Reign of Night (Thorne Hill #7) - Emily Goodwin Page 0,70

controlled. Hellfire springs from my hands and my eyes flash blue before taking on a reddish hue, tainted from my anger. I look at the fire in my hands, wanting nothing more than to throw my hands out and burn this place to the ground.

Ella screams, and I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling the flames grow bigger and brighter around me. Inhaling deep, I squeeze my fingers into my palms and throw my hands down to release the hellfire. It hits the ground with a bang, sending a shockwave of magic through the room as if a bomb went off. Ella and Scott get knocked back, slumping unconscious to the ground. The desk is overturned, and the glass on the windows is blown out. The flames leave my fingers and ignite the carpet, but instead of burning in a traditional sense, it forms a circle of three-foot-tall flames, burning before me.

Something dark rises from the center of the flames, and right as the shadow of a demon appears, I realize that I just summoned a demon from Hell. Slowly it rises, noncorporeal form shimmering like a blotch of ink in dark water.

I summoned this demon, called it forth from the pits of Hell. Can I command it, too? I suppose there’s only one way to find out.

“Give the other demons a warning: there will be no new ruler of Hell. Any demon who tries to sit on the throne will have me to answer to.” My eyes flash blue. “Now go forth and obey your Queen.” The demon shimmers away, dissipating through an air vent in the room.

“I told you royalty suits you.”

I whirl around and see my uncle standing in the doorway. “Lucifer! Thank God!” A big smile splits my face.

“You might want to rephrase that,” he says with a wink and comes into the office.

I go over and throw my arms around him, so relieved to see him I’m feeling emotional. “What are you doing here?”

“Cleaning up your mess—again.” He pats my back. “Calling demons from Hell like that is something only I should be able to do.” Letting go, his eyes meet mine. “And now you.”

“That was probably a pretty dumb thing to do, wasn’t it? I didn’t mean to. I was so angry.” I blink away tears and look at Ella and Scott on the floor. “Are they dead?”

Lucifer follows my gaze. “No, want me to kill them?” He holds out his hand, ready to snap his fingers and send them down to Hell.

“No,” I say quickly.

“You were angry enough to do this kind of damage but want them to live?” He looks around the room. “And mad enough to accidentally summon a demon.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time I did something, uh, drastic out of anger, though summoning the demon was the first. Where did it go?”

Lucifer shrugs. “Wherever it wanted. Maybe it’ll deliver your warning, maybe it won’t. You’ll look good on the throne, but you do have a lot to learn. You need to add a little pain to your demands.”

“I…I don’t…” I shake my head. “The others will be able to find me?”

“If I don’t distract them, maybe. They’d have to detect that a demon was pulled straight from Hell first, which isn’t easy to do. I’m familiar with it, so I felt it right away and knew it was my favorite half-human. Now,” he says and claps his hands together. “How should we punish them? This one is going to be fun to play with when his soul goes to Hell. You’re sure you don’t want me to send him now?”

“I want you to,” I admit. “But don’t. It’s…it’s wrong.” I feel like I’m forcing myself to say it, but it is wrong. “I’m kind of surprised he has a soul. I thought maybe he sold it to you in exchange for political power or something.”

“Many have, but not this one.”

I’m all shaky, with half of me trembling from seeing Lucas get arrested for doing nothing, and the other half is vibrating with power, which again, felt so damn good to wield. “My mother,” I rush out, brain needing to think about something else for a hot minute to avoid being overwhelmed, but I picked the wrong subject for that. “Did she sell her soul? Tabatha told me she was excommunicated from her coven for practicing dark magic. Is that true?”

“Yes,” Lucifer says and gets a distant look in his eyes. I’ve only seen this expression on him once before, and