Page 39 of Hell Bound

It was one feather; at one time, it would have been of no consequence to me. Only by the time I was planning for Lilith’s escape, Asmodeus had already taken my wings.

The feather I gave her was the only one I had left.

In the Crone’s hands, it would possess great power.

Had she used it in the spell to free Lilith? Or was it still tucked away with her hoard of items she always seemed to be collecting?

“Perhaps… a finger?” she asked, rolling the bird’s tiny skull between her fingers. “I could take your smallest finger, only a small bit of bone, nothing you would miss… but you fail to see the point, Lucifer Morningstar.”

“What is that?” I asked, clamping down on my anger and maintaining the polite façade. She was imprisoned by Asmodeus, bound to this court, but only a fool would mistake the Crone as someone to upset.

She let out another grating cackle.

“That thereisno point.” The Crone’s blind face turned up to me. “My magic worked perfectly. The spell didexactlywhat it was meant to do: Lilith was murdered, and her soul became mortal and escaped Hell.”

She thrust her hand back into the tree, found nothing, and looked back at me.

“Even if you kill the queen and once again deliver her soul to the mortal world with your own hands, Asmodeus will hunt her down again and again. There is no escape for Lilith, you foolish wolf.”

“What did I trade my feather for, then?” I asked, my heart thumping with rage. “What good was your magic, witch, if you can’t release her from this?”

She turned the bird’s skull towards me, so that both bony plates and empty sockets were staring in my direction.

“‘What good was it’?” she mimicked, joggling the skull around. “Your desires are futile. Asmodeus will always find the pieces of that which he possesses. What will you do now, Morningstar? Eh?”

I felt the infernal fires rising up inside me, scorching my throat, burning behind my eyes. “Useless witch.”

The Crone merely laughed and tilted her head back, tossing the skull into her mouth. Her teeth came together in a cacophony of crunching.

I turned on my heel and stalked away from her, shifting and breaking into a run before I turned around and chewed that bony carapace right off her face.

Futile, foolish… no.

I would not accept that.

Even if I had to trade my bones, my flesh, and my blood, I would find a way to release Lilith from the king’s grasp.

Chapter9

Lilith

When the door closed with Asmodeus still inside the room, my stomach knotted.

Exhaustion from my escape attempt had sapped all my energy. Whatever he was going to dish out, I wouldn’t be able to parry with jabs of my own.

“Is there something you want?”

I really need to learn to keep my damn mouth shut.

But he was just standing there, looking me over in disgust. I was on display in the remains of the flimsy garment, and as he’d so helpfully pointed out, I was covered in muck and grime from the forest.

With a sneer, he grabbed my injured arm and twisted it until the healing gash was facing upward.

I clamped my lips together to hold back the cry of pain. Healing or not, the fresh wound was still tender.

“This looks as though it hurt, my dear. I wonder if the pain was enough to teach you a lesson.” He dropped my arm as if touching me had disgusted him.

The feeling is mutual, asshole.

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