I strained my neck, looking at the graves as Belial carried me through the graveyard. “So who are all these people, if not human souls?”
“Demons. Natives of this realm without souls to keep in the archives. The ones who served him—past reapers and ferrymen mostly—lie here in eternal peace. Or, as much peace as a demon can hope for.”
He lowered me down onto a stone ledge. When he perched himself on a gravestone opposite me, I craned my head up to see I was sitting on the base of a statue. It was enormous, with a long skull face and twisted horns that reached up toward the sky. “You had to bring me to a statue ofhim?” I grumbled.
“I can take you back where I found you,” Belial replied in a tone mixed with irritation and amusement.“ If you think the blood oak will be better company.”
“Don’t tempt me.” I reached down, rubbing my sore feet with a scoff, but my eyes kept traveling upward to the stone sculpture looming over me. “Why do you serve him, anyway? He’s a dick.”
“Careful what you say about the king of this realm. He has ears everywhere.”
My eyes snapped in his direction, hot and full of rage, locking with his. Adrenaline was still coursing through my system, making me shake from the aftershock of almost being eaten. “So what if he hears? That monster threw me into a labyrinth with annoying body parts and carnivorous plants. I bet he saw me almost get eaten, and he’s probably up in his castle somewhere jerking off to the show.”
Belial’s eyes gleamed, as if I’d said something funny. “Maybe. But you lived, didn’t you? You could have called on me to save you, but you didn’t. Maybe he’s testing you?”
“Testing me for what?”
“For being queen.”
“Right,” I spat, kicking at the dead grass beneath my feet and wincing when I stubbed my battered toe on a rock. “Forcing me to be his queen is just another way for him to torture me. He’ll probably torture you too once he finds out you’re helping me.”
The demon ran a hand between his horns, slicking back his inky hair. “Probably.”
“Aren’t you worried about what he’ll do to you?”
“My punishments will be my business. Not yours.” His smooth, velvety voice had a sharp edge that warned me not to press the topic. “Anyway, they won’t be worse than yours if you don’t get out of here before your time is up. But you seem to enjoy pain to an extent…”
Judging by the lines at the corners of his eyes, he was smirking beneath his mask. “So maybe you should just give up.”
His eyes dropped to the skull amulet dangling from the iron cuff clamped around my neck. “The only queen to ever wear the crown of a monarch and the collar of a slave. Actually, that has a nice ring to it. Rayven, the slave queen.”
I glared at him, trying to ignore the knot of nerves tightening inside me. “I’d rather dig up one of these graves and pitch myself inside, thanks. But if we’re done here, I better get going. Time is running out.”
Every part of me was sore, my muscles throbbing as I drug myself off the ledge. As soon as I was upright, my knees buckled, sending me crashing back to the ground. The bottoms of my feet were shredded from my barefoot traipse through the maze. My nightgown had also been torn to shreds, and was soaked through with mud and water.
I might as well have been wearing wet toilet paper for all the coverage it gave me.
I flung a glare at the Lord of Bones’ stone likeness.
“Fuck you,” I hissed, fighting the urge to cry.
It was like I’d been thrown into a post-apocalyptic movie with no provisions and expected to survive…Only I’d done this to myself. I wanted this chance to escape.
I just wasn’t ready for how fucking impossible this whole thing would be. I hated how weak this place made me feel, how utterly helpless I was out here. This wasn’t how I expected things to go, not by a long shot.
If only I had shoes, and some actual clothes, instead of this tattered nightgown.
If I asked Belial for boots and some pants, what would he have me do for payment?
Just the thought of that had a heartbeat forming between my thighs.
The not knowing what could happen and not being able to say no was what terrified me, but it also thrilled me. I didn’t think he would hurt me–at least I hoped he wouldn’t–but giving him freedom over my body… It was nerve-wracking.
Last time I’d had a safe word.
This time, I probably wouldn’t be so lucky. He’d expect me to follow through with whatever twisted little sex game he had in mind, or he wouldn’t fulfill my request.
I flung a pointed look at where he was still lounging on the headstone, looking sexy as fuck with his elbows propped over his knees. “So are you going to demand something from me in exchange for catching me? Even if I didn’t ask for your help?”
