My lips parted as I stared down at it. The obsidian rose set into it was identical to my memory of it. I withdrew my fingers from Pluto’s other hand so that I could turn the locket over and over. It was the same piece of jewelry, down to a nick on the back of it.
With shaky hands, I opened it. Inside, the pictures had changed. Instead of my mother and me, there were two new photos. One was of me and the other was of the man in front of me. Our faces were tilted towards each other’s so that it looked like we gazed at one another, and we were smiling. I couldn’t even fathom where or when he got the photos.
My connection throbbed at the sight.
I closed my eyes. “Why?”
When I opened them, I found him studying me.
“Perhaps I will share a story with you every morning,” he said. “Maybe then that look in your eyes will stay.”
Crap, I had a look in my eyes?
He rose. “Here,” he said, “let me put it on you.”
Before I had a chance to object, he took the necklace from my hand, and then he was behind me. Light fingers brushed the hair away from the nape of my neck. I swear they lingered longer than necessary, long enough for me to reach out and scoop my hair up from his grasp.
I heard the soft scrap of metal as the necklace latched. Then his hands fell to my shoulders and his lips brushed my ear. “I imagined doing this many times, fastening my locket around your pretty neck.”
I shivered, and his fingers trailed over the gooseflesh.
A demon entered the room through the open archway, interrupting the moment. Judging by his beauty and his stern features, this was one of the fallen. “There’s a matter that requires your attention,” he said, addressing Pluto.
The devil’s lips returned to my ear. “I imagined this moment, and I imagined it ending differently.”
Oh shit.
The devil’s hands released me, and he straightened. “We will speak again later, consort. Until then, continue to familiarize yourself with your land.
I grabbed his wrist as he turned to leave, and he looked back to me.
“Thank you,” I told him, because it needed to be said, “for returning my locket.” And for all those other times you helped me and my mother.
I couldn’t read the expression he leveled at me. Eventually he gave me a slight nod. His gaze dropped to my lips, but he didn’t step forward. “Until later,” he said, and then he was gone.
I drew in a rough breath. The evilest being in existence provided for me when my mother couldn’t. He’d even gone to the trouble of buying me a birthday present.
I glanced at the ruby ring Andre had given me. It had survived the transition from earth to the Underworld, and now I wore two pieces of jewelry, one from each of my soulmates.
What in the hell was I going to do?
After I finished breakfast—because, hey, even the queen of the damned has got to eat—I returned to our bedroom. Only, when I entered, I found that I had guests, a whole slumber party’s worth of them.
“Whoa,” I said, still clutching the doorknob. That was the only response my mouth could form.
Shirtless incubi stretched out on the bed. Those that couldn’t fit on it leaned against it. There was so much skin, so little material, and so many roving hands, it took a second for my eyes to process it all.
At the sound of my voice, their attention snapped to me.
“Welcome, consort,” said an incubus that was in the middle of the dogpile on the bed.
“Uh …” Seriously, the world needed to prepare you for situations like this because I had no clue what I was supposed to do. I only knew that I was a few hot seconds away from losing my ever-loving shit.
I began to back up and close the door when I bumped into someone behind me. I swiveled around and— Aww, crap. There was another one herding me in. He nudged me inside the room and closed the door behind us.
“Now,” the man at my back said, “we can finally give the queen a proper welcome.”
A proper welcome? I already knew I wasn’t going to like this.
The one closest to me took my hand and attempted to lead me to the bed. He didn’t get very far.
I snatched my hand back. “I’m, um, not interested.”
“Not interested?” the incubus cocked his head. The others peered up from the bed where they reclined.
Oh God, oh God, oh God. Seriously, what was I supposed to do? It was easy enough to kick them out of my bed when I knew I’d wake up and they’d disappear. But here in hell, they weren’t going to just vanish.
I heard one of the incubi on the bed whisper. “Perhaps she only wants one of us at a time?”
Seriously, this place was whacked.
“Do you not like our forms?” another asked.
God, this really was the nightmare that never ended.
“What? No, they’re fi—”
Before I could complete my thought, they changed en masse to women. And there were suddenly boobs everywhere.
I couldn’t help it, I shrieked. “Oh my God!” They winced at the name. “That’s not natural!”
“Her skin lit up at the change,” one said to the others. When they refocused on me, the succubi became incubi once more.
I let out a small noise, and damnit, my skin did flicker with my surprise. One approached me and reached out. I slapped away his hand. “Don’t touch me.”