“I…” My voice trailed off as I recalled my last moments of consciousness, of Belphegor transforming into a giant white bat. My stomach lurched, a sinking feeling sweeping over me. I had no idea what happened after I blacked out, but I had a goodguess. “I’m not in the fifth circle anymore. Or if I am, I won’t be for long. Belphegor—”
“Belphegor?” Belial’s handsome face took on a chilling expression. “What did he do to you?”
“Mammon was going to eat me. There was this big cauldron—goblins everywhere. There were two other demon lords too,” I said with a chill. “One had a big eyeball for a head, and the other is some sort of spider monster.”
“Paimon and Baal, the Lords of Sloth and Wrath.” Belial spat the names like they were trash in his mouth. “Fucking traitors, all of them.”
“Belphegor saved me.” I frowned. No, that wasn’t right. I didn’t feel saved at all. “But whatever he has planned for me…” I couldn’t put words to what I expected the shapeshifter to do, simply because I hadn’t the slightest clue. All I had to go off of was the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I knew my gut was right when I caught a flicker of something I could almost sense as fear behind Belial’s luminous eyes. “If Belphegor hurts you before I’m able to reach you…”
He couldn’t seem to bear the thought long enough to finish the sentence. “I’ll kill him, no matter what, but his head won’t be the last on the oar. It will be mine.”
“What?” I froze, ice prickling through my veins. “You mean you’ll kill yourself?”
“My war path isn’t about punishing the demon lords who kidnapped you. I’m punishing every demon who’s hurt you. I’m pretty fucking sure I’m at the top of that list, little human.”
I hadn’t thought about everything he’d done to me in the last couple of days—because getting kidnapped and dragged down through the layers of Hell had a way of distracting a girl—but I hadn’t exactly forgotten all the fucked up shit he’d done. Killing Mark and making me a crown from his spine. Making me take a bet I could escape his carnivorous, corpse-filled garden in threedays or else I’d become his queen—a bet I could never win in the first place. Manipulating me into thinking his second form was a different person, making me trust him. Making me fall in love with him.
I hadn’t exactly forgiven him, but he was making it damn difficult to stay mad at him.
“What is that little pout for?” he snickered, that imperious, smug-as-fuck attitude returning to his face in the form of a panty-melty smirk. “Mad that I plan on killing myself once you’re rescued? If it would make you happy, I’ll let you do it.”
“I’m not fucking killing you,” I snapped. “I agreed to stay, didn’t I? I want to be your queen.Your queen.I’m not interested in ruling your dusty old realm, or the eight others below it, alone.”
“You’re so damn beautiful when you’re pissed off.”
I snorted. “I wish looking hot as fuck while kidnapped felt like more of an upside.”
The corners of his smirk twitched, almost wavering. It felt more like a mask than the one he used to wear around me. His mouth curved upward but, in spite of that, he looked so sad.
I reached up, my fingers brushing his jaw and cupping his cheek. His hand slipped behind my neck, his thumb swirling slow and gentle circles against my nape. Somehow, the intimacy felt new but familiar all at the same time.
“What’s wrong?” I muttered, searching his eyes. It felt like a stupid question given the circumstances, but there was something more weighing on him.
“I’m not used to feeling this helpless. I don’t like sitting around and waiting. I’m the God of Death, for fuck’s sake. My mate’s life shouldn’t rest on the shoulders of a mortal soul.” He buried his head in his free hand, his black hair spilling over his fingers. “I shouldn’t have left you alone, not with those monsters in the castle. What was I thinking?”
I blinked at him, feeling a strange ache in my chest. He was upset with himself. I’d never seen him like this before.
“Belial…”
“When I get you back home, I’m crowning you queen. Then, I’m going to teach you magic.”
Another blink. “Magic? What kind of magic?”
“An ancient arcana so powerful, no one will dare defy you. Your enemies will fall to their knees in fear, your allies in fealty.”
“What about you?” I arched an eyebrow at him. “Will it be magic powerful enough to bring even a god like the Lord of Bones to his knees?”
His face lifted from his palm. There was that half-cocked smirk again. “You’ve proven you don’t need magic for that. But yes, even me. I’ll train you to protect yourself against anything and anyone. Including me.” He brushed a featherlight kiss to my brow. “Especially me.”
“You wouldn’t have to train me to protect myself against you if, you know, you didn’t act like a freaking psychopath half the time.”
Belial’s gaze darkened, and his smile spread wide. “Where’s the fun in that, though?”
“You’re deranged.”
“You don’t know how right you are.” It was still weird seeing his bare face. I’d gotten good at reading his eyes, but without his mask, I could read him like a book. The scars on his lips twitched with the smile he was holding back. His brows quirked like he was thinking back on all the things he’d done to earn him that title.
