I didn’t move as he dragged the blade tip down my stomach and tapped it teasingly against my mound, making my heart jump into my throat. For a moment, I thought he might take the blade to my labia, but he swiftly flipped the dagger around and pressed the hilt against my entrance.
“Maybe I should stuff you full of something else first,” he missed, pressing the cold metal against me until it slipped inside.
I screamed, kicking and writhing, trying to get away but afraid to be sliced up by the blade. My scream grew louder as the hilt sank deeper inside me, the edges of my vision darkening before I squeezed my eyes closed.
A sound like an explosion made my eyes fly open, and I frantically searched the cavern around us for the source of the noise. The dagger handle slipped out of me, and Belphegor froze.
“What the fuck?” he asked, obviously caught off guard.
That made two of us.
Something deep in the stone sounded like it was erupting, the rocks cracking and crumbling.
My pulse detonated as thunderous booms followed, and I could only imagine what the hell was about to burst into the room to see me in all my glory, splayed and naked, shackled to the bed.
Then, it occurred to me…
“Belial!” I screamed, my voice hoarse as hope soared high in my chest.
A second later, a door flew off its hinges, tumbling through the room and crashing into a table covered in glittering trinkets. They shattered, raining and tinkling to the ground as the Lord of Bones appeared in the cavern. His oar, stacked with all the heads of his brothers—a few new ones having been added to the collection—was clutched in one hand.
The God of Death was a terrifying visage of vengeance and wrath.
“Belial…” I whispered his name like a prayer on the lips of a priest. Relief flooded me, so intense that a fresh wave of tears washed down my face and a sob cracked my chest.
He'd come for me.
Just like he promised, he'd literally fought through hell to get to me.
He was here, and I was finally,finallysafe.
The blue flames in his eye sockets burned bright, swinging left to right as he took in the scene before him. His line of sight snapped from Catherine's form on the ground to Belphegor kneeling between my thighs and then finally landed on me.
Time seemed to stop as he took in the scene of me naked and chained to the bed with Belphegor on top of me. The violence and anguish rolling off him in powerful waves chilled me down to my core. An unholy growl escaped him, making the entire cavern quake and the glittery crystal dust rain down on us.
“You have to be the most moronic demon in history to kidnap and rape my queen. Unlike our brothers, I think I’ll raise your body back from the dead once I destroy you.”
Belphegor’s face, which still bore the likeness of Belial’s lesser form, lit up. “Oh? Will the Lord of Limbo use my corpse as he pleases as punishment for my transgressions?”
“I’d rather cut off my own dick than touch you, Belphegor. Your corpse will be at the mercy of my queen. Your maggot-infested carcass will serve as a reminder of what happens to those who fuck with the Lord of Bones and his Queen of Carrion.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Belial
Of all the demonlords I’d slain to rescue my human, Belphegor’s death would be the most satisfying. “Your head is going to make the perfect centerpiece for my little collection here.” I gestured to the oar clutched tightly in my grip.
The demon Lord of Gluttony slowly rose from the bed, grinning like a maniac with my stolen face.
“Can’t you wait for me to shift first?” Belphegor’s velvety drawl in my own cadence had me baring my teeth. “Then again, I’ve heard whispers about how twisted your appetites are. You hole up in that castle of yours, acting like you're better than us, but you’re just as sick and depraved. Maybe you want to cut off your own head and add it to the family there, since you’ve always belonged with us.”
He’d have to try harder than that if he wanted his taunts to have any effect on me. “I don’t care what shape you take. Once I get my hands around your throat, I’m tearing your head off. Keep my shape for all I fucking care. I’m still mounting it to my queen’s new throne once we get home.”
Knowing Rayven, she’d probably like having my head as the centerpiece of the throne I’d build her next to mine. Maybe after this was all over, I’d cut off my own too.
I deserved it after everything I’d done. I would never apologize for kidnapping her or tricking her into giving me her soul, but I’d spend the rest of eternity begging for her forgiveness for lying to her. On top of that, I’d allowed her to be dragged through the bowels of Hell.
Seeing her lying in Belphegor’s bed, absolute fear and disgust etching her features with the shapeshifter looming over her—in my likeness—had rage and guilt ripping through me in equal measures.
