Page 43 of Hell Bound

The woman in the mirror was foreign to me. Liliana Martinez’s face stared back at me, but the eyes weren’t my own.

There was a weight and a shadow of darkness that I didn’t recognize.

Was this place changing me already?

I hated everything about that. I didn’t want this place to leave a stain on my soul, but I had a sinking feeling that was going to be the least of what I would suffer here.

Thankfully, I was allowed to brush my own teeth, and then I followed Sveva into the bedroom. Tavila sat on the foot of the bed, my nightgown beside her.

I had to be honest, I assumed she did something heinous to it. I was going to find shit streaks on the inside when I went looking for the source of a disgusting smell in the middle of the night.

Still, not in the mood to argue further, I let Sveva remove the robe and help me into the gown. No foreign smells assaulted me, which meant she’d done something else. I’d just have to keep my eyes peeled for any nasty surprises.

“Shall I turn down your bed, Queen Lilith?” Tavila’s venom-laced voice didn’t match the hatred in her glare, but I was fucking tired.

“Yeah, whatever, slave wench. Is that how you want it to be? Will that make it easier for you to hate me? Because I really couldn’t give a shit at this point.”

Her phony smile was incandescently bright.

“Whatever you wish, Your Highness.” She yanked the cover back, and I took a quick scan of the sheets to make sure there weren’t any spiders or snakes writhing there.

Not giving her the satisfaction of acting like I gave a damn about the blankets, I walked to the head of the bed and adjusted the pillow how I liked it.

“If that’ll be all, my Queen, we’ll take our leave.”

“Thanks, Sveva, that’s it.”

With a respectful nod, she ushered Tavila through the door.

Glad to finally be alone, I turned my attention back to the bed. I slipped off my ring, holding it up to make sure it hadn’t been damaged during all the action earlier.

I didn’t see any deep scrapes or gouges in the soft gold, so I tucked it under my pillow. Several of my fingers were swollen from when I’d tried to break a large branch off of a tree for a weapon, and I didn’t feel like fighting it back over my knuckle.

When I climbed into bed, the door was just barely clicking shut.

I could have sworn I saw a pair of eyes through the crack just before it was locked from the outside.

Chapter10

Lucifer

“Keep your elbow higher.” I nudged Deasley’s arm up, and the sword wobbled precariously in his grasp.

The incubus had never been much of a fighter, but this was… appalling.

Pypentha tossed her hair and effortlessly flung three throwing stars into the bull’s eye of the target across the courtyard. “Perhaps you should return to the mortal realm, Deasley. You don’t seem quite ready for the rigors of Hell.”

Deasley heaved an exasperated sigh, aimed at his target, and promptly tripped over one of his own feet. “Hnngh—”

I rubbed my temples, where a cataclysm of a headache was brewing.

We’d gone nearly twenty years without Deasley’s regular presence, and while he was well-liked, there was an unspoken acknowledgement that his gangly limbs and complete lack of coordination were going to get someone killed one day.

“Pypentha. Refresh him on the basics.”

She looked like she was about to whine, but saw the expression on my face and swallowed whatever she was going to say. Stepping up to Deasley, she easily avoided his clumsy strike.

It had taken years to hone this pack into something other than a mess of slavering, rabid wolves. The infighting and power grabs had made it nearly impossible.

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