of my throat, but I tamp it down by grabbing my fork and shoving the first thing of food into my mouth.
Bad choice.
An overwhelming taste of charred meat attacks my taste buds until I feel like I’ve swallowed a piece of charcoal. What the fuck kind of chefs does Tazreel have down here? Gordon Ramsey would throw a fit.
I want to start coughing or spit the bite out, but I don’t dare. So even though the burnt meat practically turns to ash on my tongue, I force myself to swallow it down and paste a forced smile on my face.
Everyone is still watching me, even as they start to eat like they’re savoring every bite. “Is the meal not to your liking?” Tazreel asks me, and I wish this fucking table wasn’t so wide so I could reach under the table and kick him right in his shin. It’s like he wants me to get smited. Smote? Smitted? Point is, Tazreel sucks ass at being a father.
“It’s really...different,” I choke out, while glancing around at the table in search of a drink. Unfortunately, the imps haven’t filled my cup yet, so I’m shit out of luck.
“Try the Graveworms. They’re Luce’s favorite,” Tazreel tells me.
Oh, fuck me.
Barely suppressing a grimace, I look down at my plate and find the pile of pink, spaghetti shaped worms in a neat pile on my plate. “Umm...you know what? I actually ate before I dropped into Hell. I’m fu—” I stop myself from saying full, not wanting to get caught in another lie. “I’m okay,” I say instead.
“She’s a nervous one, isn’t she?” Elle declares conversationally.
“Indeed,” Luce muses as he begins to twirl the pile of pasta-worms on his fork. “Makes one wonder if she’s hiding something.”
Shit.
My hand trembles slightly around the fork I’m gripping. Things are going downhill fast. Maybe I should’ve just eaten the worms? But one look at Lucifer as he slurps some up confirms that I just can’t do it. No amount of imagination can make me pretend that I’m eating ramen. I’m just not that good.
“But the question is, is she in on the deceit? Did she hide herself from us? Running from her responsibility as an Abdicated, perhaps?” the ginger warrior female asks. “If so, I’d love to get my hands on her,” she says, holding the butter knife in her hand like she’s imagining slitting my throat with it.
My eyes ping pong between the demons. I feel like I’m one sentence away from getting dragged into that weapons room and strung up onto the wall. My wings cringe behind me, like they’re trying to hide. All of the stunning beauty that is Lucifer’s is quickly changing, hardening into a drop-dead gorgeous temper as he assesses me.
“Anytime any of my offspring attempt to deceive me, I have them drawn and quartered,” Baldy says as he continues to shovel food into his mouth.
I have to stop myself from throwing my fork at him and telling him to shut his gorgeous lips. The picture of myself getting dragged by a Hell horse and then cut open like an anatomy project is enough to turn my already soured stomach.
My eyes fly up to Tazreel, trying to see if he’s considering it. He looks...contemplative. Fuck. Why couldn’t I have had a cool Abdicated father? Why do I have to get stuck with this asshole who doesn’t seem to care whether or not my intestines are inside or outside of my body?
“It is curious why she just suddenly appeared like that. Your meditation room, was it?” the dude decked out in jewels asks, his eyes gleaming.
“Yes,” Tazreel replies, but he’s still watching me, and he gives me a look, pointing at his plate with his fork, in a clear warning to keep eating.
Fucking hell. Apparently, he’s fine with talk about me getting killed, but he’s a stickler for table manners.
Avoiding the meat, I sink my fork into something that I think might be a vegetable. It’s dark brown with a kind of sauce drizzled over the top. When I put it in my mouth, it’s slimy and earthy, like a mushroom. Can’t there just be a damn bread roll? I flop it around in my mouth before swallowing it whole. This fucking dinner is going to be the death of me.
“How did you end up there?” Ginger demands.
There’s zero chance of holding anything back. I’ve gotten that warning clear as crystal. All I can do is answer their questions as vaguely yet truthfully as