Page 47 of Witch Queen

“Wanna come work for me?” Astarte asked the head demon kindly while Alicia inspected the bone darts in her left hand with a cross-eyed look.

“I best not, Goddess.” Us’gorith’s mouth grew pinched. “I went on a trip once and the city almost burned down.”

“Oh.” Astarte grimaced. “Was that the time your lord organized a fire-breathing contest?”

“Yes.” Us’gorith’s shoulders slumped. “In a city made of wood construct.” He shuddered and covered his face with his hands as he revisited the horrors of that particular incident. “He even got the helldragons to participate.”

Vlad listened distractedly while Astarte murmured words of consolation.

The chamber they’d entered was a reception room, not that anyone could tell right now with how messy the place was. Empty mugs, glassware, beer kegs, and bottles crowded the floor and the surfaces of the furniture. The air reeked of so much potent alcohol he was surprised the fire crackling in the hearth hadn’t ignited the fumes.

His pulse quickened at the sight of the pair of demons engaged in a tussle on one of the couches.

The stout one with the bulging muscles and curved horns tipped with Hellfire was desperately trying to wrench a bottle out of Ilmon’s hand.

“Why,” he grunted and groaned, “are you so ridiculously strong?!”

Vlad presumed the demon was Armaros. To his surprise, his father, who was slumped against the backrest, didn’t even look like he was trying that hard to hold on to the bottle.

He swallowed.Father. I never thought the day would come when I would be in a position to actually use that word. In all honesty, I have long considered Yuliy to have fulfilled that role.He fisted his hands, his chest hot with an emotion he could not deny.It seems there is space left in my heart for?—

“When is my little rabbit going to get here?” Ilmon moped while Armaros huffed and grunted, neck cording as he desperately tried to peel one of the Incubus king’s fingers from the bottle. Ilmon straightened and looked blearily at Us’gorith’s lord. “Did I tell you how pretty my rabbit is? His hair is like ringlets of spun gold and his eyes exude a beauty that could outmatch the brightest sun in their resplendence. Why, just one of my little rabbit’s cheekbones could launch a thousand sailboats into the Styx.”

Vlad scowled.

“You should put that on your resumé,” Nikolai said with a straight face.

Cortes’s lips twitched.

Vlad was about to flip the two sorcerers the middle finger when Ilmon finally noticed them. The incubus energy that bloomed across the room and blasted through the castle had Astarte groaning and Us’gorith flushing.

Ilmon let go of the bottle and jumped to his feet, his eyes bright. “My little rabbit! You’re here.”

Armaros stumbled backward and cursed, almost dropping his prize. He beamed at the bottle before pressing it to his cheek and murmuring sweet nothings to it.

“Your liege is disgusting,” Astarte told Us’gorith coolly.

Ilmon crossed the room, his arms wide open and his expression pure mush. “Come, give your papa a kiss, my sweet little rabbit!”

He puckered his lips.

“I swear to God, I will cut you if you touch me!” Vlad snapped.

Alicia let out a belch that smelled like something that could strip paint. “Pardon me.”

CHAPTERSEVENTEEN

Barquiel panted and wheezed,his entire body trembling from the effort it had taken to finally break out ofChaos Seal. He looked over his shoulder at the crack in the spell he’d climbed out of.

The dark dimension where he’d been trapped for days was visible inside it.

He swallowed.Curse Azazel for teaching her that awful magic!

The demon scanned his surroundings cautiously. One thing to be grateful for was thatChaos Sealhadn’t brought him to the same place where Azazel oncecontained Hellfire Magic.

He didn’t recognize the deserted cave around him, but it had to be somewhere in Hell. He only had to smell the hot sulfur filling his lungs and feel the heat beneath his boots to know that a river of lava was close by.

A sharp pang stabbed his insides, catching him off guard. Barquiel clutched his stomach with a grunt and nearly doubled over.

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