Page 72 of Hell Bound

He wouldn’t kill me, not when his supply of wolves was ever-dwindling, but he’d make me pay.

And he’d use her to do it.

He wouldn’t even have to move the body this time—she was already being dragged into her most dreaded hell, eyes flicking wildly to the array of death around her.

To the statues of bronzed flesh, contorted in positions of agony.

To the mounds where bones were heaped in tangles.

To the trees where fragments of cloth flapped like tattered flags, and skeletal remains dangled among them like wind chimes.

Even those most loyal to Asmodeus fear to tread here. It was an unnatural place, a monument to whatever foul magic he’d used to trap Lilith in the endless cycle of rebirth that returned her to her nightmare after every death.

Her own personal hell within Hell.

The Garden of Lilith.

Chapter17

Lilith

Iknew I had fucked up.

As I’d cursed him out and responded to every statement with disrespect, something inside me warned I was pushing too far.

So, of course, I’d pushed harder.

Despite my feigned confidence, a creeping dread settled in the pit of my stomach as soon as Asmodeus took hold of my arm and dragged me from my room.

I should have been relieved. The further we got from my bedroom, the better. Lucifer was still hidden in the wardrobe, and it was only a matter of time before Asmodeus caught wind of him.

Distraction may have been the initial reason I goaded him into a fight, but the more he talked, the hotter my fury grew.

He was the root of every problem I had, and the more I was coming to accept that maybe I was once this “Lilith” who’d been cursed to marry him, the more my hatred for him multiplied.

“You’re in lively spirits today. I have just the thing to remedy that.”

I could practically hear Lucifer growling at me to shut up before I made it worse.

Where’s the fun in that?

“Trust me, your mere existence remedies any ghost of happiness I might find.”

Instead of a quip or a threat, he simply stared down at me with a hatred that matched my own.

I struggled to keep up with his pace, only remaining upright thanks to his forceful grip on my arm. Every time I stumbled, my bare feet caught over stones in the unfamiliar staircase I’d never been down before.

Or had I?

Myriad emotions swelled within me, but they made no sense.

The anger, I understood, but there was a visceral panic that had no foundation.

My instincts screamed for me to snatch my arm from Asmodeus and flee before he could take me back there.

Backwhere? I’ve never been this way before.

But I could only cling to that denial so hard. Clear memories may not be coming to mind, but my subconscious, my body, my heart… they remembered.

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