“The Lord doesn’t want your face covered.”
Of course. Why wouldn’t the Lord of Assholes take the opportunity to make me stand out like a sore thumb?
I needed to find Belial. I had to do something. Run, fight, flee. Anything.
But all I could do was follow Holga in silence as our footsteps echoed off the stone walls around us, my mind careening out of control as my heartbeat gradually picked up speed with every turn we made.
We rounded another corner—I’d lost track of the hallways several turns back—and a sound nearly stopped me in my tracks. Or it would have, if I had control over my own feet.
The sound was soft, the ghost of a melody drifting lazily through the castle halls, prickling along my skin and inviting me closer.
The clearer the haunted tune became, the more it invaded my senses, wrapping its cold fingers around my heart. On the surface, it might have been beautiful, something worth dancing to, but underneath the guise of beauty was the unnerving truth of what it represented.
The tune was a death march, and I was moments away from being face-to-face with death himself.
We stopped in front of a set of double doors, gray and imposing like the rest of the castle, guarded by two suits of armor. The haunting music seeped through the sealed entrance, tugging at my insides. It was as if the tune was singing to my very bones.
As much as I didn’t want to be here, I couldn’t deny the curiosity burning through me.
I wanted to see what a masquerade ball worthy of the Prince of Hell was like, if only for a moment.
If I could get away from Holga, maybe I could make a break for it, and then… I had no idea what I was going to do, but I had to try to escape.
There was still time left.
I didn’t belong to the Lord of Bonesyet.
After a beat of hesitation, the suits of armor sprang to life with a chorus of creaks and squeaks. The heavy doors groaned open, and I craned my neck to get my first glimpse of the ball. My chest constricted, and I fought the urge to be impressed.
It was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen.
The hall itself was enormous. Bone chandeliers hung from above, ornate pillars running up the walls to meet the high ceiling. At least a hundred bodies swirled around the room, all swaying to the hypnotic music coming from a live band of skeletons in the corner. Haunted suits of armor, skeletons, and demons were all dressed to the nines, swathed in glittering fabrics. There were ball gowns and waistcoats and a sea of black, white, and silver masks.
I watched in awe as a couple, a tall skeleton woman and a headless demon, twirled by before disappearing into the crowd. No one batted an eye in our direction as Holga and I stepped into the room, nor when the heavy doors closed ominously behind us, sealing us inside.
“I don’t want to dance,” I said, shooting Holga a nervous look. It wasn’t that I didn’t know how—I’d watched enough movies to have a good idea—but I didn’t want anything to do with the festivities, not if all these people were here to watch the Lord of Bones gloat over winning our little bet.
They could all get fucked.
There was only one person I wanted to dance with anyway, and I had no idea where he was, or if he would even attend the ball.If he was even still alive.
“Why can’t I just go to my room?” I asked, unable to keep my eyes from wandering through the hall. “If the Lord wants me here so badly, he can fetch me when he’s ready. I don’t want to be here.”
I wanted to sulk alone. I wanted to cry.
“You have no choice, my dear,” Holga tutted. “None of us do in the Lord of Bones’ realm. You could at least try to have a good time.”
Under different circumstances, I couldn’t think of anything I’d enjoy more than a horrifyingly glamorous goth ball, but this was the last place I wanted to be.
Holga seemed genuinely sorry she couldn’t help me. Her fear of returning to one of the lower levels of Hell outweighed her compassion. I couldn’t say I blamed her, but I wished someone in this fucking castle would help me slip past the Lord of Bones’ watchful eye.
My thoughts turned to Belial, and my heart pitched toward the floor. He’d done so much to help me, and then he’d disappeared. It didn’t sit right with me. He wouldn’t just leave, not after I’d given him everything. He wouldn’t just take my soul and leave me behind…
Would he?
Either he was dead or he’d betrayed me, and I didn’t think I could live with either one.
“Go on,” Holga nudged me forward by digging her sharp elbow into my ribs. “You might even find what you’re looking for.”
