I bristled at his words, yanking my hand out of his reach.
In response, the devil pushed me against the wall and slid a leg between my own. He eyed my cleavage. “I warned you that I did not tolerate insolence. Since you’re so determined to avoid my touch, it shall be your punishment.” He dipped his head and kissed the valley between my breasts.
It took all my willpower not to punt his unholy ass across the room. I’d already seen what the devil was like when I pissed him off. But even as I held back, I knew I couldn’t forever. I’d end up living out my own personal nightmare. I was in hell, after all.
He picked up a lock of hair and brushed it across the exposed skin of my chest. My jaw tightened at the action. “What I find strange,” he said, “is that you haven’t asked about the wellbeing of the shapeshifter.” His eyes flicked up to mine.
I flushed at the reminder. I barely thought about Caleb since I’d woken up. “Is he okay?” I asked, worry coating my words. I ignored the stab of guilt I felt when I realized that I’d rather know whether Andre was safe.
“Hmm, how badly do you want to know?” he asked, peering at me. “I could tell you all about him and your snaggle-toothed boyfriend—for a price.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “So that’s how it’s going to be?”
“What did you expect? That I’d be some valiant, selfless creature? I am the devil.”
“Supposedly you are also Pluto, my husband,” I said, trying not to choke on the word.
The devil’s attention snapped to me. He leaned in so close that his torso pressed into mine. “Not supposedly. I am your husband. I’m amusing your ridiculous questions and interests right now instead of chaining you to our bed because I’m trying to be accommodating and caring—vastly overrated qualities if you ask me. Those emotions have atrophied quite a bit since my fall,” the devil said, leaning in closer to me, “so I suggest you tread lightly. If you don’t,” he snapped his fingers, “they just might disappear completely.”
Holy shit. Nightmares really do come true.
“What are your conditions?” I whispered.
“That you accept and make use of my wedding gift immediately.”
What sort of horrible present was it that he’d need me to agree to this? “And if I don’t?” I asked.
“I will betray every last one of your secrets to those who’d wish you harm.”
I furrowed my brows. What sort of secrets could harm me here and now?
“I’m not going to make that kind of deal with you,” I said.
“Then perhaps we’re wasting our time down here. Perhaps we should go back to our bedroom.”
He was giving me a choice that wasn’t really a choice at all.
“Fine,” I snapped.
“Fine what?”
“I agree.” I bit the inside of my cheeks as soon as the words left my mouth. What was wrong with me that I’d make a deal with the devil?
A triumphant smile spread across the devil’s face, and I ignored how attractive his features were when he didn’t look like he had gutting and flaying on his mind.
“Aw, consort, you like my form,” he stated, drawing a hand down my arm. Revulsion had my muscles locking up.
“It’s deceptive. Just like you.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment since I know you’re not so stupid as to anger me right after I warned you of my wrath.”
He stepped away from me and took my trembling hand. “Now,” he said, beginning to walk again, “to answer my side of the bargain, Caleb and Andre are both quite fine—though I doubt the bloodsucker will hold onto his humanity much longer. Loss does that to a person.”
My gaze darted to the devil, my mouth parting in horror. “You mean Andre’s grieving … for me?”
I touched my chest, feeling the aching absence of our connection. Yet somehow I was still aware, still lucid. I’d assumed the afterlife would feel like a hazy dream at best.
The devil only said, “More souls will enter my gates tonight, thanks to him.”
I glanced away, my grief crumpling my expression. My heart flared to life weakly. Here in this place without God, love came to die.
“As for Caleb, it strikes me as odd that you haven’t seen him since you woke.”
“Perhaps I would’ve if I hadn’t been bound, gagged, and blindfolded.” But as usual, the devil’s words had worked their way under my skin.
“Hmm,” he murmured.
“What happened to him?” I asked.
We passed through a guestroom with walls the color of dried blood. Judging by the old, metallic smell and the way my fangs descended—ew—that was exactly what it was.
“Well now this is what’s unusual,” the devil said. “The shapeshifter woke up shortly before you did in a small town about an hour from here. He’s confused but unharmed.”
My eyes widened at that. Grigori had dropped him off before delivering me to my killers? “What are you saying?”
The devil squeezed my hand, and I gnashed my teeth together to keep from ripping it away from him.
“Would it also surprise you to know that Grigori was not amongst those that watched you die?”
Now I did yank my hand from his and backed away from him. “Why are you telling me this?”
His eyes had a twinkle to them. “Because no one and nothing is as you think.”
Andre left the broken man and prowled back to the altar, eyeing the cowering crowd. His rage, his inhuman rage, was being held in check by something even more primal—his grief-fueled instinct. And right now, it was telling him to stay by Gabrielle’s side and protect his soulmate, even if her life had fled her.
And while he didn’t understand it, he heeded it, approaching Gabrielle’s bloody body once more. He took her hand in his, and another crimson tear dripped down his face when he felt the chill of her skin. The chill only death brings. Yet he couldn’t leave her side, couldn’t seem to believe she was really and truly gone.