I rolled my eyes. “Oh come on, that was funny. Gods, you’re so old. Anyway, what do you say? Let’s make a zombie Christmas tree!”
His gaze flicked back to the pile of ash, his face glazed with deep thought. “Hmm. I may know of a spell in one of my tomes that might do the trick, an ancient ritual of flesh and blood.”
A ritual of flesh and blood? It sounded witchy and goth as fuck. Right up my alley. “Sounds like my kind of party.”
At that, another of his dastardly handsome smiles broke free. “You’ll have to assist me. I’ll need certain ingredients to perform the spell. Some might be components you may not be willing to give…”
“I’ll give you anything you need, bone daddy,” I said with a flirtatious wink, all giddy with the promise of spooky rituals and other dark Yuletide festivities on the horizon.
“Careful, little human,” the demon snickered as he turned toward a bookcase with a dramatic jingle of his antler jewelry. He stopped in front of a shelf that held dusty spell books, his finger gliding over the spines until he found the volume he was searching for.
It was as thick as Holga’s skull and twice as dusty. With a huff, a cloud of dust swirled around him dramatically before he heaved the book open to peruse the pages. With a tantalizing lick to his index finger to better separate the stiff parchment pages, he paused and shot me a dark look that sent a shiver through me.
“I might love you with all my heart. But I’m still a ravenous demon.”
The sound of ripping paper filled the room as he tore a page out of the book, stuffed it in his cloak and returned the book to its place. He stomped back over to me, his heavy black boots—now coated in dust—making my heart slam in time with his footsteps.
Before my eyes, Belial shifted into his monstrous form. His muscles swelled, and he grew taller yet. His antlers expanded, nearly tangling with the chandelier above us. The hue of his skin was a death pale blue, with black patterns of necrosis frozen in time forever blotching his skin.
He leaned down, the snout of his bony skull nearly brushing my nose, and the twin flames of blue flicking in his eye sockets scorched me inside and out with a single look.
Taking my arm in his huge hand, he turned it over to expose the underside of my wrist and the three scars etching my delicate skin. The place where he’d cut me to mark down the days until I belonged to him. Back when I’d made a deal with a demon and changed the course of my life forever.
“Offer me everything you have to give, and there’s no telling what I might strip from you.”
I met his hot blue eyes with defiance and love coalesced in mine. “Don’t threaten me with a good time, My Lord.”
Chapter Five
Rayven
It was amazingwhat a little bit—or a lot, in this case—of tinsel and garland could do to a place. Belial had wasted no time making good on his promise, ordering the servants of the castle to create a ghastly winter miracle.
Since nothing green could grow in Limbo’s soil, the garland wrapping the banisters was made from thorny bramble, flecked with shards of bone, teeth, and berries. Black bouquets of twigs fashioned with skeletal hands and clusters of silver bells hung from the chandeliers and rafters.
It might not have been exactly what I was used to when it came to Christmas decor, but it was fitting for a holiday in Limbo. Eerily beautiful and festively haunting.
As I strolled through the castle halls that shifted to create new corridors, I admired how much the servants had managed in a few short days.
Belial was not the sort to take the staff away from their official duties when there was so much clerical work to be done, considering how behind he was on Judgement. But he did, all to celebrate a holiday he didn’t care about until now. All becauseIcared, not because he’d suddenly been stricken with holiday cheer.
That, in and of itself, spoke volumes to how far the Lord of Bones had come since kidnapping me. He wasn’t the same monster I’d met a year ago. Still terrifying, still steely and severe, but compassionate. Adoring. At least when it came to me.
His kindness made it that much more difficult to hold onto the secret I was harboring.
When I considered just how much Belial had changed, the secret weighed heavy on my chest. The desire to share my knowledge, to see the look on his handsome face when the truth shattered his reality, was almost too much. Soon, I’d tell him.
Very soon.
Whispers of a ball flitted between the haunted furniture and trinkets decorating the castle’s many rooms, corridors, and halls. For the first time ever, Limbo was getting a Christmas, and every demon servant, lost soul, and even the walls themselves chattered with excitement.
Even though Belial hated them, and they were exceedingly rare, I loved the grand balls and masquerades Limbo threw for special occasions. The last one had been a year ago for my coronation. As I headed down to the courtyard where Belial told me to meet him, I was swept up in thoughts of myself wearing an elaborate gown, in the arms of my demon king as we twirled around a glittering ballroom while our subjects watched.
Excitement thrummed through my veins as I reached the castle doors leading out to the courtyard. Today was the day we were gathering items needed for the ritual that would bring my Christmas tree back to life.
Two creaky suits of armor opened the doors, bowing noisily, and I nodded in appreciation before stepping outside.
The air was cool, as it always was, but not cold enough for snow… or so I thought.
