Page 53 of Hell Bound

Pop-Tarts, it said. I frowned, examining the picture.

Humans considered thisfood? No wonder they died in droves.

But one of the small tidbits Deasley had slipped me about Lilith’s human life was that she’d had an insatiable addiction to cherry Pop-Tarts.

This box said Pumpkin Spice. I suppressed a shudder and tossed it on a nearby table, opening the next box.

It took me a few more tries before I found blueberry flavor. By that time, I’d decimated half the boxes. It would have to do.

My ears pricked as the sound of footsteps grew louder, but they were familiar ones. He’d followed me all the way from the dining hall.

“What are you doing?” Deasley asked, then gasped. “Commander! The pumpkin spice is very limited edition in the mortal world! You can’t just throw it around—”

“You eat this garbage?” I asked, shaking the box accusingly.

Deasley practically scampered across the room, grabbing boxes of Pop-Tarts and cradling them protectively against his chest.

“They’re good,” he mumbled. “I was going to get some cherry ones for the queen, but I got recalled before I could go grocery shopping…”

I internally sighed. No wonder the incubus was terrible at the fighting arts if he was sneaking in to eat this trash all the time.

“Here, I’ll separate the blueberry ones for her.” He began sorting through the boxes, shoving another foil packet into my hands. “You’re welcome to the stash whenever you need, Commander.”

Despite my misgivings at the youngest of my pack having his own clubhouse packed with non-nutritious shit, his earnestness pricked somewhere inside me.

He was decent, through and through, even if his fighting form was… well, ghastly, to put it kindly.

“I’ll take a few laps off for this,” I told him gruffly, and turned my back. Nothing good ever came of being too nice to your subordinates.

I slipped the silver packet in my shirt and left the Clubhouse, snarling curses under my breath as my shoulder bumped a mountain of plastic-packaged “Instant Ramen” and sent them tumbling in a landslide.

Behind me, Deasley went scrambling, trying to prop up the toppling mountain.

I retraced my steps, considering how best to deliver them to Lilith.

She showed no signs of remembering me, but perhaps if I did something special from our past…

It took me only minutes to find Hana, who’d been lurking outside the maids’ quarters, her eyes wide with anxiety as she waited for the dinner bell to ring and announce its end.

She heard me coming too late, almost falling backwards when she turned and found me over her shoulder. “Luc—Commander!” she gasped, pressing a hand to her chest. Her natural smell of lavender and sea spray reached my nose with the movement. “Do you… do you need something?”

I jerked my head, and she glanced nervously towards the dining room door before following me into an empty parlor.

I slammed the door shut behind us. “Just like old times, Hana.”

She stared up at me with big blue eyes, gnawing her lower lip. “That’s a huge risk, Lucifer. He’s been out of his mind with fury… she’s not the same. Hewantsher to break, and if this doesn’t do it… weknowwhat he will do next.”

Her voice grew softer and softer until she was whispering.

A muscle twitched in my jaw. “Either that, or he starves her to death. Do this for me. Do it for her.”

Hana bit her lip harder, her internal struggle clear, but she had been best friends with Lilith all their lives. It would be impossible for her to say no.

Finally she sighed and inclined her head. “Wait in the usual place. I’ll give you the signal.” She glanced over her shoulder as she turned. “Give me a few minutes before you leave. I’d rather us not be seen conspiring.”

I did as she asked, which worked for me just as well. By the time I made it outside the palace, it was full dark.

The shadows were deep enough for me to scale the obsidian walls without being seen, climbing six stories to the queen’s balcony.

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