I needed space. I needed tobreathe.
Everything was too much and not enough at the same time.
I’d been so sure of myself, so in control for a moment, with Belial on his knees before me.
I forgot his betrayal and lies.
I forgot the manipulation.
I’d gotten so lost in him, in how fuckinggoodhe felt inside me, that I‘d forgotten everything horrible he’d done to me…until he sliced the third cut into my wrist, and all the ugly truths came rushing back.
At least now, all the fucked up facts about this whole situation didn’t outweigh the good parts. There was a large part of me—a stupidly smitten, twisted part—that loved Belialmorethan I hated the Lord of Bones.
After what happened just now, I couldn’t deny it anymore. I was intensely infatuated with the demon who owned my soul, to the point where I’d been given a second chance to leave and I’d turned it down.
I kept running, knowing if I slowed down or stopped, I’d fall apart. I’d succumb to the wave of emotions chasing me and probably end up sobbing in the middle of the corridor while Belial’s haunted possessions watched—though what was there to be embarrassed about now that they’d seen their lord dick me down over a table?
A violent shiver rattled down my spine at the fresh memory—one so fresh, I could still feel his fingers on my skin, his breath on my nape, and his cum inside me, leaking down my thigh.
Belial kept his word and made me feel something other than pain, but I never imagined I’d feel thismuch.
A catch in my side eventually forced me to slow, and I headed down a flight of stairs. I was lost in the never-ending maze of corridors, with the shifting hallways and useless directions of talking furniture.
I had no clue where I’d been or where I was going. My dress wasn’t even trailing blood anymore, so I couldn’t retrace my steps.
Though I guess I wasn’t trying to find a way out anymore.
Belial would come for me soon and drag me back to the ball. Or his bed.
I fought off the heavy thoughts weighing on me for as long as I could, but once the adrenaline began to ebb, they took over. Belial on the cliff. Seeing his face for the first time, handsome underneath all those scars. Dancing with him in the throne room. The moment he revealed his true self. How I swore I felt my heart breaking when I realized I’d been played. Being dragged through the Styx to sit on his lap like some kind of dog on a fucking leash. Belial on his knees in the hall, begging for my forgiveness. Fucking me senseless in my dreams, in his bed, in the labyrinth.
It all felt like a fever dream, but over the last few days, my wildest fantasies and darkest nightmares had been my reality. I was covered in enough blood and bruises to prove it.
My gaze dropped to the three marks on my wrist, and the corners of my eyes burned. I blinked furiously, but the tears fell anyway, sliding slowly down my cheeks. The truth I’d been avoiding slammed into me with full force, a sob racking my chest.
I leaned my back against the wall and sank to the floor, my blood-stained dress ballooning up around me. I twirled Catherine’s dagger between my fingers, watching the candlelightdance over the blade, cursing every decision that led me here. From grave robber to bone queen. Oh, how the tables had turned.
My fate was sealed. There was no running from it now.
I made my choice.
I officially belonged to the devil.
More than that, I was inlovewith the devil.
Approaching footsteps made my chest tight with anxiety. I’d hoped Belial would’ve waited a few more minutes before he chased after me. I enjoyed our cat-and-mouse game more than I liked to admit, but damn. A girl needed a breather after getting bent over and railed by the Lord of Death while his creepy haunted furniture watched.
Even if he didn’t want to have sex again, which seemed doubtful, I wasn’t ready to go back to the ball yet either. I wasn’t ready for him to announce me as his queen or to wear the spine of my ex-boyfriend as a crown.
I wasn’t ready for any of it. Right now, all I wanted was a decent meal and a week-long nap. I picked myself up and smoothed down my dress. Maybe I could bargain with Belial for a burger—if such a thing existed in Limbo—and a bed before he expected an encore of the filthy little show we’d put on earlier.
A dark figure rounded the corner at the end of the hall, and all the blood in my face drained when I wasn’t met with Belial’s familiar black mask. Even his towering, skull-headed form would have been a welcome sight over the three-headed demon casually strolling in my direction, all six of his devilish eyes pinned on me.
The ridiculous harness and loincloth number would have been comical if it wasn’t for the look all three heads were giving me as he approached. I didn’t know much about the demon, but it didn’t take a genius to know this one was bad news.
What was he doing this far away from the ball? He sure as shit wasn’t out for a casual stroll, and with the castle’s shifting walls and countless corridors and doorways, chances were low he’d just happened upon me.
This fucker was looking for me.
