Page 9 of Hell's Storm

“A female?” Ozias asks, brows pulling together.

Hades nods. “But that’s not it. Every line of the heir has been… demonic. The Flame raises their temperature, and they have to learn to control it, but not nearly as bad as Asura will have to.”

“What makes her different from all the rest, if not her being a female?” I ask.

Ledger sends me a glare as if I asked a stupid question. I glare back, wanting to taunt him that Asura currently has four boyfriends and will most likely gain three more, especially since Ledger and I both know Khazon is now single. But my eyes flicker to Asura. She doesn’t look the best to be dealing with our bullshit.

“Asura is fully human.”

My head snaps to Hades. Silence fills the room as we all try to understand what he just said. “Wha—”

Hades holds up his hand. “For once, everyone needs to listen and shut up. This does not leave this room. Asura’s mother was human and fell in love with Wells. The night Asura’s mother conceived Asura, Wells left a while later to take care of the gates of Hell opening. Although the accident was short and dealt with, Wells never returned to Earth. The night Asura was born… Her mother summoned someone she thought was Wells. Instead, she summoned a high-level demon who made a deal with her.”

“Circe,” Jigsaw says. I knew this name from him. Jigsaw had talked about it to us after Hell’s Storm destroyed the academy, but neither Hazen nor I knew what he meant or who that was. “Is Asura’s demon the person that was summoned at her birth?”

Hades nods.

My eyes land on Hazen for a moment, and I expect a reaction from him. Instead, he just stares at the gray floor.

“You knew?” I ask him.

His eyes lock with mine, and he glances at everyone around him.

“Youknewthat Asura wasn’t fully demon, and we were going to follow her as a Soul Reaper?” I snap. “Is this why she can’t pull out her fucking weapon or didn’t even fucking try?”

Hazen shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

I glance around at all the calm faces around us. “The Queen of Hell is human, and no one else is freaking out?”

“Couldyoushut up so we can hear the rest of the story?” Ryker snaps.

“Couldyounot take advantage of a woman who just lost her family?”

Ryker’s ears turn red, but he doesn’t charge like Ledger would have when I taunt him. Deep down, I don’t think Rykertookadvantage of Asura; if anything, she probably made the first move.

Apparently, men can’t refuse her.

I’m sure Ryker tried to, but Asura probably said she was okay. The girl could handle herself, especially when she didn’t want to be touched. I heard what she did to Eames when they first met at the club.

“Continue,” I say to Hades with a huff.

Hades nods. “Asura’s mother gave her life to save Asura. Circe, the demon, was planning to claim the throne as a reward for keeping Asura alive. Circe would have been the reason that Asura would have survived this.”

“But?” Ledger asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“The Flame kicked Circe from her body, leaving Asura…”

“Fully human.What do we do?”

Persephone kneels next to a clammy Asura. “We do what wecando; just wait.”

Inarian snaps at something Ledger says while trying to hold Asura close to his body. The ice hellhound—although reluctantly—has been cooling her down with his magic. He took the news harder, and I think, in a way, I understand. He feels betrayed, like Asura hid this from him as his Soul Reaper, instead of thinking of it like she was protecting him.

I sit back, crossing my arms over my chest. I think back to my Earth elemental hellhound, Alexis. I had done the same thing to him, and he took it the hardest out of every one of my hounds. I hid who I was, and he didn’t like that.

My skin prickles as I feel my powerful hellhounds getting closer and closer to us with someone else who is just as powerful. Hades has my hellhounds escort a mage that can help with the Flame. Apparently, this had been the same mage that helped her keep Circe down with medicine that Asura had to take daily.

“Stop it!” Ozias snaps. “Will you both shut the fuck up?” His anger is directed towards Ledger and Inarian.

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