Of course we’d have to visit the tree that almost killed me the first time I entered the maze. The thought of the carnivorous oak tree had my skin crawling.
Upon seeing my discomfort, all traces of his grin disintegrated, and shadows fell over his storm gray eyes.
“I warned you this Yule tree of yours would come at a cost. It’s not too late to change your mind.”
“No, it will be fine. I’m the queen of this place. It will respect me now, right?”
My heart fell at the look on Belial’s face. “It respects no one, Rayven.”
“Can’t we gather the other ingredients first?” I pouted. “This one has to be the hardest, right?”
He turned around with a chuckle that did nothing to give me confidence and began walking in what I surmised was the direction of the blood oak.
I trotted after him, heart in my throat. “Right?”
The sound of slithering vines had my stomach bunching into tight knots. I caught up with Belial, taking his hand and gripping it so tight that his already pale skin turned ghost white.
He was calm and collected. Meanwhile, I was freaking the fuck out.
“It’s going to be okay, Rayven. If you need me to save you from the blood oak, just like last time, I will.”
What a smug asshole.
At least collecting the sap would be easy; Belial could do it with a flick of his wrist. Because I didn’t plan on getting anywhere near the thing.
With a deep breath, I beat back the fear clawing up my throat, and tamped my nerves.It’s for my tree,I reminded myself. We’d be in and out in a few minutes, then we’d be that much closer to the Christmas of my dreams.
Let’s get this over with.
Chapter Six
Rayven
The smell hitme before we even rounded the corner. The putrid stench of decay burned the inside of my nose and made my eyes sting. It wasn’t as terrible as the first time I was here. I’d seen and smelled similar things in the lower levels of Hell, but the distinct odor bled through my memories, making me shudder.
When the enormous tree came into view, my eyes instantly locked on its fat trunk, which leaked odious-smelling, red syrup-like liquid.
It wasn’t just sap. It was blood too.
Gnarled, leafless limbs writhed through the air, appearing more like tentacles than branches.
Caught in the bark-covered appendages were body parts and pieces of meat. It shoved the rotten chunks into the middle of its trunk where a bloody maw sat. When I’d first seen the horrifying tree, I’d mistaken the hole for a gnarled knot in the trunk.
Then, I saw the teeth and the way it stuffed meat into its mouth andchewed.
It was a gruesome plant straight from my nightmares.
Bile built in my throat, and I took a halfstep closer to Belial. The memory of the thing’s twisted vines dragging me through the hedge maze and dangling me like a piñata over its mouth would always haunt me.
“You’ll want to paralyze the branches first,” he said, squeezing my hand reassuringly. “Then you’ll have to slice into the meaty part of the trunk to bleed the sap.”
I blinked at him, fear prickling up my spine. “Excuse me? You expectmeto do it?”
He held up a vial with a stopper and offered it to me. Where had he even been keeping that?
“You’re not serious, are you?”
“Deadly, little human,” he drawled, his tone all butter and sin. “You can do it. If I need to step in to assist, I will.”
