Hades, was that from the portal?
“Oh, thank fuck,” Sebastian breathed, visibly shaken. “I’m so glad to see you. There’s no way this portal would hold long enough to go looking for you.”
“Sebastian!” I screamed, barely able to believe it. “Is that really you?”
“Hurry. We can’t hold it open much longer.”
I didn’t stop running. I crashed into my brother’s outstretched arms, clinging to him like I never wanted to let go. Relief flooded my entire body.
“Are you okay?” he asked, voice tight with emotion.
I nodded quickly, eyes landing on the figure beside him. Melinda. That was unexpected, but I didn’t have time to question why she was there.
The wind surged again. Sebastian grabbed her shoulder to steady her, while the witch clutched my arm—eyes shimmering with something deeper than fear. It was…concern. Curiosity. Panic?
“How has the Devil treated you?” she asked, almost urgently.
I blinked. “What?”
Her grip tightened. “Answer me. Quickly.”
I frowned, thrown by her insistence. Sebastian was already pulling us both in, bracing against the spiraling vacuum. “We can’t stay,” he warned. “The portal’s already starting to reject us.It’s going to hurt. This kind of entry wasn’t made for us—we’ll be punished for it.”
I shuddered, grabbing onto him tighter.
But Melinda refused to let me go.
“Please,” she begged. “Kara. How has he treated you?”
I hesitated. The truth was complicated. It wasn’t all pain. He hadn’t touched me. Not violently, at least. He fed me. He confused the hell out of me.
“He hasn’t hurt me,” I said. “If that’s what you mean. He was just—”
“KARA!”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
The malice in the Devil’s voice was absolute. But it wasn’t just rage. The second time he screamed my name, it cracked with something more dangerous—something unspoken.
“KARA!”
He was close.
I turned just in time to see the Devil himself storming into view. Horns curled backward. Claws outstretched. Fire burning in his eyes like the end of the world.
Hades, how did he move so fast?
The panic in my stomach churned to acid. He was a breath away.
Sebastian didn’t wait. He threw his arms around us and hurled us into the portal.
Agony tore through me the instant we entered.
I screamed, eyes snapping shut as white-hot light seared across my body. Pain exploded under my skin, sharp and everywhere, like needles being driven into every inch of flesh.
I was burning.
It felt like my body was peeling apart—my soul getting dragged through glass.
