Page 39 of Queen of the Wicked
But Alessia had already broken against him.
Her cry of pleasure came crashing down around them, the transparent bubble going with it.
Erebos cursed under his breath but let her ride out her high on his fingers, coaxing her walls and gathering all of the wetness that followed.
She was still coming, still riding, and Erebos grunted, stroking her hair with his free hand until she finally felt empty. And then he stuck his fingers into his mouth, groaning at the tasteon his tongue.
Alessia was too transfixed to notice that Kael had stepped closer. With a long drag from his nose, he chuckled. “Awhore?”he asked. “I find that extremely hard to believe, Lord of Hell.”
Erebos pulled Alessia’s dress back down and smiled. “It is not exactly up to me, is it?”
Alessia furrowed her eyebrows together, and Kael noticed it instantly, being the over-analyzer he was. “You are confused?” he asked. He seemed to know the answer already, and Alessia began to wonder if all of this was just an act the entire time. His smug smile was back, and for reasons Alessia couldn’t piece together, it seemedhehad won this round.
“So very intriguing, Erebos. I do not think I need my friend to come today after all. Best to save that for a time King Bastian can join us.”
“Was there even a friend to begin with?” Erebos asked through gritted teeth.
Kael chuckled. “Until next time, Lord of Hell, and it was apleasure, Lillian.Thank you for the show and the insight.”
Chapter 19
Erebos
The moment Kael Traveled back to Heaven, Erebos locked himself in his study and refused to come out. Ambroz had checked on him twice before he dismissed him for the night, and he sat with his head hung by the palms of his hands, elbows on top of the cherrywood desk, mulling over every worst possible outcome that today’s events foreshadowed.
Kael suspected that Alessia was important thesecond he saw her. Not only as his mate, but something more. With those red irises encircling the specs of emerald, it was hardnotto notice her. Erebos had selfishly wanted her close to him in case things went wrong. If Kael had figured out Alessia had stolen his powers, she would have been taken right from wherever she was in the castle, and Erebos couldn’t let that happen.
It was the bond causing this surge of protectiveness, and maybe that’s where he went wrong. The bond was to blame for his inability to let her go. He could have easily pulled away and denied her theorgasm, but he had a primal urge to please her. He was selfish, his mind not thinking straight, which led to Kael learning something worse than her harboring his powers.
The lord had tried to keep his face neutral and void of emotion throughout Kael’s visit, which might have worked until he was forced into proximity with Alessia. If Kael suspected earlier that she was his mate, he knew Erebos wouldn’t object to giving Alessia pleasure. Erebos couldn’t deny himself the chance of feeling that sweet, tight cunt of hers clench around his fingers as she came, and it worked like a charm. The parting of Alessia’s lips while she shuddered in his arms was still burned into Erebos’s memory. It would never leave.
And when Alessia’s shield broke for that one second she fell apart, the scent was all Kael needed to confirm it.
Erebos groaned. Kael had always been meticulous and observed everything within a nearby radius. Erebos had hoped he wouldn’t pay Alessia a second glance, but he had been miserably mistaken. Granted, he had managed to keep the most critical secret under wraps, her harboring his powers, but now that Kael knew his weakness… Now that he could useheras leverage against him? Bastian would have a field day.
“Your Majesty.” A couple of knocks sounded on the other side of the door to his study before Eryx poked his head into the room. Since he didn’t use his first name, it told Erebos the general intended this to be a serious conversation—one he simply didn’t have the energy for. “We need to talk,” he added with urgency.
Erebos relented and sagged in the chair. “Come in.”
Still in full uniform, Eryx strode into the room before sitting in one of the chairs opposite the desk.
The lord knew everything about Eryx. He had broken him down and made him into the warrior he was. He’d never forget that frail, emotional teenager who landed in the pits of hell that morning. Ateenager.He had attempted to murder his father at the age of eighteen, and to some, that was a cause for reasonable punishment, but Erebos had seen into his memory. He witnessed the abuse bestowed upon him by the man who sired him—the same abuse his mother endured.
The man sitting in front of him had demons potentially bigger than his own, and that was why he never questioned Eryx when he had chosen to remain here in Hell at the end of his service. That very same day, he made him his general. Not only was Eryx one of his only friends, but he was as close to family as Erebos had ever gotten.
That was why, on the day Eryx’s father finally arrived in Hell, Erebos gave him the honor of choosing the punishment.
“There are things we need to discuss,” Eryx said quietly. The gentle ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner of the room filled the silence between them. “Alessia has black magic.”
“Yes,” he agreed.
“But I thought black magic didn’t exist.” Eryx blinked, trying to solve a puzzle that didn’t seem ready yet to click into place.“Does she know of the power she’s capable of?”
“Not yet.” Erebos kept his mouth in a grim line. “It’snot something I understand myself. She has my dark magic running through her veins ontopof black magic, and I…” He shook his head. “Black magic was only mentioned in legends, the kind you warn kids about to get them to eat their vegetables. I’m just as lost as you are.”
“And you believe the Seeker will have more answers?”
“That is the hope,” he replied. However, there were many reasons they needed to find the demon in the pits. The Seeker might be able to confirm or deny Erebos’s suspicion about what Bastian was truly up to in Heaven, and that was enough motive to go beneath level one. Figuring out a way to restore his powersandlearn more about Alessia’s past would be a bonus.
