Days drifted quietly within the palace walls.
To everyone else, Princess Isabel was the forgotten royal — a ghost wrapped in silk, haunting corridors where laughter no longer dared to echo. But within her chambers, a fragile warmth had begun to bloom again. It wasn't the light of the sun that revived her spirit… it was the presence of the creature she called Xavier.
He was always there — coiled near her window, his crimson eyes reflecting the moonlight like liquid fire. By day, he was silent and still, a guardian cloaked in scales. But when night fell, and the world sank into sleep, the truth beneath his serpent form awakened.
When the moon reached its throne in the sky, Lucifer walked again — tall, proud, and bound by shadows.
Each night, he moved through the palace corridors like a whisper the darkness dared not hold. He told himself he came only to observe, to understand the mortal girl who had taken him in. He told himself it was curiosity.
But even he, the fallen one, could no longer believe that lie.
Something deeper stirred — something perilously close to longing.
---
That night, the storm came.
Thunder cracked open the heavens. Rain battered the palace like a thousand restless spirits, and lightning split the western tower in two. Guards shouted orders, their torches snuffed out by wind and water, and in the chaos, a faint curl of smoke drifted through the royal halls.
Isabel awoke to the echo of panic.
"Maya?" she called out, her voice trembling as she threw a robe over her shoulders. No answer came — only the sound of splintering wood and the rush of distant flames.
The fire had reached her wing.
She tried to unbolt her door, but the heat drove her back. The air grew thick with smoke, and flames licked up the tapestries like hungry beasts. Her heart pounded against her ribs as the world turned red and gold.
And then — through the blaze — she saw him.
A figure emerged from the smoke. Tall. Dark. Fearless.
The fire bent away from him, as if afraid to touch his skin. His eyes burned with the light of a dying star — molten gold rimmed with sorrow.
"Who… who are you?" Isabel whispered, her voice breaking.
He said nothing. In a blur of motion, he crossed the distance between them. Strong arms wrapped around her waist — gentle yet unyielding — and before she could speak, the world dissolved into wind and flame.
When she opened her eyes again, rain was falling.
They stood in the courtyard, the night cold and alive. Raindrops ran down her hair, washing away the soot that clung to her face.
She looked up at him — breathless, trembling. His features were half-hidden beneath the shadow of the storm, but his presence was undeniable, vast, and unearthly.
"Who are you?" she breathed again, this time softer — not out of fear, but wonder.
For a heartbeat, his eyes glowed gold.
He looked down at her, and a thought flickered through him like a blade of lightning:
Foolish girl… you have no idea what you've invited into your heart.
From the gates, voices shouted her name. Guards were rushing toward them through the rain.
Lucifer's gaze shifted — from Isabel to the approaching men, then back to her. For a moment, something almost tender softened his expression. He lowered her gently to the ground.
"Stay alive, little light," he murmured — though the storm swallowed the words.
And then, he vanished.
The guards reached her and lifted her to her feet. In her trembling hands, she clutched something — a small gemstone, torn unknowingly from the chain around her savior's neck. Its faint glow pulsed like a heartbeat.
As they carried her back toward the palace, Lucifer watched from the shadows. Rain slid down his bare shoulders, tracing the scars of wings long lost. His beauty in that moment was terrible — divine and broken all at once.
He looked up at the heavens and laughed — a sound raw with mockery and grief.
"So this is your game," he whispered to the storm. "You would teach me passion? You would make me fall in love with a mortal — and lose what's left of my purpose?"
His laughter faded into a low snarl.
"Very well," he said, his eyes blazing through the rain. "Let's see how long your game lasts."