Page 41 of Oracle
The silence that stretched had my heart dropping to the pit of my stomach. There was no one in this miserable fucking realm to help me.
All you are doing is giving me a headache by yelling.
I had to try.
No, what we have to do is come up with a plan between us. We have to act as if our people won’t be here in time, Kira. All we have here is ourselves to get us the fuck out of here.
You’re right. So what the hell are we going to do? What are the facts that we know of the situation? From your knowledge of the past, how do we beat him without the sword?
I heard the sound of metal squeaking, accompanied by footsteps and grumbling voices, so I assumed there was a door somewhere down the corridor they were coming through. I had to commit these details to heart if I couldn’t physically see outside of this cell.
We know we are in Hell.
We know we are being held by Satan.
We know we are currently suspended in the air.
We know we can’t access our powers.
So, if we can’t fight him, what do we do? What do we do when they are hellbent on breaking us?
We keep fighting?
Wrong. We let them break us. Or more specifically, we let themthinkthat they have. Let them think you fought, but that it was all you had in you. Lull them into a false sense of security. It’ll buy us time.
Trepidation spread through me with her words. I understood the concept of her plan, and in theory it could work, but there was one major flaw with it.
But what about his blood? We cannot risk going under his control.
It’s our only chance. We have to believe that you can find that power within you to burn it out. I know you can, Kira. And if we can force the guards and him to think you are a compliant little hostage, it means we can wait for the perfect opening to escape.
As my door swung open, my vision came back to me and I settled firmly on a plan, with one tweak.
No. We wait for the perfect opportunity to kill Satan in his own home. Avoid the war and the loss of hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. The likelihood of us escaping from a place we don’t know is slim to none, never mind finding the portal back to our realm.
You’re right, Kira. Spoken like a true leader.
Fighting the tendency to flinch away from the guards as they entered first, Satan trailing in behind them, I kept my gaze on the floor, trying my best to look despondent as his voice rang out. “How are we doing today, lovely? Did you sleep well?”
It was so hard to not snap back at him that he knew damn well I’m doing terrible and that I didn’t sleep at all.
Swallow the rage. Meek and mild is our goal.
I didn’t trust myself to respond, so I let my silence answer him.
“You have nothing to say to me today? Is my little pet broken already?” he asked incredulously. “The fun was just getting started, but I do suppose it’s better that I break you sooner rather than later. We are in the middle of a war, after all.”
The rough grip of a guard's hand on my chin yanked my face up, forcing me to look at Satan. I didn’t fight the harsh motion, knowing it was needed. As I glanced in his direction, he stroked the light stubble that dusted his chin and jaw, appraising me with his eyes as if summing me up.
I didn’t dare look into his eyes, instead focusing on the slight red chest hair curling up from under the unbuttoned top of his shirt. Focusing all of my efforts into having no physical reaction, I knew I wouldn’t be able to bury my disgust and anger for this demon king in my eyes as well.
It’s like he read my fucking mind, for his next statement had me wanting to growl in defiance. “Look at me. Look me in the eyes, pet.”
If I did this, I would be subject to my alpha side taking over. That primal side that did not want to break contact first, or else it would be admitting submission. The whole situation was made worse by his degrading names for me that made my subconscious hackles rise in defiance. He knew exactly what he was doing.
Run through all the faces of your loved ones while you hold his gaze. Think of a happy moment with each for however long he demands it.
Ever so slowly, I lifted my eyes to stare into his glowing red orbs and kept my features blank. Shockingly, he didn’t make me hold it long, instead demanding the opposite almost immediately. “Now look at my feet.”
