I tried to shrink away from the voice, covering my ears. I had no choice but to do what they demanded. I wouldn’t let them hurt Lothar. I wouldn’t let anyone hurt him, not ever again.
As much as I wanted to fight, there was no beating this many wraiths, not without losing Lothar, and I couldn’t let that happen. As long as he was okay, I’d be okay, no matter what happened next—even if that meant never seeing him again.
The wraiths whipped around me, tearing at my hair, my clothes, scraping over my skin. They lifted me, all tugging and pulling me in different directions as they dragged me toward the window.
Lothar’s roar followed as they ripped me through it and into the cold night.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Lothar
* * *
I ran to the window and watched as seven stories below a swirling mass of darkness flew across the rock plains and toward the forest, carrying Roxy with them. Sprinting to the door, I shoved it open. Horace stood on the other side, eyes wide, his hands up. I didn’t stop—and plowed into an invisible force that knocked me back so hard I flew across the room and landed on my ass.
Bounding back to my feet, I ran at it again, and it threw me back harder, my body smashing into the stone wall opposite.
“Master Lothar,” Horace said. “Please, be calm.”
I ran back and gripped the doorframe. “Where is she? Who took her? What the fuck is going on?” That’s when I finally noticed the demon was bruised and bloody, with lacerations on his arms and legs.
He darted glances down the hallway and back at me and leaned in. “I don’t know how to free you,” he rushed out. “She won’t let me.”
“Who?” I roared. “Who has Roxy.”
“S-sss…” He grabbed at his throat, his mouth moving but nothing coming out. Blood bubbled through his gasping lips. He leaned over, and it poured from him. He looked up at me, his hand outstretched, choking, then he hit the ground.
A moment later, Horace turned to ash, silenced by whoever took Roxy from me. I slammed my shoulder into the invisible barrier between us, but there was no getting through. The door slammed in my face, and when I tried to open it again, I couldn’t. I was trapped in this room, seven floors up, with no escape, and no way to get to Roxy.
Roxy
Beelzebub grabbed my jaw roughly. “Come on now, Rox, time to spill.” His gaze drifted down my beaten and bloody body as he shook his head. “You look like shit.” He lifted my hand, and I refused to wince as he prodded the fleshy ends where the nails had been torn off. “You have to be in a lot of pain?”
Whoever sent the wraiths for me had freed Beelzebub as well. They’d also taken Lothar’s and my phones. They were shoved in Beelzebub’s back pocket. Which meant Lothar couldn’t get word to Lucifer.
I didn’t know how Lucifer’s powers worked, even after knowing him as long as I had—why sometimes he knew things and sometimes he didn’t. I could only hope he sensed something was wrong now, but even then, he might not help me, not because he didn’t want to but because sometimes things needed to be left to play out, no matter how horrific.
Lucifer saw the big picture, and occasionally that meant making sacrifices—even if that sacrifice was me. So as awful as this was, and as hard as it was to accept and not feel abandoned by him, I had to trust that whatever happened next was how it was meant to be.
I hadn’t said one word to Beelzebub since I was brought to this place, this hideous onyx fortress. The energy it was giving off told me it was new, created by someone immensely powerful and with seriously shitty taste. Whoever this place belonged to had claimed the Outer Realm as their own. Which meant it had to be someone at least as strong as Nox or someone with something she wanted. Yes, Nox had retreated from this realm when she and Death had their showdown, but she wouldn’t want anyone else this close to the Night Realm, not without reassurances of their allegiance to her.
Beelzebub planted his hand on my head and jerked it from side to side. “Are you listening to me?”
I glared straight ahead. Without the wraiths to help him, I would have made the motherfucker beg for his life. They were the only reason he’d managed to capture me and chain me up. Many had tried over the years, because of my closeness to Lucifer, but none had succeeded until now.
“Looks like I’m gonna have to make you scream, Roxana.”
Never.
No matter what he did to me, I would never scream. I would never give the enemy that satisfaction.
Beelzebub clicked his fingers at the demon guarding the door. It was the same demon who’d attacked me in Skull Forest. “My friend here has nice sharp teeth,” he said. “I think it’s time he used them.”
“Long time no see, hog face,” I rasped and grinned, but with how swollen my face was, I wasn’t sure he could tell.
The demon rushed over, his furious gaze burning into me before it sliced to Beelzebub. B nodded, giving the demon the go-ahead.
