The soft red light of the upper chamber filtered in through the tall windows as the twin moons gave way to the pale rise of the realm's dawn. The bed was a wreck of sheets and discarded clothing. Four bodies occupied it in a loose tangle that had only settled into something like sleep in the final hours before morning.
Lucifer woke first.
It took a long moment for him to simply lie still, one arm caught under Vina's shoulders, Ella's leg flung across his thigh, and Luna's breath warm against the side of his neck. The residual heat of the night still clung to the room. The sharp, constant pressure of the outside board felt further away than it had in years, dulled by the simple fact of finally having stopped holding himself apart from the three women now asleep against him.
