Page 150 of Hell Bound

I debated the merits of vomiting on their shoes.

Asmodeus reached up, tilting her ruby crown just so. His smile no longer reached his eyes.

“You will be the only true queen in this room tonight,” he said distantly.

Something curled up inside me at his words.

Was Lilith still imprisoned in the dungeon? Had he killed her and buried her remains in the Garden again, only to be raised when he felt the need to do so?

I barely held back a growl, determined to give neither of them what they wanted.

Several voices burst into my head as Sameera entered the ballroom, tugging the leash with an iron grip.

Commander!

You’re alive…

Their voices were a mix of relief… and disgust. I felt them muttering in the back of my head, examining the leash, horrified and pitying.

The last thing I wanted was their pity. A leash wouldn’t kill me, but finding out Lilith had died again might.

The pack was also in wolf form, dark and fiery shadows that prowled among the guests. The chandeliers had been dimmed, and in the half-light, the chaotic swirl of velvet, silk, and glittering gems seemed like a demon’s fever dream.

Pypentha stalked along the outer edges, her white fur limned in gold by the lanterns.

I’ll kill her, she snarled, lost in her own mindless rage. Her crimson eyes were fixed on Sameera.I’ll eat her alive.

Jovran and Deasley twined between marble columns, ignoring the groping hands of other guests, their ears pinned flat against their heads.

Keep it together, Pyp, Deasley said, but his thoughts were tinged with their own darkness.It’s just one night.

I followed his gaze to one of the tables, where Duke Sorath laughed with Odragir.

Odragir and his loyalists had not been forced to attend the ball as wolves. They were dressed in uniform, wearing the armored, militaristic suits Asmodeus wished us to wear during formal events.

As I watched, he raised a glass of sparkling green liquor, and Sorath clinked his own glass against it.

Opportunists, Jovran thought darkly.Vultures. Look at them, they’ll even eat shit if it means they get to play games above their league.

I was about to utter a scathing reply when Sameera jerked the leash. The barbs bit in, finding their way to my throat even through my thick fur.

“Come, pet.”

She swept through the ballroom, drawing eyes. More than one demon looked her up and down, lingering on the places where the sheer dress didn’t quite leave anything to the imagination.

A servant stepped forward, holding a tray. “Blood wine from the king, Princess.”

She took a slender, fluted glass from the tray, her nails tinkling against the crystal. Before she took a sip, she raised her glass to Asmodeus, who had taken up his seat on the dais.

The king nodded to her, smiling indulgently.

The glass was half-gone when Sameera dug her nails into my head, pinpoints of pain between my ears. “Would you like a taste, dear Lucifer?”

She held the glass in front of my sensitive nose. I smelled the sourness of wine beneath the copper tang of blood; the liquid was cloudy.

Only the demons of Tainted could drink blood without suffering repercussions. Just smelling it made me sick, my guts twisting in on themselves.

I turned my nose away, and Sameera laughed, draining the rest of the glass. “Then you can thirst all night, unless you wish to drink from a bowl on the floor.”

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