Page 18 of Underworld
But he didn’t hear me. Maybe he didn’t want to. Maybe the year he’d been bound to Cole had destroyed everything that had been kind and patient in him.
“Do you know what it’s been like?” he snarled. “Do you know what it’s like to be a demon’s toy?” He laughed bitterly. “Or maybe you do—you’re a princess of Hell. Maybe you deal in lies just like Lucifer. For all we know, you’ve been stringing all of us along and making us dance to your tune. Maybe you only needed us to help you free Cole and now that you have him, we don’t matter.”
Appalled, I shoved at his chest. His fury had given him strength and he didn’t move.
Pinching gripping my chin, he studied me with cold eyes. “Did you fool us all along? Maybe you spent the past year in Hell with him fucking him while I suffered.”
The bitterness inside him spilled into me and I wanted to scream and break things. I wanted to murder everyone in this room with my bare hands.
Power fluctuated inside of me and Dante’s nostrils flared at the challenge. Curling my fingers into fists, I contained this rage because… this wasn’tme.
It was Dante’s emotions I felt—and he had every right to feel them even if it was Cole exacerbating matters. I couldn’t imagine the misery of the past year.
“Dante, just listen.” I pressed my hands to his chest, stroking him as I locked eyes with him. If he would justhear me, maybe I could get through to him.I reached out across the bond, desperate to make a connection.
His reaction was instantaneous. Hot fury boiled out of him and into me. With a snarl, he yanked me closer. Mouth covering mine once more, he murmured, “I don’t think so, Lily. You yanked me around like a puppet on a string with that bond too much already.”
He bit me then. Hard. And I felt the agonizing pain of his rage and the truth I hadn’t wanted to see—Dantedespisedme. He might still love me, but it wasn’t what we’d once had and it ran side by side with pure, utter hatred.
Tears burned my eyes and I almost gave in, almost let him take that fury and guilt out on me.
But that wouldn’t help. It would do nothing to fix Dante and it sure as hell wouldn’t help anyone else.
I bit him back and shoved at him, using all the strength I had in me.
Which, these days? Was a lot.
He flew back, crashing hard into the stone wall across the room.
Blood trickled down his lip from where I’d scored him and he shook his head to clear it.
He growled, body tensing for another attack.
“No,” I said, keeping my voice level through sheer will, both to him and to Hendrik and Orion who looked like they were ready to step in. “You don’t get to do this, Dante. You don’t get to blame me. I never asked for any of it! Sofuckyoufor trying to blame me.”
“Poor little princess,” Dante said scathingly as he edged closer. Red mingled with the normal glow of his eyes.
Cole… the bastard. He was going to pay for this.
Another strike on his list.
Dante’s eyes flashed and that was the only warning I got.
It was enough. Feeling like a piece of me had been ripped out as Dante lunged to attack, I blocked him, my arm going numb from the impact with his arm. With my free hand, I clawed his chest, my talons laying his flesh open. The metallic tang of blood painted the air but Dante didn’t seem affected.
With a cry, I threw a fireball at him, trusting his Hunter powers to help him survive.
Or perhaps in that moment, I didn’t care.
He went flying back, hitting the wall once more.
“Getout!” I screamed as he pushed to his feet and the remnants of his shirt disintegrated and fell to the floor. He brushed the soot off his chest, revealing skin bearing new scars in a spiral pattern from the scorching fire.
With blazing eyes, he stared at me. Blood trickled from one corner of his mouth.
“I saidget out!”
To my surprise, he turned and left.
