His words made me wince. Would that battle have gone any differently without my interference? Maybe all the demons who had collapsed into the gorge or been stranded on its banks would still be around. Draven’s face flashed through my mind. Apollo seemed so distraught at the news of his loss. Draven had meant something to him, possibly even been family to him. I found it hard to breathe knowing how many demons—how manypeople—I’d destroyed.
“Sitri?” His eyes settled on me. “Can demons die in Hell?”
“You don’t want to know,” Sitri said, once again denying me information.
“You’re right, I don’t want to know. Ineedto know. Please, just tell me.”
The Prince locked his lips as he looked me over.
“What we suffer is worse than death; annihilation is its name. Tear a demon’s soul apart, and there’s nowhere for it to go, nothing left of it.”
“And human souls…?” I asked, fearing I already knew what he’d say.
“Yes, you are at its mercy as well. Humans and demons are more alike than you realize.”
I flinched at Sitri’s words. They pierced me like a knife. It was an accusation, likening me to him and to the monsters he commanded, toVapula and his shameless exploitation…
“We aren’t alike, Sitri.” I straightened as I spoke, towering over the demon sitting on the floor below me. “I’m here because I made a mistake, and it cost me everything. This is your home, not your prison. We don’t have anything in common.”
“Oh? You really think we are so different?”
Sitri leaped to his feet. Bent over at the waist. I shrank back as his presence overwhelmed me, his face hanging close to mine, bathing me in the heat of his body. The stench of blood and incensed smoke rolled over me. The burning flame of rage returned to his eyes, and his lips curled in a snarl.
“I can give us more in common, if that’s what you desire. I can steal your humanity. Twist you into whatever form most pleases me, humanoid or beast, and you wouldn’t have a say,” he spat. “To corrupt your kind is the way of demons, the reason we persist, the reason we rule. You should be grateful I haven’t forced that on you, done to you as was done to me.”
Silence fell over the room. My eyes widened.“You were…”
“Human,” he whispered, his voice finally quieting. “I was human a very long time ago, but my humanity was stripped from me. It was stripped from all of us.”
Sitri pulled back and dropped into a crouch. My heartbeat quickened as the true horror of his words set in. I looked him over with fresh eyes.
He hadn’t always been a monster. He’d had a life, lost his life, and wound up here.
Just like I had.
“It was so very long ago. Those memories have faded now. Sometimes, I wonder if I was ever human at all, or if it was but a fleeting dream,” Sitri said in a hushed voice.“Centuries in Hell have changed me. If you don’t meet a grisly end down here, it will change you, too, Lillia. Ihave tried to spare you the realities of this world. You’ve made that an impossible task.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Anger still simmered in my chest, threatening to overtake me, but fear kept it leashed. “I never asked to be spared; I asked for protection. You promised to treat me as one of your own. How long did you think I would believe that lie?”
“Long enough for it to become true. Long enough for you to accept this as your home, my court as your peers, and me as your master. I see now that I must settle for being the lesser of two evils instead.”
Sitri’s hands made their way to his armor, finding and undoing the buckles that secured it. I watched as scraps fell away. Globs of congealed blood clung to it. Drops of fresher, crimson liquid ran down his figure, mixing with glistening sweat.
Muscles rippled as he bared his body to me. A deep wound pierced through one of his shoulders, and slashes crossed his torso from navel to collarbone. There was something else, though, that immediately caught my eye. Shining, ruby-colored light poured from the center of his chest. There, plastered across Sitri’s skin, was a sigil—an exact mirror of the symbols I’d seen on the haunches of his demon horses.
“Allow me to fill in the gaps for you. You wanted to know about these symbols?” Sitri asked. “They are a curse that binds us all. Mine marks me as nobility, a Prince with many legions of servants. Yours declares to all of Hell that you are owned. So long as you bear it, there is a bounty on your soul.”
I pulled back my sleeve, exposing my own emerald sigil, staring at the mark, taking in all it represented. It dredged up memories of Vapula—his cruel smile, his fingertips running along my jaw, his hands on my skin. It was a symbol of the vows I’d never outrun, of the demon who owned my soul.
“Vapula’s bindings,” I muttered, echoing the same words Draven had used to describe them. “All this time, you knew he was hunting me.”
“Of course.”
“And you weren’t going to say anything? I came here wearing his bindings, marked by an enemy kingdom, and you didn’t plan to tell me what that meant?”
“You admit you knew him in life?” Sitri asked, halting my questions.
I bit my lip and swallowed my pride. “I did. We struck a bargain. I promised him my soul… but he never tried to claim it.”
