Page 10 of Sweet Violence
I …did not have a response to that. I distinctly remembered telling my dad I had no interest in a title in Hell. Welp, now I had one.
Dev laughed fondly and headed for the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning. I have a proposition for you.”
"Wait, does the queen thing mean I can order people around?" I blurted, my eyes lighting up.
"I'd rather you didn't abuse that privilege," Dev sighed, halfway out the door with a smile still on his face. "But yes, babygirl, you can issue orders."
I grinned, my mind full of ideas. But first, I had a suite to explore.
3
After I finished exploring the kitchen—modern, shiny, and full of candy floss and sweets—and then the weapons room—packed with all the knives, swords, and spiky weapons my fucked up heart could ever desire—and wandered through the library, huge bathroom, and movie room, I was ready to pass out.
By the time I circled back to the living room on the ground floor, a three course meal waited for me, as if an invisible fairy chef flew it in. I gave the meat an experimental sniff, but it seemed fine, so I ate every bit of oxtail soup1then devoured steak and potatoes, and stuffed myself full of cheesecake topped with exploding candy.
If I'd been ready to pass out earlier, after a full meal, I was already half asleep. It took me two seconds to find the bedroom on the top floor, and another two to collapse onto the cloud of pink and lilac silk. I barely even noticed the four posters holding up an ungodly amount of tulle around me.
When I woke up the next morning, my face was stuck to the pillow and my limbs were laid out like a chalk line at a crime scene.
"Ugh, fuck," I groaned, and rolled onto my side, subconsciously reaching out—and tensing when my hand brushed cold, silken sheets.
Oh. Yeah. No mates. No Earth. Just Hell, the devil, and the luxurious suite he'dmadefor me.
I wasn't disappointed to be alone in bed. No fucking way.2
I pushed up until my back was propped against a padded pink headboard and surveyed the room I passed out in. If any bedroom could give me a girly hard-on, it would be this one.
My covetous heart sprinted as I looked beyond the tall four posters of the bed and the canopy draped over them. I ran my eyes greedily over the soft lilac walls and the sharp swords hung upon them, to the beautiful furniture straight out of a fairy tale, and the French doors that led to a balcony overlooking the scary mountain Dev described yesterday.
I climbed out of bed to inspect the world outside, my feet sinking into lush carpet.
One look at the terrain, and I knew the devil was right. Any attempt to climb down would end up with a broken neck. I couldn't see a single handhold, let alone a route to the bottom.
I propped my arm against the glass door and sighed. "Looks like I'll have to fuck my way to freedom. What a chore."
I tried to ignore the twist behind my ribs. Why couldn't the circle be here in Hell instead of back in Orchid Vale? Then I wouldn't feel this shitty longing and even worse—the guilt that I'd been sexual with someone else.
"Ugh, we're not even exclusive," I groaned, pushing off the window and approaching the big, fairy tale wardrobe. "They're not my boyfriends; they're my stalkers with benefits. And the devil’s my mate, too."
Something crackled behind me; I whipped around in a startled rush, expecting a demon to be scaling the balcony, about to attack me. Instead, a startled laugh burst out of me.
"Well. Oops."
There was a handprint burnt into the wall where I pushed off it.
And now that I was aware of it, magic sizzled inside me, shooting around every part of my body. My hands tingled, my palms a bright, worrying pink. They looked this way when I killed Ledger3and when I killed Taj’s uncle.
Shit! That was Dev’s brother. How did he feel about the fact I’d accidentally burned his brother to death? He must have known, especially since he knew about my mates, but he still looked me dead in the eyes and claimed me?
Was he insane?4
"Go away," I hissed, shaking my hands and trying to dislodge the magic pooled in them. This was all Dev’s fault for killing so many people for me yesterday. I never had so much magic before, but then again Dad had been stealing most of it and leaving me the scraps.
Did his siphoning trick only work if we were in the same world? Maybe because I was here in Hell and he was up on Earth, I got to keep all of it.
"I don’t even know what to do with this much magic," I muttered, and crossed the room towards the attached bathroom, turning on the modern shower with quick, darting touches so I didn't melt the metal.
Showering itself was an interesting experience when my hands were on melt-mode, but I managed to clean, dry, and dress myself without causing more than a few scorch marks to the ribbed leather jacket and black jeans I found in the wardrobe, picking a baby pink vest to pair with them.
