A-L—
The quill was ripped from my hand before I’d been able to write the final “l” in my message. I hadn’t even managed to write a full three words.
The devil snatch the sheet from me.
“No—!”
I reached for the paper only to watch it go up in flame in the devil’s hand.
I counted my breaths, in and out, in and out. I waited for divine judgment to strike me and Andre. For us to be whisked away from the room.
Nothing happened.
I failed.
I failed.
The world as we knew it would end. Andre would die, and I would rot away in hell for an eternity. It was almost too much to comprehend.
The devil turned his wrathful gaze on me.
“Consort.”
Never had I heard so much anger packed into a single word. Betrayal gleamed in the back of his eyes. I hadn’t expected that. Not from the Deceiver.
I stared at him, a stubborn part of me still holding out for some sort of divine intervention. But the seconds ticked by and deliverance never came.
It really didn’t work.
It was a good thing I was already sitting, because if I wasn’t, my legs would have given out.
“Even in my native tongue, there are not words for what you’ve done,” the devil said, speaking to me in Demonic.
I swallowed back bile. If Andre and I weren’t going to be saved, then things were about to get very, very bad. I would not face them sitting down.
Andre groaned as I lifted him enough to slip out from under him.
The devil seethed, the shadows around him expanding
“This is not your native tongue, Asiri,” I responded, moving away from Andre so he’d avoid the devil’s attention.
“How dare you use that name with me now of all times!” The walls of the room shook under the force of his words, and my hair whipped around me.
Having the devil’s love was bad. Slighting the devil that loved you was far, far worse.
He disappeared only to reappear directly in front of me. He grabbed me by the neck and dragged me across the room, slamming my body up against the wall. The entire time he stared me in the eyes. I could see pain in those inhuman irises, pain that stemmed from love.
I choked as he lifted my body up, my feet leaving the ground. “I banish you to the deepest, darkest region of hell, consort. May you rot until you’ve paid your penance, then rot some more.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when I felt the devil draw on my power. I gasped as I felt my life force sucked from me. I could hear wood begin to splinter far below us. I knew what was coming.
“No.” This came from Andre, who was trying to stand.
The devil spared him a glance, his lips curling with his anger. He swept his free hand out, and a wave of energy hit Andre square in the chest.
The devil’s hold on my neck cut off my scream. Andre fell back, and this time he didn’t move. The world turned red as tears leaked from my eyes.
“You cry for him? Him?” The devil grew bigger and more powerful as his pain fueled him. So much hurt lay in those eyes. Right now, the all-powerful devil was a wounded thing. I couldn’t have created a more dangerous creature.
The room filled with static electricity.
Even with him feeding off his own pain, more and more of my energy drained from me. I heard stone crack and wood splinter as the floor lurched and shifted.
“Asiri,” I said.
He squeezed my throat until he crushed my windpipe completely. As black dots spread across my vision, the vines snaked around me, and then they dragged me down to hell.
Chapter 29
Gabrielle
The deepest, darkest region of hell was exactly how the devil described it. Deep and dark. I could feel the weight of the very earth itself press against me.
I blinked my eyes, but I saw only blackness. Oblivion. One could go crazy down here. I reached around me, but felt nothing. Perhaps this all just went on and on. Nothingness, forever.
Andre was down here somewhere—or he would be very soon—burning in the flames, damned to unbearable agony. My blood chilled at the possibility. Fear triggered the siren in me, and my skin began to glow.
Wherever this place was, it was no longer the darkest region of hell. On a whim, I reached for the locket around my neck and yanked it. I heard the dainty clasp snap, and I tossed it away from me.
No more doubt, no more uncertainty, no more straddling two men. I knew whom my heart belonged to. I’d spend every last second of my undying life trying to free Andre from this place, regardless of the punishment the devil doled out. It didn’t matter what the fates had decided; he was my destiny and I was his.
But first I needed to escape this place.