Page 48 of Hell Bound

It was enough to satisfy the sadistic fuck.

“Excellent. The perfect accoutrement for a woman like you,wife.” The last word came out like an insult, and I wished I could return the sentiment. Instead, I kept my expression neutral.

There was a time and place to antagonize him, and this wasn’t it. I’d lost yet another round of this battle, and refusal to concede defeat could break me.

Know when to retreat, know when to attack.

As I’d hoped, when I didn’t give Asmodeus the reaction he wanted, his interest waned rapidly.

“If you are not down at dinner within ten minutes, I’ll send my guards for you to drag you down by your hair.” He leaned close, lifting a lock of my long, black and red hair and running it through his fingers. “Please, be late.”

His ugly laugh lingered when Hana shut the door behind him. She’d ushered Gilémé and Sveva—Tavila hadn’t been present for my humiliation, thankfully—out right behind the Crone, leaving just the two of us in the room.

When she turned from the door, there were tears glistening in her eyes.

“Great Hell, Lilith, what has he done to you?” It was the first time she’d addressed me by my name instead of “my lady.”

She raised a hand to touch the monstrous gag, but I flinched. Curling her fingers into a fist, she brought it to her mouth and bit down on a knuckle.

Her clear upset caused me distress that made no sense.

I barely knew Hana, and even though she’d been kind to me since my arrival, this wasn’t exactly the moment to be concerned for her feelings.

But knowing that did absolutely nothing to ease the gut-wrenching sympathy that welled in me.

I held out an open palm, and she lowered her hand to place it in mine. I squeezed it and tried to say “it’s alright” with just my eyes. A single tear fell from hers.

“I’m so sorry. This shouldn’t be happening, you weren’t supposed to come back here.”

That caught my attention. How much did Hana know about how I—or whoever she thought I was—had ended up in the human world?

Since I couldn’t ask her, I just kept hold of her hand. It brought me comfort to know that I wasn’t alone, that I had a friend here even if she couldn’t do anything to help me.

Or maybe she could.

Her wall had cracked tonight. If I kept prodding at it, maybe I could get her fully on my side.

She could help me escape, and I’d take her with me to safety.

“We should go, my Queen,” she said, breaking through my thoughts of breaking the hell out of here. “Give him no more reason to punish you.”

I nodded, drawing in a deep inhale through my nose. It was difficult to fill my lungs. The pressure of the spiked insert felt like it was partially blocking my nasal passages, too.

This is going to be such a fun night.

* * *

It was not,in fact, a fun night.

I don’t think I’d ever hated a set of stairs more than this one. Every time I descended it, I lost a little more of my dignity.

There wasn’t a single eye in the room that wasn’t on me, and that included Lucifer. His look of horror was brief, but I’d caught it.

If I needed confirmation, the table was missing chunks from the clench of his claws.

I couldn’t hold his stare any longer. The humiliation was too intense.

Trying to be strong around him only for him to see me like this? An unnamed emotion bloomed in my gut and I averted my gaze.

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