“What am I supposed to do, Belial?” I stopped in front of him, crossing my arms tightly over my chest to abate the dull ache forming there. “I have to find the exit to this place or I become the Queen of Limbo. I’ll be forced to wear a crown of bones made out of my fucking ex.”
“Did you love him?”
“What?” I blanched.
“Did you love your ex mate?”
“No.” The answer came too quickly, but it was true. I had never loved Mark. “He was boring. But that doesn’t mean I wanted him to die.”
“Humans die all the time.” Belial shrugged one bare shoulder. “If you go back to the human realm, you’ll eventually die, and then you’ll end up back here anyway. Why fight the inevitable?”
“At least I’d have a life there! It might be a shit life, but it’s still a life. I’d be free.” My cheeks flamed, my voice raising unintentionally. “I wouldn’t be the pet of an evil monster.”
“Then give yourself to me instead.”
I froze, my heart shooting into my throat at his words. “W-what?”
“He can’t claim your soul if I own it first.” The emotion in his voice was thick and raw, unexpected. It made my stomach flutter and my skin tingle, and I pleaded with him silently to explain what he meant before my heart shattered in suspense. “That’s demon law. As a ferryman, I’m not supposed to claim souls for myself but… I can. Yours will be the only one I own. The only one I’ll ever need.”
I took several steps back, shaking my head slowly. Was I hearing him right? Was he really making a play for my soul?
“He’ll kill you,” I whispered, my bottom lip threatening to wobble.
“He won’t.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“There are a lot of things about this world that you still don’t understand, a lot of things aboutmeyou don’t understand,” he said.
“You’re right.” I took another step back, looking him up and down. “I don’t get you at all. I haven’t even seen your face, and I’m supposed to sell my soul to you?”
“Not sell,” he said in a charged whisper that sent a thrill of electricity through my bloodstream. He took several long-legged strides toward me, the distance between us shrinking. His domineering presence wrapped around me. “Give it to me. Because you want to. Admit it. You don’t want to leave.”
Another step forward until he was right in front of me, a kiss away from his mask’s lips. “What you want is to be mine, isn’t it? You want to be mine forever.”
He was voicing everything I was too scared to say myself. At the words, the invisible bond pulling me toward him intensified, hooking in my chest, beckoning me into his arms.
Was I really considering giving my soul to a demon? It wasn’t logical, but the way my heart sped up at the thought gave me my answer.
Maybe this was the solution to my problem after all…
If I gave Belial my soul, it meant I would stay out of the Lord of Bones’ claws. He couldn’t own me, and I wouldn’t have to wear his crown.
That thought alone had my mind spinning.
“What will happen to me?” I asked. “Will I be your thrall or something? I’m not interested in being a slave.”
“You’ll be mine.” His hand came up to cup my chin, his fingertips sending sparks skittering across my skin. “I’ll take care of you. I’ll treasure you. I’ll make you happy.”
I hesitated, the weight of the silence that followed threatening to crush me. It was a huge decision, one I probably should have considered more, but my time was running out. I only had a few precious hours left before the Lord of Bones came to make his third mark, and my heart was all but screaming for me to take Belial up on his offer.
It was what I wanted.
Hewas what I wanted.
I just needed to be brave enough to accept.
“I’ll do it…” I said, the words rushing out. “But I have one condition.”
