Page 78 of Hell Bound

Chapter18

Lucifer

“Ah, there you are.”

Asmodeus’s soft voice reached my ears before I walked into his private rooms.

They were my least favorite place in the palace, aside from that heinous Garden of Lilith.

These rooms were dark, the shadows draped like veils, but my eyes no longer had to adjust to darkness.

The wolf saw all, from Tavila’s form curled up beneath black silk sheets, to Asmodeus’s brooding form slumped in a chair.

His blond hair was still damp with sweat, and he looked up at me with hate in his eyes over his glass of wine.

“Where, oh where, have you been, my loyal commander?”

The mockery in his voice was clear, and he shifted the wine glass. Enough for me to see the faintest of scars streaked across his chest, nothing but silvery lines as thin as cobwebs now.

That was the closest my claws had ever gotten to sinking into his flesh. Whatever magic he’d used to bind us had been enough to force me to my knees, my claws just dampened with blood, and two of my wolves had paid with their lives.

After years of “faithful” servitude, Asmodeus had finally understood that I was not his, and never would be.

“Patrolling the palace, Your Majesty.”

He swirled his wine glass, scowling into the depths of the liquid. “Oh?”

I waited, my skin prickling with anticipation. The slick slip of invisible chains shifted around my flesh, the precursor to either pain or subjugation.

“I have an assignment for you. Lord Thalen has refused to pay his tithe and declared his intent to throw in his lot with Ossea.” The king bared his teeth. “Hunt him down.”

I shifted in place. Lord Thalen, one of the lesser Infernal courtiers, had been smuggling Infernal Court defectors into Ossea for months now.

He was young and hot-headed, too quick to act without thinking. Too idealistic, loudly proclaiming King Beleqor still lived and would retake the throne from Asmodeus.

He’d been too foolish—or too arrogant—to realize that Asmodeus was giving him just enough rope to create his own noose.

Thalen was too far gone to deny what he’d done, and now the king would make an example out of him.

“Your Majesty.” I nodded to the king, but before I could turn, Asmodeus straightened up.

“Oh, and… bring him back to me alive.” He smiled coldly. “I want names, locations… I want to know how that rat-born bastard has been smugglingmysubjects out of my court. Do not fail me in this, Morningstar.”

The chains constricted as he exerted his will over me, just to remind me who held the power between us.

Thalen was to be brought back alive. I would take him into the dungeons, cut him apart piece by piece until he spilled his soul to us.

My jaw tightened as the chains continued to tighten, squeezing the breath out of me… then faded.

I strode from the room before he could take pleasure in my fury. There was no point in enjoying the momentary freedom from the pressure of the chains.

It would return soon enough.

It always did.

* * *

The pack boundedover the dark lands of the Infernal Court in a silent formation. Jovran panted at my left, Pypentha was a silver streak to the right, and I felt Deasley’s attention wavering as something grabbed his curiosity.

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