“Done with me?” My heart began to pound.
I’d pushed him too far, using his old name like that. And now here we were on a bed with me wearing no more than strategically placed lace, and crap, I might have bigger things to worry about than a kiss.
Pluto took several deep breaths, his chest rising and falling. “You tried to meet with the enemy. That … enrages me.”
Now I watched him closely, not daring to move. I’d recognized something about him was off, but I’d vastly underestimated just how dangerous he was right now.
“But what happened to you after that … I am used to anger. I relish it. I cannot fathom why I feel it on your behalf. Especially after you continue to betray me.” He picked up my hand and threaded his fingers between mine. Even this gesture was full of agitation, like he hated that he couldn’t help himself.
His hand was in mine, and I hadn’t once flinched at his touch.
I should’ve.
I’m changing … and so is he. I’d seen the devil possessive, but not protective. I couldn’t trust this.
“Perhaps I see my own nature reflected back in you. But I fear … ” He shook his head, and whatever he planned on saying died on his lips.
“I’ve ordered the demons to strike angels and anyone fighting for them on sight. Our enemies are to endure the most painful deaths possible. Short of that, they are to be eliminated.”
I shook my head. “I won’t stand by and watch your demons attack innocent people.” Even if most of those innocent people wanted me dead.
He squeezed my hand hard. “Our demons, consort, or have you forgotten who you are and who you’re with? You are my queen and we will have a united front in this war.”
War. There it was again, the reminder that no one could play nice.
“Are we agreed?”
I kept my mind carefully blank as I nodded.
His hold relaxed. “Good. Then we can move onto other topics.”
He rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. “To care about someone, it is strange, yes?”
My brows knitted together but I nodded.
“I’ve had no one to care about until you,” he admitted. “And now, with our connection, your death—temporary though it was—did crazy things to me.”
My heart lurched. Fate had given him the wrong soulmate. Another woman might have been able to change him, another woman might’ve come to love him. There wasn’t a happy ending for us.
Reluctantly, I placed my hand over his. “I’m fine.”
He cast me an irritated look. “I don’t care how you are.”
Liar.
Hearing his words and the vitriol in them, I would’ve expected him to get up and stalk out of here. But if anything, I sensed that the devil wanted to be closer to me. I didn’t know how I felt about that, and that indecision troubled me.
His eyes dropped to my lips, and oh God, oh God, oh God, he was leaning in, and there was nowhere for me to back up, and his lips looked far too inviting. The cord between us sang. This was so, so wrong, so—
Pluto’s lips brushed mine, and before I could help it, I kissed him back. And, horror of horrors, I enjoyed it. The cord between us quieted. Through it, I could feel Pluto’s vast, vast hunger. For me, for kingdoms, for anything and everything he wished.
Once the kiss ended, I opened my eyes. What I saw in his frightened me. I’d seen the look on Andre. I hadn’t planned on seeing Pluto wear it.
“I’m not ready for this,” I said, and then pushed back the covers, brushed by him, and spirited out of there.
He didn’t try to stop me. But I could feel his eyes like a brand on my back as I left the room. I was sure he could read every single thought of mine right now—all those confused emotions and unwanted feelings surging through me. Maybe he took comfort in the fact that we both had no clue what to make of this.
Whatever he thought, he didn’t share it.
I had to go back.
I’d run, and that was all great and dandy, but chances were at some point I’d encounter another demon, and I wanted to be wearing more than just a teddy when that happened.
With no little amount of dread, I returned to our bedroom. I shouldn’t have worried. The room was empty, the bed already remade. Wasting no time, I grabbed the first dress I saw—this one with a neckline that plunged past my navel.
C’mon. Leave a little to the imagination.
Okay, so I wasted a bit of time returning that one to the rack, only to pull out a spider silk crop top and skirt that joined together in the front. It still revealed a good deal of skin, but at least these sections were slightly less suggestive.
I donned the outfit and slipped back out, my mind consumed with disturbing thoughts.
I was at war with myself in almost every way possible. I wanted to do good, but I had a growing urge to commit wicked deeds. That didn’t help my already complicated situation with Andre and the devil. My mind and heart knew whom I loved, but my body and soul pulled me towards Pluto.
Three days here, and my will was failing me completely. I needed to get to that quill before it crumbled completely.
Guilt led me out into the fields of flame. The fire didn’t burn me, the heat didn’t sear me. My senses should’ve been exploited by this place, but they weren’t. The souls around me writhed and screamed and my heart wrenched at the sight. Such unending pain.
It only heightened my own guilt. Who was I to deserve to walk the earth when my soul rotted from the inside out? Who was I to deserve love when I could only tarnish it? And who was I to live forever as a queen while all these souls suffered?
Before I was conscious of what I was doing, I began to hum. All those poisonous insecurities of mine began to dissipate as I focused on the melody I created.
Perhaps I imagined the wails dying down just a bit.
The hum formed into notes and distinct words. I barely noticed the glow of my skin as the song poured out of me.
Now it wasn’t my imagination. As I sang, the wails quieted. My heart knew the words to this song, and they fell from my lips. I sang about pain and suffering, and I sang about peace and redemption. I soothed these souls with my voice.
“What are you doing?”
I rotated to find the devil at my back. He looked spitting mad.
I kept singing, but now I reached out to him because I was batshit crazy. His gaze flicked to my hand. Reluctantly he stepped forward and grasped it, though the anger in his eyes didn’t abate. Giving my hand a tug, he pulled me to him, wrapping his other arm around my waist.
The fire around us melted away, replaced by the cold bedroom of the palace. My voice wavered, but I didn’t stop singing. Not until the devil captured my face in his hands and kissed me.
My music cut off.
Fuck. I was right back where I started with the devil.
For a sheer instant, hell was quiet. Then the wails rose up again, even louder than before as they lamented the return of their pain.
Pluto broke off the kiss. “You made them forget.”
I blinked. I could apologize. He would want an apology. But I wasn’t sorry.
Instead, I nodded. “For a time.”
“You made them forget their pain,” the devil said, squeezing my arms. I couldn’t read the expression in his eyes. “It is my job to make them suffer, and you eased them of it.”
I was waiting for his anger to beat down upon me, but seconds ticked by and it didn’t come. His eyes searched mine. Then roughly he let me go and stalked towards the door.
“Asiri.”
His entire body reacted to that name. Twice I’d used it today, and both times it affected him.
“I researched that name.”
He didn’t turn.
“You were once loved by people,” I said.
“That was a long time ago.” His voice sounded shaken.
“But it happened?” I asked.
Now the devil rotated to face me. “Why are you bringing this up, consort?”
&nbs
p; My eyes roved over him. “Can you be that man again?”
Slowly he prowled back to me, his movements deliberate. It took all of my willpower not to back up.
“You said it yourself once—I am no man.”
“You’re Asiri.”
He closed his eyes. I was uncovering a bit more of him every time I used that name, and the god that was revealing himself to me was markedly different from the one I was used to.
“I didn’t give you that name to badger me with,” he said.
“No,” I agreed, “but you gave it to me for a specific reason.” Tentatively I touched the side of his face. He grabbed my wrist, but rather than pulling my hand away, he anchored it in place as he leaned in.
“Can you be that man again?”
Why was I asking him this? What was the point? I didn’t want to like him more. I wanted to hate him. And usually I did. But right now, all I desired was to give him some small amount of peace, just like the rest of the lost souls here.
His eyes opened. “For you, consort, I could try.”
Chapter 17
Gabrielle
“I have something to show you,” he admitted. He still hadn’t released my wrist, and now he twined his fingers through mine and tugged me out of our bedroom.
My dress slithered across the onyx floors as we crossed the palace. Pluto could’ve instantly transported us to whatever it was he wanted to show me, but he chose to walk with me instead.
We didn’t speak for much of the trip, which I was coming to find was decidedly not a good thing. It made me focus on the way his thumb drew circles on the back of my hand and the electricity that jumped between the two of us. But most of all, it made me realize that since our connection formed, I never felt more like myself than when I was with him.
Once we began to climb up a winding staircase, I had a good idea where we were going. But it was only when I saw the familiar doors to the library that I could be sure that was our destination.
I glanced over at him in time to see one corner of his mouth lift.
When we entered, I gasped. Floor-to-ceiling shelves now lined the room, each filled to the brim with books. Books that didn’t appear to be bound in human skin.
Score!
I spun in place, taking it all in.
“Do you like it?”
I swiveled around at the sound of Hades’ voice.
“You did this?” I asked.
His gaze passed over the shelves of books. “You’ve been bored, and you don’t wish to come with me to the fields.”
I suppressed a cringe at the word fields. He wasn’t harvesting vegetables beyond the palace walls.
“You’ve been spending time in here. You needed a library fitting for a queen.” He slid his hands in his pockets, wandering farther into the room, his gaze still glued to the books. “We will make it bigger. This is only temporary.”
Bigger?
I still hadn’t gotten over the fact that this was a gift. That someone could just give me a library. I didn’t want to be moved by this or overcome with the vastness of this present. It wasn’t something that I could repay in kind.
Suddenly, I was nervous. What did Pluto want in return?
Our gazes caught, and I swear he heard my thoughts. For once I wished I could read his. In the depths of those unfathomable eyes was a world of unspoken things. They sat right at the tip of his tongue, but he voiced none of them.
Instead he bowed his head. “I will leave you here.”
His words hit me in the gut, and I already felt the ache of his absence. I didn’t want him to leave. Not when he was like this.
“Where are you going?” I asked. I crossed the room to where he stood.
The look in his eyes deepened as I came to him. “Back to work. I have a realm to run.”
I touched the base of my throat. He hadn’t tried anything. It was almost … disappointing. I pushed that thought away as guilt rose up in me. I loved Andre, damnit. I needed to be with Andre. Fantasizing about the devil was not okay.
His jaw tightened. “Let him go, consort. He is not yours anymore. I am. This is not wrong; fighting it is.”
The air changed, and Asiri, this strange god I’d caught glimpses of, retreated. “I will dine with you later. Until then, occupy yourself.” With that, his form dissipated.
I rubbed my arms, thrown by his constantly shifting moods. No, not moods. Personas. He wore them like coats. Shedding one only to don another. It made me trust him less, not more.
After he left, I made myself comfortable. I discovered that Pluto had stocked the shelves with novels in a vast array of genres.
I felt like Belle, and the devil, my beast.
A heartless, scary-as-hell beast, but you know, a beast nonetheless.
Hours ticked by in that library. I read the final page in the first book I’d picked up. Closing it, I drummed my fingers along the cover. I wasn’t ready to read another novel, which left me to my thoughts. I brought my fingers to my lips and absently rubbed them.
Earlier, the devil and I discussed some things, but it was what we didn’t discuss that troubled me. He didn’t mention me killing his demon. He didn’t mention my meeting with Andre, and he hadn’t done more than touch upon my attempt to find Jericho.
What was he keeping from me?
My thoughts turned to Andre. I held our earlier conversation close to my heart, hoping that he was having an easier time believing in us than I was.
A war between realms, a malleable god, violent angels, and me at the epicenter of it all. My free hand rubbed my locket absently. The future is yours to claim.
It didn’t feel like it at the moment. If anything, it felt like the future was claiming me.
A bloody body was stretched out on hell’s dining room table.
I shrieked when I caught sight of it, my hand going to my mouth.
“I can see you’re acclimating well,” the devil said. His feet were propped up on the table, crossed at the ankles. He sipped wine from an opulent chalice and somehow he managed to not look completely ridiculous while doing so.
Five minutes ago he’d telepathically rung me to come to dinner. Idiot that I was, I’d actually been eager to see him again. Whomever I thought he was earlier, I was wrong.
The body on the table moaned.
That man was … alive?
He was laid out on his stomach, a pole running through the length of him. His hands and ankles were tied behind him, and someone had gone through and added what looked like cranberries and leafy greens around his body. He appeared uncannily like a spitted pig. Worst of all was his singed skin; someone had roasted him over an open flame.
“Why is there a bloody man on the table?”
“Archdemon,” the devil corrected, swirling his glass of wine. Gone was the caring Asiri I’d spent time with. His eyes now challenged mine. “He disobeyed me. Now he’s to be eaten alive.”
I almost gagged. Nope, nope, nope. I’d go hungry. Whatever I walked into I was walking out of. Immediately. I swiveled on my heel and headed for the door.
The devil appeared in front of me, blocking my exit. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m not eating a freaking demon.” I gestured to the charred thing.
The devil gave me an indulgent smile. “You misunderstand.” He clasped my upper arms, and my skin crawled at his touch. “You won’t be eating him. I’d never allow you to partake in something so barbaric. No, the lesser demons will be.”
Now this was the devil I remembered. I needed to commit this to memory.
In spite of myself, I smiled. “You slipped up.” I was embarrassed that tears pricked my eyes. I’d been so easily had.
The devil’s eyes flickered and his face contorted in anger. “You want me meek? Loving?” He pointed behind him. “That’s what happens when I soften. Demons rebel. Take a good look, my queen. The more kindness you ask of me, the more you will see this.”
I sat on my room’s balcony, my back to th
e wall. The flames that surrounded the castle crackled, the shrieks of the damned blending in with them. I hummed below my breath, not ready to call the devil’s attention to me, but also unable to ignore all these souls’ pain.
I cradled my head in my hands, waiting out the last of my time here for the evening. The devil had finally let me go, but not before he had me swear to join him the next time he hosted such a dinner. I wasn’t banking on being here the next time such a dinner occurred.
The entire castle shook. I lifted my head from my hands.
What in the world?
The tremors increased, getting more pronounced by the second. A minute later, the doors to our room slammed open. Dinner must be over.
Then the click of heels. The devil could move places instantaneously, yet he chose this entrance.
The balcony doors flew open. A shadow fell upon me.
“Are you trying to scare me again?” I asked.
“I have enough fear to prey upon. I want something else entirely from you.”
I wrapped my arms around my knees. “I just want to be alone.”
“And I want to be near you,” he said.
Much to my dismay, he sat down next to me. “I scared you earlier?”
I looked over at him. “I don’t understand you. At all.”
He smiled, staring off at the fields of fire beyond the balcony. “That is because I am a god. We aren’t meant to be easily understood. But one day you will.” He turned to me. “I await that day.”
My throat worked. “Why do you have to be like this? Just let me hate you.”
“Little bird, I know you won’t believe me, but I am all bad, and once I was all good, and I can be everything in between all at the same time.”
“That makes no sense.”
“In time you will understand this too. It is the logic of the gods, and you have only just come into your power. It will take eons to grasp this.”
I watched his lips move, fascinated by them. On a whim, I reached out and traced them. My heart pounded faster and faster. He nipped at my finger, then took my hand in his.