Page 130 of Hell Bound

The only allies I had, Lucifer and his wolves, were scattered throughout the opulently decorated room, and in the crush of people, it was like a game trying to find them.

When I’d done a lap of the space and only seen a discontented Jovran—not the kind of company I was in the mood for—I made for an alcove I caught sight of.

It was easy to miss with the heavy red drapery mostly covering it.

Which meant once I was behind that curtain, I’d be easy to miss, too.

The sheer amount of people was already disconcerting. Add in Asmodeus’s sudden desire to show me off and introduce me to the nobles?

No thanks.

Double checking that there weren’t any eyes on me, I ducked into the shadows and took my first real deep breath since entering the ballroom.

As was the case with most beautiful things, this dress was a misery to move in. Nice to see that the patriarchal fashion industry was alive and well in Hell.

The more things change…

I slipped my feet out of the spike heels I’d been forced to wear and wiggled my aching toes. It had only been an hour since the festivities began.

There was no doubt that the party would rage until the wee hours, especially as the alcohol continued to flow, and there wasn’t a chance in hell that I was gonna make it in these shoes.

Still stretching my toes, I didn’t realize that my hiding spot was potentially discovered until I heard the curtain rippled from someone knocking into it.

I clapped a hand over my mouth like I was in a horror movie—and let’s be honest, I kinda was—and the killer had just entered my bathroom.

Relief swamped me when I heard a familiar voice. Pypentha’s gravelly tone was unmistakable, but I couldn’t understand a word of what she said.

Another voice responded in what must be a demonic language, this one male. There was a certain rasp to the way the words were pronounced, and it was perfectly suited for their roughened vocals.

But as I listened, there was something wrong between the two of them. Everything Pyp said carried a grating tension—that was then returned by what I assumed was another member of the Tainted Court.

Oh my god, it’s her brother!

She’d mentioned that he’d be here for the ball.

Damn, now I wished I hadn’t been hiding like a creepy eavesdropper. It would be extra uncomfortable if I popped out now and tried to introduce myself as Pyp’s new human friend. I was definitely going to ask her what they’d been arguing about now.

And it was one hell of an argument.

They were cutting each other off every few words, and that last whisper-yell was a clear “fuck you and your opinion” inanylanguage.

It continued until her possible brother snapped something sharp and stormed away.

“Bastard,” Pyp hissed. I stuck my head out from the curtain just in time to see her clenching her hands hard enough to draw blood from her palms.

“Psst!”She whipped her head around at the sound, eyes bulging when she saw me. I motioned her to join me, but she just stared at me, confused.

I rolled my eyes and quickly reached out to yank her behind the curtain.

“What’s going on? Why are you back here?”

“The real question is, why would I be out there?”

She shrugged. “That is certainly true. There’s nothing good happening out there tonight.”

“Was that your brother?”

She rolled her eyes, making her answer completely unnecessary. “Yes, that’s Phyn.”

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