“If that’s the case, why didn’t you tell me about Asmodeus’ plan, if you knew what he intended to do before the ball? Why didn’t you try and stop him when he and the others kidnapped Rayven? Why didn’t you call for me when you pulled her from the Styx? And why…”
I snatched his tongue in my hand before he could pull away and wrenched him off the bed, jamming my finger—the one oozing with cum—in his face. “Why is your filthy snake cum on the ground?”
All the blood drained from his face. He couldn’t speak since I was still gripping his tongue, but his muffled cries indicated he knew what was about to happen.
“You fucking traitor,” I snarled into his face. “You’re lucky I don’t have time to draw out your death. But I promise you, I’ll be back for your body. I’m going to skin you and fashion your scales into a pretty dress for my new queen.”
The naga squirmed and thrashed, his tail uncoiling from his torso to try and wrap around me. My blue flames engulfed my body, and he screamed, managing to wiggle away. I stomped after him, dragging my oar of heads behind me, my manic laughter filling the cave.
He slithered toward where the cavern opened in an attempt to slip into the sea, but I slammed my oar down on his tail hard enough to break the bone. He screamed, and the ocean swelled with its lord’s pain, a wave rising and crashing down over me. My flames created a shield around me, and I held my ground as the inky waters raged through the cavern.
I gripped Leviathan’s tail, pulling it like I was winding up a rope. He screamed as I dragged him through the fire, inch by inch, his water doing little to soothe the burns.
By the time I got to his head, the fire had consumed his entire body. With his dying breath, the water receded into the ocean. Laying limp on the ground, he looked up at me, eyes full of hateful tears. “You were my brother.”
I glared down at him, maw opening to release a bellow of a laugh. “You’re right. Youweremy brother.”
I placed my boot on his head and slowly applied pressure until there was a sickening crunch of his skull giving out beneath my sole, and his serpentine body went limp for good. I lifted my boot after an eerily still moment, the rush of the water breaking against the rock the only sound as I stooped to cut off my favorite brother’s head.
“Now you’ll be nothing more than a bitter memory and something to hang in my queen’s closet.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Belial
Our gondola tore downthe Styx so quickly, it caused the crimson current to roll and slosh. We were in a narrow channel, surrounded by stone as we ripped through Leviathan’s realm.
The flames in my eyes raged bright and would have illuminated the tunnel on their own if not for the flaming torches scattered along the way.
I glanced at my oar as I pushed it behind the gondola, urging us to move faster down the river. The blackened remains of Leviathan’s incinerated head stared back at me from where he was speared beneath Asmodeus.
Mammon would be next. When I got my claws into the Lord of Greed, I’d rip him apart slowly. Painfully. Bone by bone.
Nothing less would suffice.
I knew I’d missed Mammon and Rayven by mere minutes.
I could catch up. Iwouldcatch up.
“M-my Lord,” Holga’s soft voice could barely be heard over the violent rocking of the ferry and the clashing of the Styx on the rocky cavern as we barreled down it. For her soft cadence, she might as well have been yelling.
The terror shaking her voice told me she wanted me to slow down, but I ignored her. I couldn’t afford any distractions, not when I was so hellishly focused. Above all, I couldn’t afford to slow down.
Rayven was nearly within my grasp.
After a minute or two, the narrow channel opened wider, the rocks spreading and thinning until they disappeared. We were nearing the end of Leviathan’s realm, surrounded by swirling darkness, drifting closer to the fifth layer of Hell, Mammon’s domain.
I was beginning to think I’d made a grave mistake taking time to kill Leviathan. I’d been quick, but maybe the handful of minutes I spared doling out his Judgement had cost me.
My heart sank, and my hope of catching up to them was all but gone when I saw it: the stern of a boat in the distance. It was much larger than the ferries used to usher souls to the lower layers of Hell and looked to be made of iron.
Of course, it would be.
Mammon never missed an opportunity to utilize his iron forge. He’d made numerous things over the years in his fortress, filling his realm with iron constructs. It had already been cluttered when I visited over five hundred years ago—there was no telling how much the greedy bastard was hoarding now.
It seemed he’d made himself a boat. He’d probably fashioned it to get to and from Belphegor’s realm, considering they were fucking. Under different circumstances, I would have laughed,but the thought of my backstabbing brothers only made me row faster.
My muscles burned with the pace I was setting, but I was slowly closing the distance. Holga’s bones chattered as she shook below me, Cecil still doing his best to comfort her. The closer we got, the more violent the water became, choppy waves rolling toward us as the ship cut through the bloody current.
