For too long, I’d sat idly by and watched the pieces fall into place. Well, I would not take an idle role any longer. No. It wastime to truly be the master of my own destiny. And that started right. Fucking. Now.
These harpies were going to suffer, and I was going to be at the helm of their doom.
Starting with my newly formed alliance with the resistance.
They thought to steal my apocalypse out from under me? They could fucking try. I’d love to see how far they got when facing off against me and their counterparts. Let alone the rest of the supernatural elite.
My steps faltered slightly when I remembered they also had the Princes, Knights, and the entirety of hell at their disposal, but then my swagger returned. Those losers had never gotten me anywhere. They were baggage, not trophies. They wouldn’t exist without me.
Iwas the game-changing piece, and it was time I proved it.
As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs, I let out a sinister laugh. Not even a guard stationed down here. What an overconfident bunch of twits.
I passed an empty cell, my gaze locked on the bars, and a shudder rushed over me. Was that the cage they’d constructed for me?
A shocked gasp pulled my focus from the prison to the two people a ways down the hall. They were frozen in comical poses as though if they didn't move, I wouldn’t be able to differentiate them from statues. Perhaps that might have been true if I hadn’t just met them and known for a fact that I did not have a statue of a seven-foot purple demon in my dungeon.
They were coated in dust, and from my vantage point, I could just make out the bars of their recently vacated cell lying amidst a pile of rubble.
“Going somewhere?” I drawled.
“I . . . we . . .” Sunday spluttered.
“Escaping, then. I see. Well, you’re not doing a very good job of it, now are you?” Oh, this was just too much fun.
Pan pushed Sunday behind him and glowered at me. “Seems like things are going exactly as planned.”
I made a show of glancing around. “Is that so? And what exactly is the next step? You must know by now that you can’t simply teleport out of my castle. How do you expect to slip past four scheming horsewomen and seven Princes of hell?” I paused to point between the two of them. “This is precious, by the way. Very heroic.”
Pan continued his glowering, projecting confidence from every pore except for the errant flicks of his tail. That was a dead giveaway to his agitation.
“Oh, you two are adorable, and honestly, you’ve made my job loads easier by breaking out of your restraintsandyour cell. Well done, you. But you will never get past the castle gates. Not without help.”
Sunday peered around Pan’s looming form. “Is that your way of offering?”
“Well, I did tell my Merri I would,” I said on a gusty sigh.
Pan’s eyes narrowed. “Merri sent you?”
Now my eyes narrowed. “How doyouknow Merri?”
“Uh, fellas? Maybe not the best time for a dick-measuring contest.”
“Clearly you’ve never had a dick,” I muttered.
Sunday stepped past her demon bodyguard and gave me a look that saidtry me. “Why should we listen to a word you say? You’re the devil.”
“So youhaveheard of me. Brilliant.” I clapped my hands and rubbed them together with glee.
“Literally everyone has heard of you,” Sunday deadpanned.
“Stop flirting with me. I’m a mated man.” The sound of footsteps on stone stairs killed any levity in the moment. Fuck, they were on to us. Or they were about to be.
Sunday and Pan tensed, likely thinking along the same lines.
“Trusting Merri has gotten us this far, Sunday. I think we should try our luck.”
“It can’t be any worse than being in the horsewomen’s clutches,” Sunday agreed.
