I don’t want your charred husk of a heart, and I want whatever I gave you back.
I’d made a grave, grave mistake, and I might lose the only man that had ever mattered to me because of it. Kisses were one thing, but this? Relationships died every day for less. The devil and I might not have done the deed, but we were naked in his bed, and I’d been participating in some heavy petting. Andre would have every reason to leave me.
Contemplating that hurt too much. I pressed the heel of my hands against my eyes. I might’ve already lost him, and I knew it. I knew it.
I was a goddamn fool.
Whatever I’d soothed inside the devil now fell back to chaos. He slid out of bed, naked from head to toe, and all I wanted to do was call him back to me. I hated that. Our connection had betrayed me. I had divided loyalties, and I really, really shouldn’t. Not after all the pain the devil had put me and countless others through.
He paced. I could see the scars trailing down his back where his wings had been ripped from him. “It’s the vampire, isn’t it? Even after everything, it’s still him you want?”
“It will always be him,” I whispered.
The devil turned from me and leaned a hand against the wall as though catching his breath. He let out a roar and slammed his fist into the stone surface. Flakes of obsidian chipped away beneath his fist and the entire building shook from the power of the blow.
“No, Gabrielle.” He swiveled to face me. “You are mine, and I vow to you, those words of yours will change. You’ve just made this a whole lot easier for me.”
Goosebumps broke out along my skin at his ominous vow.
“It really doesn’t matter at this point,” I said. “I lose something, no matter what.”
The devil drew in a long breath and collected himself. “The longer we live, the more we lose. Innocence, virginity, friends, time, and if you live long enough—and you will—memories.
“Few things survive. Andre won’t survive you, but I will.” His calm demeanor was all the more frightening now that I could see right inside him. I could feel the torment of his emotions battering against mine. “You’ve already opened your heart to me. Your mind and body will follow soon enough.”
He grabbed his clothes and began pulling them on. I gathered the bed sheets to me, covering myself. Once he was dressed, he headed to my armoire and threw an outfit onto the bed. “Get dressed. The time for secrets is over. I will show you your legacy.”
Coming here was a mistake.
Not that the devil had left me much choice. As soon as I’d donned another gown, he’d roughly grabbed me and transported us out of the bedroom.
We stood amidst the burning souls, the flames fueling the devil’s inhuman anger. Every so often I sensed another emotion flicker beneath that rage of his. Hurt was the most common, followed by frustration. Love wasn’t something you could compel another to feel. He understood this, but he didn’t have much patience or practice waiting for me to love him. From what I gleaned from our connection, he felt entitled to it.
But ever since his final words back in the bedroom, he’d acted calm, as though he weren’t a ticking time bomb set to go off at any minute.
He raised his hands to the fire, which roared and crackled. “This, consort, is power.” Souls screamed around us, clawing at themselves like they might be able to tear the pain off of themselves.
“So you can make souls feel pain. How big of you.”
The devil was not right in the head. Maybe I’d broken him before he had the chance to break me.
“Their pain is what gives me power.”
Like I said, not right in the head.
The devil narrowed his eyes. “You misunderstand. I’m not talking about enjoying their pain; I’m talking about using it. An engine needs fuel to run and a person needs food and drink to live. I am no different. As the fire burns these souls, it creates usable energy, energy that feeds my power, and now yours.”
Mine?
I set that horrifying thought aside. Otherwise, it would distract me from the fact that the devil was giving up his trade secrets, one of which was that essentially, hell was nothing more than a glorified steam engine.
And the devil was the terrible machine it propelled.
“My power gets its source from pain—both emotional and physical. The more souls I have, the more power I collect.
“And now you create chaos and mayhem, fear and anger and pain topside,” he continued. “I could never feed on the emotions of the living before you became my queen.”
Alarm raced through me. “And now you can?”
He inclined his head. “And now I can.”
I almost stopped breathing. “How?” I whispered.
“Through our bond.”
I stumbled back. The roar of the flames the screams of the damned became background noise to the pound of my heart.
It was so much worse, so much worse than I’d imagined.