows shot up. “Did you teach me that trick?”

“Actually, you taught me.” He picked up one of the sections and held it close to my mouth. I bit into it and the tips of his fingers brushed my lips, sending tingles through me as juice exploded over my tongue.

His eyes stayed fixed on my mouth as my tongue darted out to gather the stray juice off my lips. “In one of our past lives, they called me Hades. You were named Persephone.”

I nearly choked on the delicious fruit and stared at him in shock. “The goddess?”

“Angels, demons, and fae were often portrayed as gods in mythology. You were actually a fae of the Spring Court in that life.” He winked, a naughty grin slanting across his mouth. “I snatched you away from Faerie to live with me in Hell, much to your parents’ dismay.”

I shook my head in wonder, trying to absorb his words. The vase in his library made a lot more sense, along with the narcissus flowers in my room. Was it my favorite flower because it subconsciously reminded me of my past life? What other things from my previous lives influenced me now? Favorite food, favorite color, even the way I drank my coffee—how much of that was from my current life and how much was from before? Having so much knowledge just out of my reach was maddening.

“It was a time of relative peace between the supernatural races, where we all moved freely between Earth and the other realms.” Lucifer kept feeding me the pomegranate seeds, holding them to my lips as he spoke. I let my tongue touch the tip of his finger, watching as his eyes flared, but he